National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-01
TIE INpLAY QUEsTTo N:

One of the most interesting and forcible
speeches on the Indian question yet deliv-
cred in Congress is that of Hon. Isaac C.
Parker, of Missouri. We hardly expected
to hear from a Representative on the west
ern border of Missouri such an able and
even enthusiastic Endorsement Of the hu-
name and just policy Of treating the Indian.
But Col. Parker has thus shown himself
able to rise above prejudice and passion,
and to look at the question in Its broader
and more statesmanlike view. This aspect
is the one to which all thinking and reflect
ing men are, sooner or later, compelled to
give their serious attention. The cry of
war and determination is so entirely incom-
patible with our leading instinct as nation
as to find Judgment no where save In the
breasts of those whose personal ends are to
be subseryed by the enforcement of such o
policy. A very strong point in Col. Par
Rer's speech, which he has presented and
elaborated with almost warm enthusiasm,
is the duty devolving on this great and free
Government to civilize, educate and thus
Christianize these people, who were once
strong enough to compel terms of
peace and amity from those who
now, in some intances, at least,
seek to degrade and grind them in
the dust. The least we can do, Mr.
Parker says, and says eloqeently, is to pre-
pare them for the process of assimilation.
by which they may take their places in our
body polite, without corrupting or poison
ing it. He points, with conclusive logic,
to what has been done by the Cherokees,
Choctaws, Siminoles, Chickasaws, and
many other tribes as evidence Of what can
and must sooner or later, be done with all,
even the widest of the tribes who have
until recently, at least. lived by the chase
alone. The speech Is unusually replete
with interesting statistics, and we find in
it the first reliable statement we have seen
of the present proportion Of civilized and
semi-ciyilized tribes to those which are still
esteemed wholly barbarous. Taking the
total number of Indians at 300, 900, which
is undoubtedly liberal estimate, he finds
that about $4,000 are still wholly barbarous,
that is, living wholly or nearly so, without
aid or influence from civilized sources.
On the point Of the steady increase of In
dian appropriations, which is pointed to in
some quarters, Mr.. Parker makes some
very pointed observations. He shows by
the record that of the present total of the
Indian bill the sum Of 50, 100, STA is paid as
the direct result of the treaties made In 1857
and 1868, by Gen. Sherman and his associ-
ates, with the Sioux, Crows. Utes, Conan
ches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes and
other bands, who. prior thereto, were in q
state Of almost chronic warfare with the
settlers and the Government which wars,
as shown by the remarkable report of Gen
erals Sherman, Harvey, Augur, &C., cost
the Government in four years, from 1864
to 1867, not less than serenity millions of
dollars, and nothing was accomplished by
it save an agreement on the part of the
Government that hereafter it would keep
its pledged faith with these tribes and give
them no pretext for war. It Is these
pledges which these annual appropriations
are carrying out, and Congress must sim
ply elect whether it will do this or return
to the war policy Of former years To any
one who carefully investigates the situa-
ton, as Mr.. Parker has evidently done,
there can be but one result
The proposition to give the control of In
dian affairs to the War Department, Mr..
Parker reSsets on the ground, first, that it
has been tried and has sadly failed; that If
peace policy, with its concomitants of ed
ucation and civilization, is to prevail the
civil arm of the Government must direct it;
that the contiguity of the army to the In
dian is demoralizing In the extreme to both
classes, and. that on the score of expense,
it will prove no economy whatever. Mr..
Parker's conclusions are sound and his ar
gument unanswerable. .....