New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-05-25
THE ACTUAL INDIAN QUESTION:

ministratiOn organs seem to have taken the
cue, from the misunderstanding between the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the visiting
Indians at Washington, suggests the possibility
of premeditated design in the unusual course
adopted towards the visitors by the officers of
the Government. In two OF three quarters, where
heretofore the mild and humane policy of the
Administration towards the nations wards
has been the theme of lavish praise, we re-
mark, since the arrival of Red Cloud, Spotted
Tail, and the rest at Washington and the pub
lished intimatiOns that they were not in entire
harmony with the sincere and thoughtful
statesmen in the Department of the Interior,
that there is an increasing disposition to
criticisc the Noble Red Men as idle and
vicious, untruthfu and ungrateful, paupers
and worse, upon the nations bounty. The
journals which in the last Presidential
campaign and since then, even I'D to within a
week, have pointed with pride to the kind and
humane civlizing and Outstanding, treatment
of tho Indians by the Administration which
have dwelt with pathOs and tears upon the
fact that the Red Man Of the Forest was the
original proprietor of the soil, and that
the White Man had relentlessly pushed
him back and possessed his lands
and hunting grounds, and that it
was only just that we should provide
for his wants, and make Christian and
an agrculturist, or, perhaps, a corner grocer
and Justice of the Peace, of him-these jour
mails are just beginning to discover that the
Noble Red is liar and a thief, besides being
ungrateful, drunken, vicious, and mean, with
no capacity for anything but drawing Govern
ment ratiOns and not sense enough to be sat
isied with them after he gets them
The discovery of the unttness Of the Indian
for civilization, and of his general cussedness
in all the relations of life, has been made since
the Indian himself discovered, or thought he
discovered, that the bounties which the Gov
eminent voted him, instead of reaching
him, were distributed among agents,
and traders, and broken-down minis
tcrs, and all sorts of contractors, on
the way; so that while middlemen
were getting rich he had to grumble and
starve. The admirers Of the humane policy now
say: "Well, who are these Indians any way Z
"They make great deal of fuss about their
"meat and their ratiOns, their annuities, their
"agents, and all that-what business have
"thcy to make any fuss about anything I
"They do nothing towards earning living
"the Government supports them in idleness and
IGNORANCE, and the poor wretchcs, instead OF
"shOwing decent sense of gratitude do nothing
"but grumble and make trouble and when they
come on to Washington, at Government ex-
"pense, as they do, they put on the airs OF
distinguished guests, aud demand of the
Government that they be permitted to choose
their own quarters among the Washington
" Hotels" Meantime the Indians themselves,
instead of being coddlcd and petted, as they
have been heretofore when visiting the
Great Father, have been contradicted and
thwartcd in their wishes, their request to be
quartered where they have been on previous
occasions has been refused Qor which there
may be some good reason which has not been
given, they have been denied permission to
communicate with whom they please, and,
all together, the treatment given them has
been such as was calculated to ex-
cito their resentment rather than win their
favor. That they should talk unreasonably
about their claims to consideration, and make
extravaganza statements and demands, is per-
haps no more than was to be expected. Per-
haps no more than the Department officers
expected. Possibly part of the plan to dis
tract public attention from the real
grounds of complaint in these cases, and
direct it to the unreasonablcness Of the
charges and the extravaganza of the
demands of the complaining chiefs. If this is
the plan, the Administration organs have
caught it up with cOmmendable alacrity The
most servile of them have already taken the
scent, and are busy denOuncing the Sioux
chiefs as a set of idle and vicious National
paupers.
/. This, we insist, is entirely outside the qucs-
ton at issue. Whether these people are idle
or vicious, or capable of being Christianized
whether they are reasonable or unreasonable,
grateful or ungrateful, or whether they ought
to be maintained in idleness or compelled
like other people to earn their subsist-
ence, does not concern us now. The qucs-
tons of Indian policy proper are questions
of legislation, and are the business of Con-
gress. What these chiefs are complaining of
is simply that they do not get what Congress
approprates to them, and what we the people
pay for. They are robbed by agents,
contractors, traders, plunderers. No mat
ter whether they are reasonable in expect
ing so much as they do or not. 1t is
for the department having their affairs in
charge, to see that they get what the Govern
ment appropriates for them. That is matter
of Justice to the Indians; and what is of more
account and vastly more Importance to
as, az a nation of honest and fair-dealing men,
matter that goes to our own self-respcct
and our sense of what is honest and clean.
We treat these people, in our legislation
for and in behalf of them, as children. We
have always so treated them and 30 provided
for them. Is it not an amazing shame, if,
after such recognition of their weakness and