The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-06


these carefully-considered recommendations
of the commission will be closely considered,
and, if approved, inteligently adopted.
STEALING MADE EASY.
From the NJ Y. Tribune.
The report of the Committee on Appro-
priations, which was directed by the House
of Representatives to make an investigation
into Indian affairs, is in the main a sensible,
just and practical documents but it involves
statement of unpunished iniquity and of
official impotence which it is hard to read
with patience. A part of the duties devolved
upon the committee by the resolution of De-
cember II, 1870, was to inquire whether any
portion of the sum of 100000, appropriated
for the Quapaw Indians by the act of July
Is, 1870, had been paid to other parties, or
diverted from its intended use. BY that act
the sum mentioned was appropriated to fulfil
the stipulations of the treaty made with those
Indians, by which pro rata payments were to
be made personally to each claimant or his
heir, according to the usages of the tribe.
To insure the exact and honest execution of
these provisions clerk was detailed from the
Office of the Secretary of the Interior to make
the payments in accordance with his special
orders. That was done last October in a
manner which would scarcely appear satisfac-
tory to the least prudsh conscience.
We are indebted to MIR. Earle, of Worces-
ter, for some account of the way in which
this extraordinary operation was managed
He was one of committee appointed from
New England" as the report informs US, ''to
take a general interest in behalf of the In
dians." He heard of this occasion, and went
to the room where the worthy gentlemen
were assembled who were to carry out the
intentions of the Government, and men
toned that he was Interested in seeing JUS
tice done to the Indians, and asked if he
might assist, elf there was space in the
room" The room seemed sufficiently ca
pacious, and he took his seat and OBJ
served with Massachusetts clearness of
spirit the payment of the Indians claims.
1t was Eas simple as good morning. 'tFor
instance" says MIR. Earle, 'No. 70 came
in. His claim was $33S'21. Will
Hanson (the clerk from the Interior Depart
menD sung out the amount and handed the
money to the Indian" The Indian, in the
presence of Mr.. Williamson and of Mr.. Nit
chell, the United States agent, then gave the
storekeeper whatever he said his debt was,
and to General James G.. Blunt, to whom he
owed nothing whatever, one-third of the
whole amount. 1t had all been arranged be-
forehand, and there was no delay. The
scene is too cynical. These cowardly officials,
evidently afraid to insist upon justice, though
they claim to have made formal protest.
stood by and permitted this shameless rob-
Of the leading men of Kansas 1t was clearly
the result of a conspiracy between Blunt
and Mitchell. These two knaves had
persuaded the Indians that Blunt had induced
the President to make the treaty and Con-
gress TO make the appropriation, and that
therefore 33a per centum of the sum coming
to them was due to Blunt. This scoundrel
in his own testimony before the committee
admits that in addition to this robbery of the
ha had fol pEnY fro
the Choctaws, and so from the Chickasaws.
He was SO thoroughly stepped in the corrup-
tion and decentralization which seem insepa-
rable from the conduct of Indian affairs on
the border, that he related these dis
graceful facts with the greatest can
dor and unconcern, evidently regarding
the transaction as a laudable stroke of busi-
ness-unconscious as a gorilla of his naked
ugliness. 1t must be confessed that the
amount he had stolen was sufficient to stife
the voice of conscience in any naturally
vicious mind. Out OF the paymento of 1925, 900
to the Chickasaws, Blunt received $62, 500;
out of So, 900 to the Choctaws, he received
$33, 600; and out of 800, 900 to the Quapaws,
$4,000; in all 1926, 100, out of payments
amounting to $685. 000 This is, for Kansas,
handsome fortune enough to cause jour
nalism to speak with respect of the General,
and to make him an object of interest to venal
booty, it will not be difficult to foresee the
taint of rottenness he will bring into the poll
tics of his State by his restless rascalities and
more pernicious example.
Is there no remedy, no redress, for this
open robbery? The committee languidly say
there is not. "Your committee are not aware
that anything can be done TO punish those
who have heretofore extorted money from the
Indians, or aided others in SO doing, except
to cause strict inquiry to be made into the
conduct of such of these persons as are still
in the employ of the Government, and dis
miss from the service all who have knowingly
violated the law" This they recommend,
and also additional legislation to prevent and
punish these robberies in future But all
this seems futile. What do these rogdes,
with their pockets bursting with plunder,
care for dismissal? If punishment be
escaped this time, way viii be found to cir
cumvent the laws of prevention. The impu'
nifty of Blunt and Mitchell is a fact more
powerful in influence than any statute that
can be framed in Washington. Their rascally
prosperity will make thieves of hundreds.
Let them be compelled to disgorge, and the
work Of prevention will be vastly simplifel.