Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1872-12-12
Report OF the Commissioner Q
Indian Affairs.

| Indian AuAirSs
The following are the main features o
the report of General Walker, Commits
sioner of Indian Affairs:
Want Of completeness aud consistency IN tn
| treatment OF Indian tribes by the Government ma
been made the occasion for much ridieulc ana par
tisan abuse and II IL JUDGED calculated TO provok
criticism and to afford scope for satire but 1t u
none the less compatible with the highest expe
diency Of the situation j. L. OF s9nrse, hopeless
shonld be proportional not to the good but II,
il-aescrt OF the several tribce, but that large bod
les Of Indians should be supported In entire indc
| because they audaciOus and insolent, while
wcll.disposed Indians are only assisted to self
maintenance, sinee It is known they VIII not hght
! 1t is hardly less than absurd the fret view Of Il
that delegations from tribes that have frequently
! denied our authority, and fought our troops aud
who never yielded more than partial and grudg
ing obedience to the most reasonable requirements
of the Government, should be entertained Mt the
national capital, Toasted and loaded with presents
There could be no better subject for the lively par
agraphist In his best estate, or for the heavy S0
torial writer's on dull news day, than such q
course on the part OF the Government These
things can he made to appear vastly amusing, and
are undoubtedly Influenced, In great degree, to
| the prejudice Of the Indian policy, by the inces-
SAINT small-arms frc Of equibe and epigrams even
| more perhaps than BY the ponderons artillery O
yet for all this, the Government Il rigid, and its
critics strong The Indian policy is sound, scnsi-
Bile and bencfcent. because 1t reduces the
minimum loss vi life and property upon our
frontier, and allows the freest development Of our
settlements and railways possible under the cir.
cumstanccs. The mistake OF those who oppose
the present Indian policy Is not IN enormously
trying to change the course OF the Government
from the standard they have taken, but in taking
an altogether false standard for the purpose. n
should do much for hostile Indians and little Tor
friendly Indians than 1t Is that private citizen
should to save his life surrender all the contents
occasion. to distressed and deserving applicant
for charity he would measure his contribution BY
his means and disposition at the time. There IL
the Government In feeding saucy and mischeivous
Indians to rcplcton while permitting more tracta-
BILE and peaceful tribes to gather bare
course, TO be understood that the Govern
ment OF the United States IL at the mercy Of the
Indians but thousands Of It's citizens are ct their
verge Of the settlements, affords Sufficient just
fcation to the Government for buying on the
hostility OF savage, excited and exaeperated as
their hunting grounds and the threatened extnc-
ton Of game. 1t would require 100000 troops at
least to form Gordon behind which onr settle
mants could advance with he extent Of the range
Of unrestraned choice Of location security Of feel
ing and freedom Of movement which have charac-
terized the growth of the past three or four year,
the o.
general cessation Of Indian hostility has
engendered. Men Of an adventurous cast
will LIVE h and po. wSe , osana ae 81
feeling on that account, but as rule men Will not
place women and children in situations OF even
possible peril, nor viii they put money inso per
Especially has the absence Of Indian hostilties
been Of the highest value. within the last few
years. In directing and determining to the extreme
frontier emigration arriving in such ynet numbers
on our shores. Americana, habituated to contem-
plation of this species Of danger - one of the ea-
lures Of pioneer life, will scarcely comprehend the
reluctance with which those accustomed to abeo-
Lutte security Of person and property in the settled
countries OF Europe expose themselves and their
families to peris OF this kind. The fact that Ame-
ricans are more daring and adventurous in the
presence of danger more familiar to them, con-
stitutes stronger reason for maintaining the I'M
mnnity which has for three years now been ee-
able little riffs Of agricultural mining settlements
all over the Western country, which, i unmolest-
ed, will in few years become elf-protecting
communities. but which, in the event Of . general
Indian war occurring at the present time, would
utterly and instantly eithsf ~ ssin
tion is now slowly but steadily creeping under
Of the feeding system, swept bare BY the hor-
rible atrocities 81 an Indian war, Or deserted BY
them what Of their stock could be gathered togeth
er at moments notice, and bearing away what Of
their household goods could be carried IN their
with the most favorable ,ssue Of military opera.
tons.
1t IL right that those who cidcise the policy Of
the Government toward the Indians, and ridicule
it as undignihed in It's concession, and unstatee-
manlike In Its temporizing with recognised evil
should fairly face one alternative which 10 pre-.
sented There Is no question OF national dignity;
savages by civilized power. With wild men, a.
with wild beasts, the question whether, In given
situation, one shall nght or run y question mere
now pursued In dealing with rowing tribes danger
Gus to our frontier population and obstrnctng our
industrial progress is entirely consistent, and re-
in restraining chastising refractory individuals
and bands. Such . use of military constitutes no
abandonment Of the peace policy. involves no dis
paragement in 1t. 1t was not expected In the ma
ture OF things that the entire body Of Indians
should be restrained in Ishmaelitish proclivities
without struggle on the part OF the more MOI suda
nouncement made Of the reservation systemit was
expressly declared that the Indians should be made
as comfortable on and as uncomfortable o. their
reservations as 1t WAS in the power Of the Govern
ment to make them; that such Of them - went
right should be protected and fed. and such ~
went wrong should be herraseed and .courged
that the Government has seemed somewhat tardy
in proceeding under the second half OF the reeer-
vaton policy and In applying the scourge 70 indi-
without authority or for hostile purposes. The
sentiment Of the general community being that
forbearance was due to the 1Edians, on account Of
past wrongs and the Government. having such
full knowledge Of the difficulties to be encounter
ed In fully acquainting these people with its benev-
client Intentions. all resources OF c1Postnlaton
and Cancellation have been exhausted before the
aid of the military arm has been invoked. Itis no
matter for wonder or blame that communities
which suffer most from \ continuance Of the evils
should complain bitterly, and accuse the Govern.
ment Of inaction without inquiring very closely
whether the evil il not the result Of Z previous
wrong on the part OF those TO whose good things
they succeed alike, whether their present trou.
Dles are not the waves Of storm that IL over and
past but It Is the duty Of the Government to act
the premises with somewhat broader view and
more phlOeOphic temper than 10 to be expected OF
those who are a tnally smarting in their families
and their property from the scourge Of Indian
depredationr. The patience and forbearance ex-
erceed have been fully justified In their fruit The
main body OF rowing Indians have with good grace,
or with III grace submitted to the reservation sys
tenn. There is residue whose disposition and
further ferbearance. The numbers 81 actually
hostile and depredating bands of to-day probably
do not exceed in the aggregate 1900. Among
principally the Toloso Apaches, the Quehoda, the
Comanches and their confederates Of the Staked
Plains west of the Indian country, and the greater
the ass nnmSei Of ee end
small, known to the annals Of the country to Sc
lect three which have 90 little in the way of past
to Justify their these
RACES properly to be charged against the Indians.
The depredafions Of tie Kiowas and Comanches
are utterly without excuse. An example made here
both with other Indians and with the country at
large, as well to free the borders Of Texas from
ecourge that has become Noticeable 1t lie saying
nothing against the course of the Government to-
ward the semi pcaceabe tribes to allege as Is often
done. that 1t Is merely temporizing with an evil.
Temporizing. as an expedient in government, may
be either proof Of weakness and folly, or It may
be proof Of the highest wisdom When an evil
is manifeey on the increase, and tends to 60 from