their improvements and removed, or stipulation should be made with the Indians by which that portion of the reservation settled by the whites may be ceded to the government. There is ample room on the reservation to admit of the latter course, and he thinks the Indians would readily consent, upon reasonable terms, to such a plan. He also believes that many of the Indians, especially of the Nez Percés, many of whom are now thrifty farmers, could be prevailed upon without difficulty to select lands in severalty. Could this be accomplished a large portion of the Nez Percé Reservation, which embraces an extended area of valuable agricultural land, might be restored to the public domain.

The greater portion of the timber in the Territory is in the mountains, and consists principally of pine, fir, and cedar, though it is found to some extent along the rivers and smaller streams.

To prevent the destruction of timber in violation of law, the governor recommends the amending of the act of Congress of June 3, 1878, so as to provide for the survey and sale of the timber on the public lands, say every alternate section, with a heavy penalty for cutting or destroying the timber on the sections reserved by the government. This would supply the people and create an interest which it is thought would prevent the wanton destruction of timber.

The population has increased from 20,588, in 1870, to about 40,000, including Indians, in 1880, a gain of nearly 100 per cent.

With the opening up of railroads, it is reasonable to expect a much larger gain in the next decade. There is at present but one railroad into the Territory-the Utah and Northern, a narrow guage, running through the eastern part, though other lines have been projected, the most important of which is one to run from Ogden, Utah, to some point on the Pacific coast in the State of Oregon. Though lacking in railroad facilities, the Territory is well provided with first-class stage routes to all the important points. As before suggested, much of the land in Idaho, suitable for agriculture, cannot be made available except by irrigation, and development in this way will be very slow so long as individuals are so restricted in the amount of land which they can enter. Under existing laws individual interests cannot be large enough to warrant irrigation on any very large scale. The propriety of so amending the desert land laws as to permit the disposal of this class of lands in large quantities to persons or corporations pledging themselves to the building of canals for their reclamation, and restricting them as to withdrawal of the lands from the market and as to the maximun price at which they should be sold, is suggested.

The number of children between the ages of five and twenty-one is about 6,000, and the annual revenues raised for school purposes is about $25,000. The necessity for making some provision in the interest of public schools in the Territories is urged upon Congress.

It may be said in general of the Territory that its affairs are in a highly satisfactory condition. Good health has prevailed during the

year. Agriculture, stock raising, and mining have prospered. Crime is not more common than in older communities in the East, and, with one exception, infractions of the law meet with as sure and speedy punishment. The one exception is the utter failure or inability of the officers of the law in certain counties to punish violations of the law of July 1, 1862, against polygamy. Further legislation is earnestly recommended looking to the effectual suppression of this vice, which, under the guise of religion, is spreading throughout these Territories in violation of law and in direct opposition to the moral sense of the people of the country.

OFFICIAL SALARIES.

In the estimates of expenditures for the next fiscal year I have recommended an increase in the salaries of various officers and clerks in this Department, and in the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, presented herewith, there will be found an elaborate and instructive letter addressed to me by that officer upon this subject. There is no doubt in my mind after the experience of nearly four years in the conduct of this Department, that the pay allowed to almost all the higher grades of its officers and clerks is entirely out of proportion to the ability required in the discharge of their duties, the labor exacted, and the great responsibility borne by them. The duties performed by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior are such that I see no reason why his salary should be less than those of the Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury. I am, on the contrary, of the opinion that all the assistant secretaries are underpaid. The public interest demands that those places be filled by men who in the absence of the respective Secretaries may be trusted temporarily to perform their duties and to discharge their responsibilities. Their compensation should be at least equal to that of the Comptrollers of the Treasury.

The office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs is one of the most arduous places in the government, devolving upon him probably more work and responsibility than falls to the lot of any bureau chief in any of the executive departments. Of the Commissioner of the General Land Office and of the Commissioner of Pensions almost the same can be said. These positions require great knowledge of affairs and more than ordinary executive ability. The Commissioner of Patents is a little more favored in point of salary; but, considering the cost of living here, I do not think that in any great government in the world officers of the same rank, discharging the same high order of duties, and bearing the same responsibilities, are as badly paid in proportion. Not one of them should, in my opinion, have less than $5,000 a year. If the American people desire that the public business be well done, and that the high places of the government be filled with men of corresponding character and ability, the salaries ought to be such as to command what is required in that respect. Most of the division chiefs in the General Land Office, such as the chiefs of the Mineral Division, the Division of Private

