Arizona citizen., 1872-07-20
GEN. TOWARDS REPORT.

| " ASHlNGTOh, J uiy O.-OCAcIdi uONu VI has made report to the Secretary of the Interior of his operations in Arizona. He believes that General Crook should have large discretion. No one can do anything well, bound hand and foot by multitude of specific orders, which may or may not apply to the situation. General Howard recommends that the order relieving Gen. eral Crook from the operations of the telegram which suspended hostilities against those Indians who refuse to obey the orders of the Government, with O view to another strenuous effort | for peace, be confirmed, and that his hands be strengthened by allowing an additional number of mechanics and laborers; and further that soldiers may be able to per form the duty of soldiers.
 If the whole report is in like tenor, it will receive our emphatic approval. It was our expressed conviction, after free and frank interviews with Gen. eral Howard, that he would deal fairly on the main question, and the above IS proof that in making up his report for the Government and the country, the paramount feature of his mission, he has been governed by truth and the necessities of the situation. What the complete text will show remains to be seen, but the foregoing is so satisfactory, that we are not at all apprehensive about the remainder. The main question treated justly, diff ferences on details should not be un- expected, and ought to and will meet with tolerance. If any body in or out of Arizona, has only private or individual ends to subserve in this h. dian business, we regard the criticism of such as worthless and despicable. The grand object sought by THE CITI- ZEN from the beginning, and will be to the end, is security to life and property from savage Indians. All discussions thereon in this paper, bitter and personal as they have been at times, were prompted by this desire. A white ally of @ savage is worse than savage, and accordingly we have treated him. The highest motive for the public good, has prompted all assertions, compliments and accusa- tions of THE CITIZEN, and as we have told some miserable two-legged whelps to their face, any man who as- serts the contrary is an unmitigated liar-in the language of the good Horace Greeley.
 General Howard, true to his first letter on the subject to the President, believes in General Crook, and recom- mends that he "have large discre- tion;" also declares, in that behalf, what ought to be framed in letters of gold and hung in full view of every officer who directs operations at a great distance from them, viz:
 No one can do anything we'll, bound hand and foot by a multitude of spe- citicorders which may or may not apply to the situation.
 This statement coupled with the re- commendations that General Crook should have large discretion and his hands be strengthened, is not only an unqualified endorsement of the De- partment Commanders entire fitness and ability for the work in hand, but is the plainest excuse for any ap- parent lack of practical results by that distinguished officer. Again, the dispatch shows that personal ob- servations among the citizens and h. dians of Arizona, led General How ard to the same conclusions that our people generally have had forced upon them by years of terrible experience.
 Twice has General Crook been re- stricted in his movements, when per sonally leading his forces after hostile Indians, and General Howard report is an admission that the restrictions were mistakes, although lastly made |" with view to another strenuous ef- fort for peace," and is confirmation Of fha rizopo fhaorp tbo& tt,l