“I have no suggestions as to reforms, except those directed toward the Indian himself. In this State he is not discriminated against as in others. Here he has nothing except his labor to tempt the cupidity of the Whites. In the past he has been given many opportunities for improvement through the Mormon Church, and he had the chance to become just as well off as the majority of the Mormon immigrants who came here into the desert almost with their bare hands. So the fault, if fault it is, lies entirely with himself. He had the opportunity to observe and profit by the example of the poor Whites who started on desert ground under the same environment and made themselves homes; in addition to this just as soon as the Mormon Church was able, the authorities ‘called’ some of its members, sent them to each band, not as preaching missionaries, but as farmers, and gave them tools and oxen and instructed them how to use them. This was done with every band under my jurisdiction. As these missionaries were sent without any pay, and were poor, they had their own families to support, and gradually returned to the settlements, leaving the Indians to carry on their work themselves. The Indians simply killed the oxen and kept up their nomadic life to a great extent, simply holding campgrounds on the water courses where their water rights have been protected by the church until I took all the responsibilities over.” Correspondent, Salt Lake City, Utah [Illustration: THE CHALLENGE. NEZ PERCE WARRIOR Copyright by L. V. McWhorter, who photographed the Indian, and permits publication. ] “The immorality of our Indians, in my opinion is largely (probably seventy-five per cent) due to the presence of low Whites. Had the Indians been left alone seventy-five years longer; and had they been allowed to continue the time-honored custom of punishing crimes with the whip—they would be today easily and surely seventy-five per cent better men than they are. Here again we forgot that they were savages, absolutely impervious to really noble feelings, such as honor, and that it takes time and careful training to raise them to a higher level. Today, they are incapable of feeling the shame of a prison or penitentiary. When they come back from either, they are treated as heroes. Twenty-five years ago, a whipping solemnly, modestly, and moderately administered to those who had been guilty of thievery, adultery, fornication, gambling or drunkenness, was producing marvelous results. Two years ago, a deputation of Kootenay Indians came to beg me to write in their name to the Great Father (the President) and ask him to allow again the use of the whip. They said, ‘Tell the Great Father that our young men and women only laugh at the white punishments; it is the whip and the whip alone that kept us straight, and the same punishment alone will correct the generation.’