The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-08-26

| Arizona SUPERINTENDENT ...,............. 32O 52
Calforna superlntendency. MISUNDERSTANDING. 2i697
washington supellni endency ............. Il, 1914
To,al........ 2SS,7I6
-hssA" cstinu'eu 10000
In addition to our red brethren of this list
there are some hostile tribes, Apaches and
Others, OF Arizona and New Mexico, number
Ing some six thousand souls, so that alto
gether the ''untutored" Indians under the care
or jurisdiction Of the government are hardly
less in number than 375, 900. What are we to
do with these savages? The policy of exter-
m'naton, which was commenced by the Cava-
Tiers In the settlement of Virginia, and by the
Pilgrim Fathers, those blessed old humbugs,
In the settlement of Massachusetts,, has be-
come too much public scandal to be per-
mitted any longer; the policy of removal
further back and still further back with the
advancing ''palefaces" can be no longer prac-
tised, for all these Indian tribes save those of
Alaska, are at last enveloped in a Gordon Of
white settlements, States and Territories, by
which the retreat of these red men is cut off
on every side. Two courses are still left
| open to the government-that of leaving these
poor creatures mainly to shift for themselves,
with the army standing guard over them, till
they die out, and that of gathering IL om into
communities and iustructing them in the ways
and arts of civilized life, in view of their ulti-
mate blending with the great body polite
and social of the American people,
| Mr.. Delano says that, 'looking at this de-
plorable picture" of these Indian tribes, s'the
President, at the very outset of his admins
tration, determined to try new Indian policy,
which may properly be called the policy Of
truth, justice, humanity and peace" Hence
his Quaker Peace Commissioners and the In
dian delegations under Red Cloud, Spotted
Tail and other chiefs called to Washington to
! be informed of the good designs of their
Great Father" and hence, too, the request
sent out to our various Christian denomna-
| tons to assist with their missionaries in this
new policy of ''civilizing, educating and Chris
tianizing these poor, neglected and benighted
! savaces.
tbs new policy, it appears, too, worked very
| wei financially, for the Secretary Of the Inte-
rior reports that while the old Indian policy
for the last fiscal year of Johasons admins
tration cost 81, 923, the new humanity
and peace policy introduced by General Grant
cost for the fiscal year 1870 only $3,4O7, 93s,
showing a clear saving to the Treasury of
over SO, 634 600. At the same time the costs
OF Indian wars have been greatly reduced, in
the general avoidance Of these wars; and
Mr.. Delano has great faith in the com plete
success Of this new policy, looking to the civ
ilization of these Indians, and, as the Presi-
dent has expressed 1t, 'their ultimate citizen
ship"
General Grants Indian policy commends
itself to the enlightened spirit of the age.
The details Of the system, as suggested In the
list Of superintendencies named, may also be
the best for beginnings but we think that,
for the pacifcation of the tribes concerned, and
their advancement in the ways of civilization,
the Indian Territory established south Of Kan
sas and west of Arkansas furnishes the exam
pie which the government should follow.
This Indian Territory, a fertile and we'll
watered region of seventy-one thousand square
miles in area, is divided among and occupied
by the Cherokees, Creeks Seminoles, Choc-
laws Chickasaws and Wichitas, to the num-
Der, all told, of about seventy thousand.
These people in the old slavery times held
over seven thousand negro slaves and had
five hundred free blacks among them, and in
the war Of the rebellion they fought for their
''niggers" with the Southern confederacy. At
the end of the war, however, they gracefully
accepted the situation )" and now those sew
enty thousand Indians, of half dozen differ
ent tribes, and the eight thousand blacks and
three thousand whites among them, form one
of the most prosperous and, for their num-
beers, the wealthiest community, State or Ter
ritory, In the Union.
II must be remarked, however, that each
tribe of this Territory occupies distinct
reservation and is distinct political commu-
nifty, though all these tribes together form q
sort of political confederation, under the sove-
reign protection of the United States. They
have become civilized people in their
industry, houses, schools, churches, habits,
when they make up their minds to become
State and apply for admission as State, with
q republican form Of government they will be
cheerfully admitted to all the dignities and
responsibilities Of State. Meantime railway
corporations and land spectators are crowd
ing upon the Territory so greedily and re-
morselessly that we think the true course on
the part Of the government and the Indians
! concerned is to make the Territory State as
soon as possible.
| AS il stands this Indian Territorial expert
ment is great self-sustaining success, which
invites the government to other experiments
Of the kind. For the present these scattered
reservations are no doubt the best arrange
ments that could be made; but having taken
the initial steps in thus locating these Indian