The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1872-12-13
THE INDIANS.

THE INDIANS.
A.c.alM sysr, e ID: C:"m,.s,:.ss Of In.
Ss.ns ::': 81 s:s. . s:.ia'ss r i:s are sap:
ported
The annual report Of the Commission
err OF Indian Affairs is too lengthy to
admit of its publication in full in these
columns. The document opens with An
exposition Of the Indian policv Of the
Administration, in which the Commits.
sioner remarks that the Indian policy,
20 called, of the Government. is a policy,
and il is not a policy, or rather it con.
sists Of two policies, entirely distinct,
seeming, indeed, to be mutually incon.
sistent and to reflect each upon the
other; the one regulating the treat.
ment of the tribes which are potentially
hostile, that is, whose hostility is only
repressed Just so long as, and SO far as,
they are supported in idleness by the
Government; the other regulating the
treatment Of those tribes which, from
traditional friendship, from numerical
weakness, or by the force of their loca
ton, are either indisposed toward, or
incapable of, resistance to the demands
OF the Government. The treatment of
the feeble Poncas and Of tn" friendly
Arrickarees. Mandans and Gros Ventres
of the North, is an example of the lat
ter; while the treatment of their inso.
lent and emi.hostile neighbors, the
Sioux, furnishes an example OF the
former. In the same way at the South
the treatment of the well.intentioned
Papagoes of Arizona contrasts just as
strongly with the dealings of the Gov.
eminent by their traditional enemies.
the treacherous and vindictive Apaches.
This want Of completeness and consist
ency in the treatment Of the Indian
tribes by the Government has been
made the occasion Of much ridicule and
partisan abuse and it is indeed calcu.
lated to provoke criticism, and to afford
scope for satire; bat it is none the less
compatible with the highest ~expediency
Of the situation.
1t is no more unreasonable, the Com.
missioner says, that the Government
should feed and pamper hostile and
~treacherous Indians, while at the same
time denying the same indulgences
to other and friendlier tribes, than that
a citizen should deliver his purse to a
highwayman to ave his life. 1t is not
to be understood that the Government
is entirely at the mercy of the hostile
Indians, but thousands of citizens upon
the frontier are, and their position on
| the verge of settlement affords %justifi.
cation for buying off the hostility Of the
savages, excited and exasperated as they
are by the invasion of their hunting.
,,1,cl. vy1,,11 ror.,.ra I'M m M tca0ns
at least to form a Gordon sufficient to
protect the frontier settlements by force
of arms alone indeed, the presence Of
no military force could give that conf.
dence to pioneer enterprises which the
general cessation Of Indian hostilities
has engendered. The Commissioner
proceeds at length to show the evils
which would result from the breaking
out of an Indian war.
There are inuumerable little riffs of
agricultural or mining settlements all
over the western country which, if I'm.
molested, will in a few years become
self protecting communities, but which,
in the event OF a general Indian war oc.
curing at the present time, would ut.
terly and instantly disappear. either by
abandonment or massacre.
Besides, argues the Commissioner, a
general Indian war could not be carried
on with the present military force Of the
United States. Regiments would be
needed where now are only companies,
and long lines Of posts would have to be
established for the protection of regions
which, underline present feeding system,
are now left wholly uncovered.
After commencing the policy Of pa.
tience and forbearance that has hith.
erto been exercised toward the savages
Of the plains, the Commissioner pro-
ceeds:
1t belongs not to a sauguine but to a
sober view of the situation, that three
years will zee the alternative of war
eliminated from the Indian question,
and the most powerful and hostile
bands of to-day thrown into entire help
lessness on the mercy of the Govern
ment. Indeed, the progress of two
years more, if not of another summer,
on the Northern Pacific railroad will, of
itself, completely solve the great Sioux
problem, and leave the 10000 Indians
ranging between the two trans-conti.
mental lines as incapable of resisting
the Government as are the Indians of
New York or Massachusetts,. Columns
moving north from the Union Pacific.
and south from the Northern Pacific,
would crush the Sioux and their confed.
crates as between the upper and the
neither milestone; while the rapid move.
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