accepted Secretary Columbus Delano's offer to become the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs in November 1871. The appointment was simultaneously a go-around to continue to fund Walker's federal responsibilities as Census superintendent despite Congress' cessation of appropriations for the position as well as a political opportunity to replace a scandal-ridden predecessor. Walker continued to work on the Census for several years thereafter, culminating in the publication of the Statistical Atlas of the United States that was unprecedented in its use of visual statistics and maps to report the results of the Census. The Atlas won him praise from both the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution as well as a First Class medal from the International Geographical Congress. Indian Bureau Despite his Census-related efforts, Walker did not neglect his obligations as Indian affairs superintendent. However, Walker’s frustration with the treatment of Native Americans caused his resignation after only one year on December 26, 1872 to take a faculty position at Yale. During his brief assignment, he collected demographic information on native tribes and on the history of conflict and treaties, which he published in 1874 as a book titled The Indian Question. More than half of the book is dedicated to an appendix with descriptions of over 100 tribes which he describes as including 300,000 natives, the majority of which were living on existing government reservations. The remainder of the work proposes policy options for future government actions. A central theme of Walker’s book is to consider two options for future relationships to the Native Americans: seclusion on reservations or citizenship. He warns that the current reservation system is failing due to unabated illegal incursion into the native lands. He provides examples of how the alternative of immediate full assimilation as citizens is damaging native culture, quality of life, and dignity. Walker’s conclusions are that assimilation as citizens must be the ultimate end goal, but to accomplish this in an orderly manner over time requires protection of the indigenous population “under the shell of the reservation system.” He proposes detailed recommendations including consolidation of the existing 92 reservations into fewer larger units; laws and enforcement to stop settler incursions; government sponsored training programs within the reservations; and ongoing federal financial support based on an endowment and not annual appropriations. Walker makes a number of moral arguments to support reparations for past actions toward Native Americans, including : “We may have no