The Montana post., 1869-01-08
THE INDIAN BUREAU.

The OcerlsHd Monthly recently en-
deavored 10 demonstrate that the earth
Is inert. and what are enormously called
earthquakes are in reality airquakes, the
result of fearfully mysterious infiu-
ense pervading the atmosphere and gen
Grating destructiveness, in California,
proliffically. Although that particular
theory was = mystified kind of transcens
dentaIism thar might pass for an erudite
joke, there does appear To- exist in Wash
ington some subtle influence, analag Gus
in many respects, that shakes up events
and turns legislative circumstances
topsy~turvy as remoIselessly as the sus>
pected underlined atmospheric agency
does real estate on the Pacific coast. To
illustrate: On Dec. g. a bill was passed
in the House TO transfer the Indian Bu-
reau TO the War Department after the
first of January 1869. SO favorable was
the House To- the transfer that the bill
passed, under d call of the previous
question by vote of ll6 to 33. The
Senate was believed TO be not less fa-
vorable 10 the project than the House,
but on its presentation To- that body, it
was incomprehensibly referred TO the
committee on Indian affairs. known TO
De hOSIllb I'D Iu6 transfer II was pa1C~
ing lamb To nurse with n wolf, and The
wolf has projected its head from the
committee room with the guilty blood
marks ON its ch )pS that are smackedwith
we'll satisfied delight over the dainty
feast. The report will be adverse, and
the Chairman of the COMMITTEE. MIR. Hen
derson, was directed To prepare bill as
a substitute, erecting the Bureau into
separate civil Bureau. Time was when
the. manipulation OF these Indian bills
was mysterious and past finding out, but
the corruption which has so long char
acteTiZed the administration of Indian
affairs. is an index pointing directly To
undue influences in the control OF all
legislation effecting that department. 1t
was To reform the administration of its
affairs, To- secure peace on the borders
aud economy 10 the government, that
the transfer was projected and the sig>
nifcant majority in the House was but
a reflex of the opinion of the country.
Placed in the hands of the military, pee
ulation and robbery on the one hand,
murder. rapine and flame on the other
might be stayed. Such are the views
entertained bv even the press and peo-
pie who have heretofore been
violently favorable TO that costly hum
4
sion. Even a majority Of It's own mem
beTs became satisfied of the disastrous
cOnseque noes IL was entailipg ON The
West, and at the Chicago meeting in
October. recommended the transfer.
The Senate committee however see fit
TO wholly ignore that recommendation,
induc-sd by the experiences of their
former mistakes, and the substitute bill
is founded on a report made the previ-
Gus summer Here is constructive evil
dence OF that permeating and danger
Gus influence, the discovery of an at
mosPheric counterpart To which has
been claimed in the OreriaHd Monthly,
with the difference, that, while one is
impOnderable the substance of the other
has a face value and can be checked
against in bank. Ii is to be hoped the
Senate will not allow itself to be de-
fraudcd of vote on the transfer, and
that Sheridan and Custars recently
adopted method of dealing with the
nomadie sealpers will not be ruthlessly
abolished and they be officially decap-
itated. as many brave and useful officers
have been who preceded them, as etii>
cienJ and humane peace makers on the
western frontiers.