The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-10-20

tioh puitou uhi ~ was niS uuby w huht
himself familiar with its management, yet,
under him, vast series of frauds have
grown up, lncompetency and dishonesty
have ruled, and tor years the country has
been ringing with the "abuses at the Indian
agencies" and yet this commission can
only report that "it did not appear in evi.
dence' that Columbus Delano was aware
of them but the country Knows that he
made no effort to ferret out and correct
abuses or punish fraud. Do we need more
evidence against Columbus Delano than
this very report presents9
The personal and official character of
Edward p. Smith, commissioner of Indian
affairs, is, also, as these commissioners re-
port. without spot or blemish, yet they,
without the seeking, find "mdny transac-
i" lions" in which then, was an entire alb
sence of astuteness, vigilance and decision
of character on his part. These character
istics, they say, should belong to the COM
missioner, but as the commission are COM
PEELED reluctantly to find them wanting IN
Smith, we take IL that his integrity, too, is
sustained at the expense of his intelligence
and that the commission intend to say that
he is unfit for his position, never should
have been appointed and ought not TO be
suffered to remain any longer For CON-
tainly applied the whitcwash in very
bungling way, and Delano and Smith
must be easily satisfied if they view with
compacency the certificate of character
thus awarded them.
The report, all the way through, shows
how difficult it was. even for this commits.
sion, to exonerate the secretary and COM
missioner, and how little worth its labored
vindication is. 1t virtually finds that the
Indians, at the Red Cloud agency, were
overestmated for the purposes of fraud
but fails TO report it as fact because the
say so of the agent-for whose benefit the
fraud inured-ls only opposed by the tesli-
mony of Professor Marsh and the army
officers. The keeping of the accounts
ot 'bC aSShNJ Nho tANCcuinSJ lCOoO
and Detective" so that the commits
sion of frauds was rendered easy, and
for that the department is censurable but
not to blame. The requirements of the
treaty have been "utterly disregarded,' but
this is no cause for suspicion or even cen
sure. There could have been no fraud,
they say, in the supplying of beef cattle
because the contractor made only one hun
dred and seventeen thousand five hundred
dollars out of the less than eight hundred
thousand paid by tie government, and az
to the cattle being "smal and Inferior"
the idea is really preposterous, because the
contractor took pains. during their investi-
CATION, to deliver lot which were all
weighed, "cXcept three wild aud power
ful steers by and in the presence of the
commissioners and they were found TO be
so. X" Conclusive proof, equally of the
shrewdness of the contractor and the guilt
bility OF the commissioned contractors
knew the commission far better than the
commission knows the country. When the
report is not occupied with this kind of
special pleading, evasions and endeavoring
to find excuses, 1t is filled with the expo
sure of fraud, yet the conclusion is that
Delano and Smith were whitc-soulcd Off
Gals. We said, at the outset, that we we're
not surprised AT the report, but the more
we examine it, the greater is our surprise,
not at the conclusions, for those were ex-
pected, but that the commission, while
vindicatirg and acquitting, should make
the guilt OF these officials so painfully APP
parent.