constructed or
authorized through these lands by the permission of the Government.

It has become very much the custom to grant these rights of way through
Indian lands and reservations merely for the asking. They have been
duplicated to such an extent that rival roads are found struggling for
the advantage of a prior Congressional grant or for the possession of a
contested route through these reservations.

I believe these indiscriminate grants to railroads permitting them to
cross the lands occupied by the Indians, if not in absolute violation of
their treaty rights, are dangerous to the success of our Indian
management.

While maintaining their tribal condition they should not be easily
subjected to the disturbance and the irritation of such encroachments.
When they have advanced sufficiently for the allotment of their lands in
severalty, they should be permitted, as a general rule, to enjoy and
cultivate all the land set apart to them, and not discouraged by the
forced surrender of a part of it for railroad purposes. In the solution
of the problem of their civilization by allotments of land they need the
land itself, and not compensation for its appropriation by others. They
can not be expected to understand this process in any other way than an
indication that their tenure is uncertain and the assurance that they
shall hold their allotted land for cultivation a delusion.

It is not necessary in the treatment of this subject to insist that in
no case should a railroad be permitted to cross Indian reservations.
There may be valid public reasons why in some cases this should be
allowed. Important lines of through travel should not be always
obstructed or defeated by a refusal of such permission. But I think
there should be shown in every case a justification in the public
interest or in furtherance of general growth and progress, or at least
in a plain local necessity or convenience, before such grants are made.

It seems to me also that the consent of the Indians for the passage of
railroads through their land should, as a general rule, be required;
that the means of determining the compensation to be made for land taken
should be just and definite and easy of application; that the route of
the proposed road should be as particularly described as is possible;
that a reasonable time should be fixed for the construction of the road,
and in default of such construction that the grant should be declared
null and voi