issued by reason of non-payment of the fiual fees; 951 applications for the registration of trade marks were received, and 993 trade-marks were registered. The number of patents issued during said year exceeded those of the preceding year by 685. The total amount received during the year from fees, &c, was $732,285.87, and the total expenditures were £70S,S74.35, leaving an unexpended balance of $23,411.52.

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

The report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs presents the details of the transactions of the Indian Bureau for the past year, and furnishes interesting information in regard to the present condition of the various Indian tribes. The Commissioner makes several important and valuable recommendations in regard to the future management of the Indians, to which your attentiou is respectfully invited.

The general situation of the Indian service may be regarded as encouraging, and progress has been made during the year in perfecting aud extending the Indiau policy. Wherever all the elements of success have been available, the result has clearly vindicated the propriety and efficiency of that policy in the increased interest taken by both agents and Indians in the acquisition of industrial pursuits, and in the increase of peaceful disposition toward the whites. Schools are increasing in number and interest; farming, wherever the soil is suitable, is being prosecuted more vigorously aud intelligently, aud the desire of the Indians to prepare for themselves more comfortable and fixed abodes is becoming more general. At the important agencies of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, in the Dakota, or Sioux Nation, however, one of the principal elements of success—a productive soil—is wautiug, and no progress has been made, aud none can be expected, while the present conditions by which they are surrounded shall remain. The problem of how to deal with these Indians seems as far from solution as ever, aud, in fact, it has been still further complicated the present year by the discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the emigration of large numbers of miuers thither. The suggestions of the Commissioner in regard to this numerous people are practical, and worthy of consideration.

There can be no doubt whatever that so long as the great bulk of the Sioux are encouraged to occupy their present locations near the Bed Cloud and Whetstone, or Spotted Tail, agencies, and to roam at will over their vast reservation and west and northwest to the Big Horn Mountains and to Powder River and the Yellowstone, they can make no progress whatever, and must be fed year after year by the Government. The recommendation by the Commissioner that the two agencies above nentioned be removed to the Missouri River meets with my unqualified approval. The soil over which they now roam is totally unfit for cultivation, the location of those agencies is so remote from the railroad and river that the cost of supplying them is greatly enhanced, aud their isolated position gives them almost entire immunity from Government control whenever they are disposed to commit any outrages upou the person or property of neighboring settlers or more friendly tribes.

The removal of these agencies to theis Msouri River, at some point or points between the mouth of the Cheyenne River, and Fort Randall, to be hereafter determined upou, will result in greater economy and convenience of supply, and greater facility to restrain and coerce refractory Indians whenever the necessity arises. It will also locate them where there are arable lands, good water, and abundance of timber and grass. I therefore suggest that the appropriations in future shall be made conditional upon this removal, and that none of the supplies or annuities hereafter granted by Congress shall be issued to these Indians, excepting at some point or points on the Missouri River, where those agencies shall be permanently located. If this suggestion shall receive the favorable action of Congress, a proper locatiou will be selected, and those agencies removed prior to the beginning of the next fiscal year.

The relative location of the Indians now supplied at Fort Belknap, Montana, to the Missouri River, is so nearly analogous to the location of the Sioux, above referred to, that I have already ordered their removal to the river, and the abandonment of the present agency at Fort Belknap, for the reasons given above in regard to the removal of the Sioux at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies.

Attention is invited to the condition upon which the Sioux relinquished their right to hunt in Nebraska, namely, that in addition to the $25,000 heretofore appropriated lor that purpose, the Department agreed to recommend the further appropriation of a like amount. While presenting this recommendation, however, I deem it my duty to state that under the terms of the treaty of 1808 that right probably no longer existed at the time said promise was made, it having expired by the terms of the treaty itself. That treaty reserved to the Sioux "the right to hunt on any lands north of the North Platte, and on the Republican Fork of the Smoky Hill River, so long as the buffalo may range thereon in such numbers as to justify the chase." It is the concurrent testimony of Army officers and white settlers familiar with the section of country referred to as a hunting-ground, that the buffalo no longer range thereon "in such numbers as to justify the chase."

The failure of the negotiations for the relinquishment of the Black Hills necessitates the adoption of some measures to relieve the Department of the great embarrassment resulting from the evident determination of a large number of citizens to enter upon that portion of the Sioux reservation to obtain the precious metals which the official report of the geologist sent out by the Department shows to exist therein. The very measures now taken by the Government to prevent the influx of miners into the Black Hills, by means of the display of military force in that neighborhood, operate as the surest safeguard of the miners against the attacks of Indians. The Army expels the miners, and, while doing so, protects theiu from Indians. The miners return as soon as the military surveillance is withdrawn, and the same steps are taken again and again. Some of the miners have brought suits against the military officers for false imprisonment, and much embarrassment to both the Army and the Interior Department is the result.

The preliminary report of Professor Jenney, which accompanies the report of the Indian Commissioner, in regard to the geological and agricultural wealth of the Black Hills, indicates clearly the great temptation held out to emigrants and miners to occupy that country, and will greatly enhance the difficulties which have already surrounded the question of protecting the Sioux in their treaty-rights to that territory. The opening of the next summer seasou will undoubtedly witness a great increase of emigration thither, and the questiou urges itself upon the attention of the Department and of Congress for early solution.

