Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-01-04

I went next to the, Secretary of War,
who was not inclined to see me at all
until he learned, that I was connected
withthe Government. IfI.had not been
on important business, suppose could
not have got in. Iasked him for light
The was smoking at the time), and then
I told him I had. no fault to find with his
defending the parole.stipulations of Gen.
Lee and his comrades in arms, but that
I could not approve of his method of
fighting the Indians on the Plains. I
said he fought too scattering. He ought
to get the Indians more together-get
them together in some convenient place,
where he could have provisions enough
for both parties, and then have a general
massacre. I said there was nothing so
convincing to an Indian as a general
massacre. If he could not approve of
the massacre, / said the next surest
thing for an Indian was soap and edu-
cation. Soap and education are not so
sudden as massacre, but they are more
deadly in the long run, because a half
massacred Indian may recover, but if
you educate and wash him, it is bound
to finish him some time or other. 1t
undermines his constitution; it strikes
at the foundation of his being. "Sir," I
said, ''the time has come when blood
curdling cruelty has become necessary.
Infict soap and spelling book on every
Indian that ravages the Plains, and let
him die !'' ,Ft7s
The Secretary Of War asked me if 1
was member of the Cabinet, and /
said 1 was-and ! was not one of these
ad interim people either. (Severe, but
merited.) He inquired what position 1
held, and said l was clerk of the Sen
ate committee on Conchology. 1 was
then ordered under arrest for contempt
of Court, and restrained of my liberty
for the best part of "a day. $50
1 almost resolved to be silent thence
forward, and let the Government get
along the best way it could. But duty
called, and I obeyed. 1 called on
the Secretary of the Treasury. He
said: sEgsR - sgeas
"What will goa have 7"
The question threw me off my guard.
/ said "Rum punch" rer -s5anEE
He said, "If you have got any bust
ness here, sir, state it-and in as few
words as possible $@xssF=En
then said l was sorry he had seen
fit to change the subject so abruptly, be-
cause such conduct was very offensive to
me; but under the circumstances would
overlook the matter and come to the
point. now went into an earnest ex-
postulation with him upon the extrava-
giant length of his report. said it was
expensive, unnecessary. and awkwardly
constructed; there was no descriptive
passages in it, no poetry. no sentiment
no heroes, no plot, no pictures, not even
wood cuts. Nobody would read it, that
was clear case. I urged him not to
ruin his reputation by getting out thing
like that. If he ever hoped to succeed in
|literature, he must throw more variety into
his, writings. He must beware of dry de-
tail. I said that the mainpopularity oftbe
almanac was derived from its poetry and
conundrums; and that a few conundrums
distributed around through his Treasu-
Try Report would help the sale of it more
than all the internal revenue he could
put into it. said these things in the
kindest spirit, and yet the Secretary of
the Treasury fell into a violent passion.
He even said Twas an ass. He abused
me in the most yindictive manner, and
said that if j came there again meddling
with his business he would throw me
out Of the window. I Iisaid1 would take
my hat and go, if ]. could not be treated
with the respect due to my Office; and I
| did go. 1t was just like a new author.
They always think they know more than
anybody else when they are getting out