The several acts of Congress looking to the reduction of the larger Indian reservations, to the more rapid settlement of the Indians upon individual allotments, and the restoration to the public domain of lands in excess of their needs have been largely carried into effect so far as the work was confided to the Executive.  Agreements have been concluded since March 4, 1889, involving the cession to the United States of about 14,726,000 acres of land.  These contracts have, as required by law, been submitted to Congress for ratification and for the appropriations necessary to carry them into effect.  Those with the Sisseton and Wahpeton, Sac and Fox, Iowa, Pottawatomies and Absentee Shawnees, and Coeur d’Alene tribes have not yet received the sanction of Congress.  Attention is also called to the fact that the appropriations made in the case of the Sioux Indians have not covered all the stipulated payments.  This should be promptly corrected.  If an agreement is confirmed, all of its terms should be complied with without delay and full appropriations should be made.

The policy outlined in my last annual message in relation to the patenting of lands to settlers upon the public domain[12] has been carried out in the administration of the Land Office.  No general suspicion or imputation of fraud has been allowed to delay the hearing and adjudication of individual cases upon their merits.  The purpose has been to perfect the title of honest settlers with such promptness that the value of the entry might not be swallowed up by the expense and extortions to which delay subjected the claimant.  The average monthly issue of agricultural patents has been increased about 6,000.

The disability-pension act, which was approved on the 27th of June last, has been put into operation as rapidly as was practicable.  The increased clerical force provided was selected and assigned to work, and a considerable part of the force engaged in examinations in the field was recalled and added to the working force of the office.  The examination and adjudication of claims have by reason of improved methods been more rapid than ever before.  There is no economy to the Government in delay, while there is much hardship and injustice to the soldier.  The anticipated expenditure, while very large, will not, it is believed, be in excess of the estimates made before the enactment of the law.  This liberal enlargement of the general law should suggest a more careful scrutiny of bills for special relief, both as to the cases where relief is granted and as to the amount allowed.

The increasing numbers and influence of the non-Mormon population of Utah are observed with satisfaction.  The recent letter of Wilford Woodruff, president of the Mormon Church, in which he advised his people “to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the laws of the land,” has attracted wide attention, and it is hoped that its influence will be highly beneficial in restraining infractions of