Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-02-09
!, FEBRUARY 8, 1867,
Indians during the past ten years, has never

the traders, aud less than one per cent. to
the Indians" Agent Ward says, "ln my
belief the proportion OfmOney which actu-
ally reaches the hands of the Indians, If
any, must be very limited"
So much for the manner in which the
ample annuities annually appropriated for
the Indians are disposed of, rs testified to
by army officers and Indian agents, not
withstanding the law requires these annui-
ties IN be- distributed and paid per capita TO
the Indians of the tribe TO lCbODl the money be-
longs. These army officers and Indian
agents are in the Indian country for the
purpose of protecting the rights and inter-
ests of the Red man, and yet such are the
baleful influences surrounding them that
they testify that very little of the hundreds
of thousands, yes, millions, appropriated
from year to year for Indian purposes ever
reaches the hands of the Indians. The in
fuence of the lobby is even more potent in
the Indian country than at Washington.
There the most scandalous depredations
are committed on the Indians, and daily
they are despoiled of their property, and
they obtain no redress. Here is an Illus
tration, to be found in the official proceed
ings of Congress on the 2l of March, 1860 !:
Mr.. Harlan, Senator from Iowa, said
that he had been told, when in Kansas the
preceding summer, that in the three years
previous there had been driven from the
Indian country west of the Kansas not less
than sixty thousand mead of beef cattle
belonging to the Indians; and in continue
tion, he remarked that one of the Kansas
Senators said that the estimate is entirely
too low; shat in his opinion the number of
cattle driven out will not fall short of one
hundred thousand head"
=
tie gone to the use of the army of the Uni
ted States? ?"
Mr.. Harlan replied: 81 think some of
them have. Perhaps / ought not to utter
mere belief without proof, but still do
believe that large number of these cattle
have heen taken from the Indians by con-
tractors, and sold to the quartermasters,
and large number bought at nominal
sums, and stolen and driven out through
Kansas and sold on private account"
Mr.. Lane, of Kansas, said the Kansas
Legislature had investigated the question
of cattle stealing from the Indian country,
and that the people of Kansas "estimate
the number of cattle taken from the In
dians, not by Kansas men, but by the en-
ployes of the General Government, at one
hundred thousand head, within the last
two years." ....
A conversational debate occurred be-
tween number of Senators, occupying
several pages of the Congressional Globe,
from (which the foregoing extracts ara
taken, in all which it is agreed that the cat
tie were stolen from the Indians; but when
the Indian appropriation bill was acted
upon, which was the question under con-
sderation (and this cattle stealing was in
cdentally brought into the dehate), the
matter passed away as a dream, not i'm
pressing even one Senator with its enormi-
ty, or the obligation resting on the United
States to indemnify the Indians for their
property.
With reference to the home of the In
dian. it may be said he has none. A reser-
vation may, by solemn treaty, be set apart
to-day for the use and occupancy of par
ticular tribe "FoREvER," and before the
ink is scarcely dry upon the parchment,
the whole thing is abrogated and the tribe
compelled to seek new home. Ard even
during the existence of treaty, intruders
pay no attention to it, but habitually tres
pass upon the reservation, and despOil the
Indian OF his property, and, if not submis-
sive, take his life. In fact, let him turn his
face in what direction he may, he finds the
white man confronting him as an enemy.
Not long since, read an extract from
the report of Major General Hazen, Acting
Inspector of the Platte Department-an
officer holding distinguished position in
the army of the United States-wherein he
styles the Indian of the plains "drty beg
gar and thief who murders the weak and
unprotected, but never attacks an armed
foe." This General then goes on for guam
tity in abuse of the Indian race, and con-
cludes that "the white man owes the Indian
nothing. He Is in the way of natural
eVOlutions of progress, and when Gov
ernment pays what is to him reasonable
compensation for his title to the territory
or for privileges in it, the debt is perfectly
cancelled, as when corporation pays the
assessed value of the site of a public school,"
Such sentiments as the above, however
common, are not creditable to a Federal
military officer, and the fact that he is per.
mitted to utter them without rebuke from
his superiors, is sad commentary on the
times.
But few evenings since heard an emil
nent divine deliver lecture. 1t was made
up of observations on the Pacific coast. In
speaking of the people in that region, he
had word about the Indians, whom he
designated (properly) as low and filthy
and added that there was but one voice
among the white people on that coast, and
that was for determination. But the lee
turer failed to utter single word in con-
demnation of this horrible sentiment! What
he stated is not only true of that region
but it Is the sentiment of the whites within
and bordering on the whole Indian coun-
try. If the same divine had been in Cali.
fornia before its conquest and acquisition
to the United States, he would have found
the mission Indians there in a compara-
lively happy and prosperous condition
with vast flocks and herds about them
Alas, what is their condition now? De-
graded and miserable.
Moreover, let the reader ask himself
what interest does the religious world give
at this day to the condition and prospects
of the Indian tribes? My reply would be
let the emanations from the hundreds and
thousands of Christian pulpits in the land
in the various religious exercises from one
end of the year to the other, answer. How
very, very, very seldom is the poor Rec
man remembered, and how otten-very
very, very often-forgotten
When all things are taken into considera.
ton, is it to be wondered at that the Indiar
is a degraded savage? .I ..H
Originally the Indian Bureau was par
of the War Department. and when the In.
terror Department was organized some
eighteen years ago, it was taken from the
War and assigned to the Interior Depart.
ment; and the habit is very common among
army officers to express the opinion thai
however the ellortto civilize the Indian may
terminate, all the current abuses in the ad-
ministration of Indian affairs may be cor
rected by placing the bureau back under
the control of the War Department. In
spector General Marcy represents thi.
class, and in his testimony before the Sem
ate Commission, wherein he urges the res
toratlon of the bureau to the War Office, 1t
says: "If any one objects to the system