The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-05-17

met have retired into o~bscUrtty.
The LEADER Will continue, as
it has done heretofore. to champion
the rights Of the people OF Cheyenne
and Wyoming Territory. and to wage
vigorous war upon llseir old enemies,
the Denver Nctrs, Laramie .S,IifiHci
and the small remnant of the Id or
rupt Wyoming ring.
Certified Abstracts of lot titles
promptly furnished by
mstr CnRLErT q STEVENS.
Indian agent has become another
name for dishonesty. To accept the
position of an Indian agent now-a-
days. is to brave the general opinion
that the incumbent will enter upon n
career Of fraud aud ~peculntinn, and
after awhile retire from the office dis
gustingly rich. \ similar view was
current about quartcrmasters at the
close Of the war, and the position Of Il
uuartCrmastcr was almost certain to
bring down upon the head of the occu-
pant comments unfavoraole TO his in
tegrity. There were n number of
dishonest quurtcrmasters, whose acts
of dishonesty were susceptible Of proof,
and were proven, and these were dis
IGNORED and dismissed, OF ought to
have been. There were many others
who were accused Of dishonesty, but
the charges could not be maintained,
either because no dishonest acts could
be proved against Them, or because
acts seemingly dishonest lacked the
criminal intent requisite to give them
guilty impress, and which upon in
quiry and explanation amounted to
nothing more serious than neglect OF
carplessness. Yet there were honest
and efficient quartcrmasters i'll the
army during the war and since, and
! there will continue &c be honest men
and dishonest meu in the same depart
mcnt so long IS property is to be cared
for and accounted for, and so long as
/ the same can be the subject of theft.
So too with the Indian agencies of
the country there will continue to be
In the future, as,there have been in the
past, some honest Indian agents and
some who are dishonest. The temptl-
ton surrounding Indian agents gem
orally are greater than hat of persons
in more settled and civilized stations
in life, aud their facilities for doing
some " business" Of a dishonest char
actCr are better. To begin with, their
salaries are wholly inadequate and
are no reasonable compensation for
the risks they assume and the services
they are required to render. This is
poor economy but the fault lies with
the government. Servants are more
apt to remain honest, where the mus-
ter rCmuncratcs them fuirly if the
master fails to do this, there is danger
that the servants will remunerate
themselves ut the masters expense
when it can be done un observed. In
dian agents incur great risks, are re-
quired to give bonds, and their salary
is fixed Mt $500 n year. No Il will
pretend that this is adequate pay for
the agent. He knows it is not enough
but there are various ways in which
in little odds and ends of jobs, he can
turn an honest penny, and he does It.
In various ways he makes up to him
self what the government should pay
him. But in this he does wrong-as
much 80 as the servant who would
GEEK 70 repair Ivy theft what he
thought his master had wronged him
cut of. The system is wrong. The
agents should be paid better than they
are now, or a change of agents 1T a
given agency will not be certain to
effect much of a reform.
We have not the fnintest idea that a
ch"Rgc o fagents will result in n change
Of tactics at the agencies, so that the
Indians will receive more and better
goods than the government purchased
for them. Although the ear-piercing
howls that bave recently been raised,
might induce many to think that n
change of agents was all that was
necessary to change the character of
Indian goods for the better and swell
the amount of The purchases. This is
a mistake. The Indians get the goods
contracted to be delivered to them by
the Indian Commission, as a rule.
INa-f ra hin ra YNpl ~rNrnrk, - FNr r, 10