The Indian Policy

Tbc negotiation just closed with the Utes develops a new policy toward the Indians by the Government, and a cominendable ono, too. The oíd rerervation system has been struck a deadly blow, and a new order of tbings tending toward civilization and iuiprovement placed in its stead. The plan seems to be to malte the Indians citizens of the United States, with the rights and du ties of other citizens, and toencourage them in habits of industry and the acquiring of property. The New York Tribune bas the following in referesce to the chango : " Each head of a family is to receive 160 acres of arable land and a like quantity of grazing land, and each single pcrson onehnlf as much. The tribe surrenders about 12,000,000 acres of mountain and vallcy, much of which is rich in mineral wealth. This result has been reached without a war and without injustice to the Indians themselves. It opensan immense región to settlement and civilization ; it will undoubtedly prove a benefit to tbe Utes, and best of all it shows the feasibility of substituting a system of separate land holdings for the old reservation plan, which has caused countless wars and has kept the Indians from getting very far out of their original savage condition. Whatever dreamers may think of the possibility of communal life for people advanced in intelligence and culture, the lesson of history is plain that individual possession of property is the firet important step in the path of civilization. Under the reservation system there is no incentive to industry save of that sort which is displayed in securing the spoils of the chase and the plunder of hostile forays. An Indian owns nothing but his arms, his horses and his tent, and has no way of improving his oondition except by his prowess as a hunter or a warrior. The half-way civilization attained by some of the tribes in the Indian Territory does not affect the argument, because they have a large infusión of white blood and have devised for themselvea a system of separate family holdings on their reservation landx, wbich, though defective, furnishes some encouragement to agricultural and pastoral pursuits."