The weekly Arizona miner., 1873-03-01
Chr |%s a(iner.
Origin of the Modoc War.

Origin of the Modoc War.
 The following letter, written from Stock ,dc, California, under date of December b, 1872 by Jesse Applcgate, we copy from the Washington Weekly Chronicle:
 We have had no intercourse with the out sIde world since my letter of tha 10th inst, nor has an enemy presented himself, but the Indian being the absgrbing subject can not better pass tho Sabbath than by telling you what think of him and his affairs.
 In my former letter endeayored Co ex- plsin the state of things in the Modoc coun- t-y prior to the abortiye attempt of the mil itary to remove a part of the Modoc tribe 10 the reservation. From which you may per csive that property was unsafe, and that if n settler, provoked beyond his endurance, should avenge his injuries, the country might be plunged into the horrors of an Indian war; that SO situated tn: country was no iit abode for 0 civilized population, and offered no en- couragemert to labor or the investment of capital, and that expensive enterprises, such .. you contemplate, must be postponed until there is better assurance they can be prose- cuted with safety and success.
 Even after the Indians are sub lued who arc at present hostile, there will be neither security to property or certainty ot peace SD long as tho Indians of the reservation are turned loose upon us, making this in all re- spects an Indian country nine months of the year, killing cattle, burning the grass, and otherwise annoying the settlers.
 Agent Dyar, when remonstratcd with about turning his Indians upon the settle ments, said: "The Klamath reservation will not keep the Indians upon it without larger provision for their subsistence, and if they must hereafter be confined to their reserva- ton their annuitics must be increased, or they removed to some place more abounding in spontaneous productions, or where the earth more generously and certainly rewards cultivation
 There is much truth in what the agent says The selection of Klamath reservation was made without thought or judgment, and badly suited to the purposes intended It is . high valley, immediately under the lee of the Cascade mountains, on the west. and the high divide of the Columbia waters on the north, subject to killing frosts through all the summer months, and deep and lasting snows in winter.
 change could scarcely be made for the worse, for, except the snowy mountain sum- mits, no part of the Onion south of the Brit ish line presents Ices cnc3lrag megt f1 t.e farmer.
 The question is, wiN CoDgre-s ast fgara. biy. guI a.t .u ttnC upon fue subject 'u -as. from ram tae present tett,--l
 Jtssag from tbe past tho proper remedy vii. be relua.| or if granted .1 long delayed as to amount about t1 the same thing. SD f8- aG Che preser settler. are concerned.
 it seems Co be the role of our government never t0 anticipate or take any steps to pro. vent threatened evil. and t0.tio-e existing HU ..I IN H.s.f
 run tteir course. Protection reacbe, a nanaced frontier after ifs people sie k led and tLeir property r.yaECl nod i,s Indian "waris, for whose welfare it ls more soIici- tols tban for the igcs af .s citizens are ire. qrnu.ly ief. Co ba d5e1ei by p,cgat1rs and dcirauded of tbe means intended '9- their support Uutii che Indians. -cadel Co do sJ by cold aud hunger. siIi @ tew citizens and raysgs @ settlement ty cs!, its attention. They nase ie-.aS1 by e-rcuea-r Chat t8i5 s the shortest and most certain way to better treatment. These things have been repeated under my own observation for half century. Through this long series of years, and under the rule of the inherent parties which have controlled the Government, in the Indian Department has always been found the cl- max of corruption and mismanagement for the time being
 OAbtI III tue CIVIL service, those in the Indian Department are claimed as ''perquisets" by the delegations in Congress of State or Territory to which they belong. And, as a matter of course the aifices reward the personal friends and psrtisans of . Senator or Delegate having them in his gift. Qualification being a sec ondary consideration, and the duties of the Indian service supposed 10 be easy and to be | discharged on the distant frontier, are but little exposed to the scrutiny of the people. ! The partisan whose lack of character or ca | pacity units him for any public duty or trust. but who mus, be removed from the public gaze or escape criminal prosecution for the l dirty work he has done uith and for his pat ron, if he belongs West, usually finds place in the Indian Department.
 Hence it is that the Indians have so often been in the hands of bad, interruptions men, i and SO seldom in the care of those disposed to do their duty.
 That bane of the civil service, rotation in | office," also produces its worst fruits in the | Indian Department
 Human reforms, to be permanent like the trees of the forest, are of slow growth. The making of a farm, the first step toward a permanent supply of the daily wants of civ Ilized men, Is a work of time. The faithful agent who enters earnestly upon the arduous task Of bettering the condition of the help less people in bis charge must of necessity withdraw himself from an active participa ton in politics, and devote the full energies of both mind and body to the task before him, by the time he has gained the confidence of his charges, fully digested his plans. and entered upon their execution, his term of 'tice expires, and having done no new ser rice for his patron to entitle him to a con inuance in office, he has to give place to one rho has, his plans and good intentions per sh, and the hopes his charges may have built upon them end in bitter disappoint- nent
 General Grant when he served as sub. itern on the frontier doubtless saw and ioted these facts; and among his first efforts 70 secure an honest, efficient administration 'i the Government removed the Indians from Inder the control of the politicians. But the measure was met with a perfect eel of opposition from the Western deleoa (