States; but we should not forget that they are the aborigines
of the country, and called the soil their own on which our people have
grown rich, powerful, and happy. We owe it to them as a moral duty to
help them in attaining at least that degree of civilization which they
may be able to reach. It is not only our duty, it is also our interest
to do so. Indians who have become agriculturists or herdsmen, and feel
an interest in property, will thenceforth cease to be a warlike and
disturbing element. It is also a well-authenticated fact that Indians
are apt to be peaceable and quiet when their children are at school,
and I am gratified to know, from the expressions of Indians themselves
and from many concurring reports, that there is a steadily increasing
desire, even among Indians belonging to comparatively wild tribes, to
have their children educated. I invite attention to the reports of
the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
touching the experiment recently inaugurated, in taking fifty Indian
children, boys and girls, from different tribes, to the Hampton Normal
Agricultural Institute in Virginia, where they are to receive an
elementary English education and training in agriculture and other
useful works, to be returned to their tribes, after the completed
course, as interpreters, instructors, and examples. It is reported
that the officer charged with the selection of those children might
have had thousands of young Indians sent with him had it been possible
to make provision for them. I agree with the Secretary of the
Interior in saying that "the result of this interesting experiment,
if favorable, may be destined to become an important factor in the
advancement of civilization among the Indians."

The question whether a change in the control of the Indian service
should be made was at the last session of Congress referred to a
committee for inquiry and report. Without desiring to anticipate
that report, I venture to express the hope that in the decision of so
important a question the views expressed above may not be lost sight
of, and that the decision, whatever it may be, will arrest further
agitation of this subject, such agitation being apt to produce
a disturbing effect upon the service, as well as on the Indians
themselves.

In the enrollment of the bill making appropriations for sundry civil
expenses, at the last session of Congress, that portion which provided
for the continuati