the Indians, though ready and desiring to settle down, are not
willing to accept such small areas when their reservations contain ample
lands to afford them homesteads of sufficient size to meet their present
and future needs.

These inequalities of existing special laws and treaties should be
corrected and some general legislation on the subject should be
provided, so that the more progressive members of the different tribes
may be settled upon homesteads, and by their example lead others to
follow, breaking away from tribal customs and substituting therefor the
love of home, the interest of the family, and the rule of the state.

The Indian character and nature are such that they are not easily led
while brooding over unadjusted wrongs. This is especially so regarding
their lands. Matters arising from the construction and operation of
railroads across some of the reservations, and claims of title and right
of occupancy set up by white persons to some of the best land within
other reservations require legislation for their final adjustment.

The settlement of these matters will remove many embarrassments to
progress in the work of leading the Indians to the adoption of our
institutions and bringing them under the operation, the influence, and
the protection of the universal laws of our country.

The recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and the
Commissioner of the General Land Office looking to the better protection
of public lands and of the public surveys, the preservation of national
forests, the adjudication of grants to States and corporations and of
private land claims, and the increased efficiency of the public-land
service are commended to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest
distribution of public lands in limited quantities among settlers for
residence and cultivation, and thus make the greatest number of
individual homes, was the primary object of the public-land legislation
in the early days of the Republic. This system was a simple one. It
commenced with an admirable scheme of public surveys, by which the
humblest citizen could identify the tract upon which he wished to
establish his home. The price of lands was placed within the reach of
all the enterprising, industrious, and honest pioneer citizens of the
country. It was soon, however, found that the object of the laws was
perverted, under the system of cash sales, from a distribution of land
among the people to an accumulation