It is true that the Indians occupy that reservation under the provisons of a treaty with the United States. It is also true, as a general proposition, that treaties should be maintained inviolate, and the Indians protected in their rights thereunder. But for two years the Government has been appropriating about one and one-quarter millions of dollars for the subsistence of the Sioux of various tribes, which amount is a gratuity that the Government is under no legal obligation to give them, and for which it receives no compensating advantage. The amount thus appropriated is 5 per cent, per annum of 825,000.000, which the Government is giving without an equivalent. This amount must be annually given them for some years to come, or they will starve. It is submitted, therefore, under these circumstances, for the consideration of Congress, whether it would not be justifiable and proper to make future appropriations for supplies to this people contingent on their relinquishment of the gold-fields in the Black Hills, and the right of way thereto.

The suggestions of the Commissioner in regard to Indian civilization, the modification of the homestead laws for the benefit of the Indians, and turning over the Indians in the States of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a portion of those in Minnesota to the control of the States in which they live, are deserving of the careful attention of Congress, as being steps in advance upon the questiou of Indian management. His remarks upon the necessity of law for the punishment and protection of the Indians are also of importance, as tending in the same direction.

The condition of the Indian Territory south of Kansas has not changed (luring the year, and will not materially change for the better until some steps are taken to give its inhabitants a more efficient government The necessity for the establishment of courts of justice therein for the trial of all offenses against persons or property becomes more pressing year by year, and the whole question of legislating for that territory is respectfully but urgently pressed upon the attention of Congress. I have taken the necessary steps to procure a full and unbiased report of the condition of things in that territory, and will ask the privilege of submitting to you a special report on the subject at an early day after the meeting of Congress, at which time some further recommendation in that behalf may be found to be necessary and proper.

The peculiar condition in which the so-called Mission Indians of Southern California are situated is clearly stated in the Commissioner's report, and he makes suggestions in regard to their treatment. The unsettled condition of this people is a source of embarrassment to the white settlements in that portion of California, and will continue to be an element of irritation and danger until some measures are adopted for their relief.

It would be beneficial to the Indian service, in my opinion, and would tend to promote its efficiency, if the laws preventing the detail of Army officers for civil service were so far modified as to allow their employment in the Indian service at the discretion of the President, in case of emergency. Such a change would place at the disposition of the Executive a corps of disciplined, intelligent officers, whose familiarity with the entire Indian country and the needs of the service would render them invaluable in an emergeucy such as has arisen during the present year, and such as is liable to arise at any time in the treatment of large bodies of wild Indians. 'The Secretary of the Interior now holds in his possession, in trust for various Indian tribes, bonds of the United States and of several of the States, the par value of which is about $5,000,000. Authority has been conferred upon the Secretary of the Interior, from time to time, by Indian treaties and acts of Congress, to invest the proceeds of the sales of lands ceded to the United States by Indian tribes. The authority so given to invest, as trustee, seems to have been construed as implying also the authority to hold such securities in possession by the Secretary of the Interior in trust, and he now holds such stocks and bonds to the amount of $5,107,510. Whether the right to hold those securities is conferred by the laws and treaties referred to or not, I recommend that the necessary legislation be made authorizing their transfer to the Treasurer of the United States, by whom the interest thereon, as it accrues, shall be placed to the credit of the proper tribe, to be drawn on requisition of the Secretary of the Iuterior, as in the case of appropriations. Such a disposition of these securities will relieve the Secretary of the Interior of a disagreeable responsibility and duty not in anyway homogeneous to the general duties of the ofiice, and place the bonds where all such valuables should be kept.

The co-operation of the religious bodies having in charge the duty of nominating Indian agents has been harmonious and satisfactory, and they have evidently been careful in their selection of proper men for those positions.

The Board of Indian Commissioners has been efficient in the perform

ance of its duties, and Las rendered valuable assistance to the Department in the supervision of the purchase and inspection of annuities and supplies, in the examination of contracts, and the auditing of vouchers. It is to be regretted that their annual report is not made in time for me to profit by their suggestions and observations in making this report; and it is hoped that hereafter it will be completed on or before the 1st of November in each year.

The Commissioner alludes to the fact that, with the exception of the hostilities with the Cheyeunes and Comanches, which were pending when the reports for the last year were closed, and which ceased soon afterward, there have been no serious collisions between the Indians and the whites in our entire domain. This fact is one of great encouragement, showing, conclusively, that the Indians are anxious to maintain peaceful relations; and that even under great provocations, which they have had in several instances during the year, they have come to recognize so thoroughly the power of the whites and the good faith of the Government toward them, as to trust to that Government and not to their own strength to redress their wrongs.

There are still some roving bands of hostile Sioux iu the Big Horn and Powder River country of Dakota and Montana, which should be subjugated and compelled to cease their raids and depredations upon other tribes and upon the whites. When this is done there will be but little trouble, with a fair degree of tact, intelligence, and force, to control onr entire Indian population.

On the whole, I cannot but regard the work of the year in the Indian service as showing decided progress in the direction of establishing peaceful relations, encouraging to habits of industry, leading toward civilization and education, and generally tending toward the accomplishment of what you sought by your policy to secure, namely, the protection, support, and improvement of the aborigines of the country, without impeding the westward progress of white settlements. The experiences of the year have developed necessities for still further legislation, which are mentioned in the Commissioners report, and to which careful attention is invited.

The thanks of this Department are due to the War Department aud the officers of the Army for the prompt and efficient aid they have rendered during the year iu the management of Indian affairs throughout the country, and for their hearty co-operation and advice whenever called upon to render assistance in carrying out the details of the Indian policy.

The commission which was appointed during the year to investigate the management of affairs at the lied Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies made some valuable suggestions in their report, in which I cannot refrain from concurring. In regard to the necessity of laws for the protection and punishment of Indiaus, they say: The criminal-laws of tbo United State* should be extended over the reservations, and