sects in other sections were constantly embroiled.  They are also known for their opposition to all strife, violence, and war, and are generally noted for their strict integrity and fair dealings.  These considerations induced me to give the management of a few reservations of Indians to them and to throw the burden of the selection of agents upon the society itself.  The result has proven most satisfactory.  It will be found more fully set forth in the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.  For superintendents and Indian agents not on the reservations, officers of the Army were selected.  The reasons for this are numerous.  Where Indian agents are sent, there, or near there, troops must be sent also.  The agent and the commander of troops are independent of each other, and are subject to orders from different Departments of the Government.  The army officer holds a position for life; the agent, one at the will of the President.  The former is personally interested in living in harmony with the Indian and in establishing a permanent peace, to the end that some portion of his life may be spent within the limits of civilized society; the latter has no such personal interest.  Another reason is an economic one; and still another, the hold which the Government has upon a life officer to secure a faithful discharge of duties in carrying out a given policy.

The building of railroads, and the access thereby given to all the agricultural and mineral regions of the country, is rapidly bringing civilized settlements into contact with all the tribes of Indians.  No matter what ought to be the relations between such settlements and the aborigines, the fact is they do not harmonize well, and one or the other has to give way in the end.  A system which looks to the extinction of a race is too horrible for a nation to adopt without entailing upon itself the wrath of all Christendom and engendering in the citizen a disregard for human life and the rights of others, dangerous to society.  I see no substitute for such a system, except in placing all the Indians on large reservations, as rapidly as it can be done, and giving them absolute protection there.  As soon as they are fitted for it they should be induced to take their lands in severalty and to set up Territorial governments for their own protection.  For full details on this subject I call your special attention to the reports of the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The report of the Secretary of War shows the expenditures of the War Department for the year ending June 30, 1869, to be $80,644,042, of which $23,882,310 was disbursed in the payment of debts contracted during the war, and is not chargeable to current army expenses.  His estimate of $34,531,031 for the expenses of the Army for the next fiscal year is as low as it is believed can be relied on.  The estimates of bureau officers have been carefully scrutinized, and reduced wherever it has been deemed practicable.  If, however, the condition of the country should be such by the beginning of the next fiscal year as to admit of a greater concentration of troops, the appropriation asked for will not be expended.