and to beg, in view of the interests of the Government, as well as of humanity, that such legislative or executive action be recommended as will as far as practicable correct the evils therein set forth. I transmit inclosed a copy of that letter and a copy of trade regulations with Indians, which I have heretofore forwarded, and which I deem necessary to protect white men and Indians alike against Indian traders. It is my purpose, by forcing all traders with Indians to locate their trading posts in the immediate vicinity of the military posts, and no where else, to make these military posts the nuclei of extensive Indian camps, and as far as possible to induce the Indians to make their permanent homes so near to the posts that they will constantly be under the supervision and control of the garrisons. If there be no other places to trade except the military posts the Indian will necessarily resort to them, and will there remain, except when he is engaged in hunting during the summer season. If fair dealing with the Indians can be enforced there never will be danger of any Indian wars. The object of these trade regulations is to secure these two results; but unless they are adopted and enforced by military authority we cannot hope for any permanent peace with the Indian tribes. The regulations themselves are so full, and their object so manifest, that it is unnecessary to go further into details concerning them. The only other white men I would permit to have intercourse with the Indians are the missionaries. I trust that some arrangements will be made with the authorities of our home missionary societies to furnish to each military post good practical men, with their families, whose business shall be to teach the Indians the useful arts of life-the Indian men to cultivate the soil, the Indian women to sew and to do such other work as they are fitted for, and all to keep themselves clean and decent. These are the first lessons to be taught to Indians. Religious instruction will come afterward in its natural order. The failure of our missionaries among Indians is due, I think, mainly to the fact that they have reversed the proper order of instruction, and have attempted to make the Indian a member of the church while he was still a wild savage. Of course, if anything is to be gained by it, the Indian will profess his belief in anything whatever, without the slightest knowledge or concern as to what it all means. What is needed to civilize or christianize Indians are practical common-sense men, who will first teach them to be human and to acquire the arts of civilized life; who will educate, as far as can be done, the children of the Indians, and who will be content to look to the future, and not to the immediate present, for results. Such missionaries could be of incalculable benefit to the Indian, and to the Government; and I would recommend that whenever such men are sent to the military posts on the frontier the Government furnish them with quarters and with rations, at the rate of two small families for each one of the larger posts, and for one small family for each smaller post. I have o doubt that these small missions at each post, if conducted by practical and earnest men, would greatly add to the hope of permanent peace with the Indians, and contribute to a healthy and increasing improvement in the moral and physical condition of the Indian tribes. The military commanders will be instructed to give very assistance and encouragement to such missionaries, and to enjoin upon the officers and soldiers under their kindness. The peace which will be made with Indians on the one hand behave themselves and do not molest the whites, and on the other hand that the whites shall be made to deal fairly with the