Arizona citizen., 1871-10-21
ON OR OFF.

solutely known that it is strictly ob- served, to insure the hearty sanction of the citizen population, and its ultimate success, and that is to compel all such Indians as go upon reserves to stay on. They must not be allowed to roam at will as at present. If 8 rule be adopted and rigidly enforced by which all Indians on reserves shall be made to report each day and an- sw4r to given name or in any certain manner establish their identity, we are convinced that the citizens gen. erally will give the reservation system their hearty approval. The question to be settled, is the simple one of whether the Indians are on or off their designated reserves. While depreda- tions continue on every hand, and the reservation Indians are permitted-as at present to roam whenever and wherever they please, the citizens will hold them responsible for a share of Indians atrocities; in fact it Is in- disputably known that the reservation Apaches both in Arizona and New Mexico have repeatedly gone out and committed both thefts and murders and returned to their reserves to enjoy government food, clothing and pro- lection. We have seen with our own eyes, letters of Indian Agent Piper, of the Canada AlamOsa Reserve, in New Mexico in which he admitted that the Indians on said reserve had committed thefts in the neighboring settlements, and that in one instance a mere lack of politeness on the part of the sufferer prevented surrender to him of his property. In Arizona, the proofs are emphatic that the h. dians fed and protected at Camps Goodwin, Apache and Grant have roamed off the reserves and committed both thefts and murders.
 It is because of these we'll authen- ticated facts that the citizens do not and cannot approve the prevailing reservation system. They care little for the size of the reserves, or for the undeserved good treatment shown the Indian compared to that exhibited to themselves, but they do care, and it is not in the human composition not to care, for that generous and lax system of management which makes every reserve secure and well-provisioned home for those who rob and mnrder them. This is what prevents har- mony between the citizens and Indian agents-and nothing else. The whole matter of difference rests upon the h. dians' liberty to roam when and where they please, do what they choose, re- turn with the spells of theft and mur- der, and never be called to account by their agents or government. This they can now do, and the managing agents of the reserves admit the facts as here stated. Let the proposition be clearly made known to the citizens and Indians that all Indians off re- servs shall be treated as hostile, coupled with the undoubted enforce ment of rule whereby every Indian who goes on the reserves protesting peace may at least once each day be identified, and we now pledge the in- fuence of our pen and paper to hearty approval of the arrangement, and believe the citizens generally will also join in maintaining it.
 Can any fair man object to the fore going conditions to secure the har- mony of the citizens with @ plan which affords every possible facility for civilizing the Indians by govern ment or philanthropic men? Can any