New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-06-02
WASHINGTON.
COMPLIES OF THE INDIAN RING.

AND THE SECRETARY OF TffE INTERIOR FOR DE-
VENDING THOSE WHO coNNIvE AT FRAUD.
fyRox THE REGCLAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON, May SO.-The Indian Ring received
some very hard blows last week, which, if followed
rp as they certainly viii be, must do it great dam
age, IT, in fact they do not finally result in its over
throw. 1t has been proved beyond question that
affairs at the Red Cloud Agency have been very
loosely and eorrupty managed, in fact that the
representations made by Prof. Marsh to the Presi-
dent and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, seve-
raj weeks ago, and repeated more at length to the
Board of Indian Commissioners in New-YOrk fell
far short of the truth There is no longer any doubt
that the contractors who have been furnishing sup
plies for this Agency have been allowed to deliver
articles which far inferior in quality to those
which they were paid to furnish and that as re-
ult the Indians suffered severely during the last
Winter.
The most outrageous cheating has probably been
done in connection with the cattle contract. Red
Cloud, in his interview with the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, Prof. Marsh and Others, last Friday
said that the cattle issued at the time Prof. Marsh
was at the Agency were good" Now Prof. Marsh
says that he stood at the opening of the corral when
those cattle were issued and examined them care
fully as they went out that many of them were so
small and scraggy that the Indians pointed at them
and jeered, and that they were the poorest lot OF
Texas cattle he ever His testimony is sus-
tanned by that of several army officers, who were
also present. There cattle among them that
did not weigh any more than the seven examined by
Gen. Bradley and his fellow officers at the request of
Red Cloud and Red Dog, and which did not weigh
more than SOS pounds each. If then the cattle
which Prof. Marsh were good in the estima-
tiOn of Red Cloud, what must have been the charac
ter of those which be calls bad
OF course the first responsibility for these inferior
sot4l tha Ruf the Indian
Agent placed there to watch the contractor and to
zee to il that lac does cheat the Indians and the
Government and If he accepts cattle that infe
rior in quality he shares the responsibility with the
contractor and is quite guilty. This seems to be
Just the position in which Red Clouds Agent
stands. If we believe Prof. Marsh and the army
officers who have visited the Agency, and nobody
will be bold enough to doubt the truth of their tes
timony, then the Agent must have been an accom-
pce in the frauds because they could not have been
committed without his knowledge and he could
have prevented them.
Going one step further, the Commissioner of In
dian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior also
become accOmplces by defending the Agent who
negects his duty cOnnves at fraud. Of course 1t
is i'm possible for the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
TO know what his subOrdinates doing 1000
miles away. But when reputable and Tespon-
sible witnesses like Prof. Marsh and Off
GERS OF the United states ARMY
him that bis representatives are allowing the con-
tractors to cheat the Indians the Government,
there is only one way for him TO escape the respon
sbiliy for the wrongdOing himself, and that is by
taking immediate measures TO stop it. But this is
Just the course which he did not take. When Prof.
Marsh showed Commissioner Smith the samples of
bad ratiOns which Red Cloud had given him, instead
of saying: "Why this is all wrong and must be
stopped knew nothing about this, but l will take
immediate measures to have it corrected, he at once
attempted 10 explain it away. The flour was some,
he said, that had been issued two years ago; he
knew that il worthless. but il not the kind
that the Indians now receiving Red Cloud
had picked out the bad beans from the coffee,
selected some sugar that had been wet, and poor
piece of tobacco. Now Commissioner Smith actually
knew nothing about the matter when he made this
explanation and it now turns out that he was wholly
mistaken. Red Cloud says that the samples he gave
Prof. Marsh taken from the provisions which
they were then using and that they obtained
ia Red Dogs lodge and his own.
But the responsibility of Commissioners Smith for
these frauds is shown even more fOrcibly by other
circumstances. He knew that the Agent was not a
proper for the place, because, while he attempted
20 explain away the frauds which Prof. Marsh
brought to his attention, he admitted DR.. Savilles
hcompetency, and excused hpself for retaining
him by saying that he was good man could be
obtained for$ 800 ;anditnOw turns out thatin
addition to the accusations which were made against
the Agent by the representative of the old Board of
Indian Commissioners who was sent to make an in
sestigaton, and which Dr. Saville able partially
10 smooth over when Bishop Hare's commission Wis
tied the agency, other irregularities had been
brought to the attention of Mr.. Smith by the Rev.
Mr. Human. who is now here. and the Commissioner
himself admits that he has long known what kind
g ffto 20 D / ba p1aq
that he has long been aware that Savile had ex-
hhanged ten bags of the -four furnished by the
tractor for six of quality which he could use in his
bwn family; that he had kept clerk on his pay
rolls for months before he arrived 10 assume his
duties and that he had done other things which
would not be considered honest in Washington or
Hew-York.
Both the President and Acting Secretary COwen
have attempted TO impress upon the Indians the fact
that according 10 the treaty of 1868, the United
States agreed 20 furnish them food only five years
that what they have received during the past two
gears has been a gratuity, and, although they have
not said it, the only natural conclusion that could be
urawn has been that il would be particularly I'M
grateful in them TO complain of the quality or the
quantity of the provisions which they have right
10 ask for and which they only receive the
GUS gift of the Government This idea seems to
have had an influence upon Red Cloud. The Presi-
sent told him that he would have right TO com
plain if Congress should make provision for him
and his people next year. What would be more
natural than for him to II that Is So then
4 may not he good policy for me 10 make any com
plants at ALL" This is probably the explanation Of
the hesitancy with which Red Cloud spoke on Fri
Say. But the question between the people and the
indian Ring is not whether Congress has treated
these Indians generously or not, but whether the
s.NaIh