Land Claims, the Railroad Division, the Swamp Land Division, the Public Lands Division, &c., have to prepare legal decisions in cases which in the aggregate are of greater number and involve property of greater value than the cases decided by any State supreme court in the country. It is true that the decisions prepared by those different chiefs are not final, being subject to revision by the Commissioner and to appeal; but nobody acquainted with the business of this or any other department need be told that the preparation of those decisions, which requires a thorough knowledge of questions of fact and of law as well as of the history of legislation and of judicial proceedings, is a task of the highest importance. Most of these division chiefs are mere clerks, receiving at the very highest eighteen hundred dollars a year, and in some cases less. It would seem superfluous to say that in those places the highest degree of integrity as well as large legal acquirements are needed. In every great government in the world that I know of, officers performing these functions would hold a rank high above that of mere clerks, a tenure not subject to the mere arbitrary pleasure of a superior officer, and salaries in proportion to the duties imposed upon them. Of the division chiefs in the Secretary's office and in the Indian office the same may be said. The consequence is that in many cases men, fully up to the requirements of their positions, find occasion to better their condition by going into the service of private corporations or becoming members of private business firms. It is a mere question of opportunity, and it is only to be wondered at that such things do not happen still more frequently. During the hard times now behind us many persons of ability have sought and obtained employment in the government offices; but now, since all the business interests of the country have revived and the salaries of able men in private concerns are rising again to a more remunerative point, the probability is that the government offices will be more and more drained of the ablest public servants, and that it will be difficult to fill their places unless their pay be made reasonably sufficient to compensate them for their work and they have the prospect of an assured tenure. In this respect good pay is the best economy. I therefore urgently recommend that the salaries proposed in the estimates of this Department for the coming fiscal year be granted not as the maximum but as the minimum pay which those officers and clerks ought to have.

I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant,
C. SCHURZ,

The PRESIDENT.

Secretary.

PAPERS

ACCOMPANYING

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
Washington, November 1, 1880.

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith the annual report of the Indian Bureau for the year 1880.

Gradual progress in the arts of industry has been made by the various Indian tribes during the past year, and in some instances the advancement toward civilization has been marked. The efforts of a number of the tribes in cultivating the soil have been attended with a degree of success that has set at rest the question not only of their ability to learn the arts of husbandry, but also of their willingness to engage in pursuits at once honorable and lucrative, which, at no distant day, will make them self-supporting, and place them beyond the care of the government. Special reference will be found hereinafter to those tribes whose progress in farming and other pursuits has been especially noteworthy. The following table gives a general exhibit of the work accomplished and the gain made during the year by the Indians of the country in the direction of farming, stock raising, house building, &c.:

The demands upon the office for implements, tools, &c., to enable them to perform manual labor, come from the Indians at a large majority of the agencies, and are far beyond the means at the disposal of the department for that purpose. Many cases could be cited where it has been necessary to deny the requests made for funds to supply the wants of the Indians in this respect, simply because of the inadequate appropriations provided for the purpose. In some cases the office has been unable to supplement the insufficient facilities already provided for farming, and what had been accomplished in such instances has become of little or no avail, because of a lack of means to continue the work thus imperfectly begun.

The education of Indian youth is a subject whose importance cannot be over-estimated. As will be shown hereafter, the progress during the year has not been commensurate with the desires of the office, principally because of the insufficiency of the funds appropriated for the purpose. While the sum provided by Congress for educating Indian children seems to be a large one, yet it barely suffices to continue the work already begun, and is insufficient to permit of any extended increase in educational facilities, and wholly inadequate to meet the increasing demands of the service.

The past year has been an eminently peaceful one amongst the Indian tribes. Excepting the incursions of Victoria and his band in Arizona and New Mexico, and the semi-hostile attitude of Sitting Bull and his followers, but little, if any, trouble has been experienced in the Indian country.

POPULATION.

The number of Indians in the United States, exclusive of Alaska, is 255,938. These are distributed among sixty-eight agencies at present established in the following States and Territories:

Those not under the control of the agents of the government, numbering 15,802, are principally in the Territories of Arizona, Idaho, and Utah, and the States of California, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin.