New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-07-09
THE INDIAN NEGOTIATIONS

Through the efforts of Indian Inspector j.
w. Daniels the treaty which the Indian Bureau
of the Interior Department failed to make with
the Sioux Indians for the REIMBURSEMENT OF their
hunting privileges in Nebraska on the occasion
of the recent visit of Red Cloud, Spotted Tail,
and others of the tribe to Washington has
been consumnated, and Dr. Daniels is now on
his way to the capital with the necessary
documents all signed, sealed, and delivered
An interesting account of the negotia-
tons and their effect upon the Indians VIII
be found in the letter of n correspondent at
Red Cloud Agency. The necessity OF this ar
rangcmcnt by which the settlers in those pOr-
tions of Nebraska which were left open to the
Indians are delivered from the incursiOns of the
savages has long been felt, and the Department
has heretofore urged, both on behalf OF the
settlers themselves and as needed restraint
upon the Indians, that this step be taken. The
iniidicious management of the business when
Red Cloud and Spotted Tail were at
Washington and the dcep-scated dis
trust entertained by the two chiefs and
their followers of the honesty and sincerity of
the department with which they had to DEAL
defeated the negotiations at that time. But
Dr. Daniels. the Indian Inspector, seems to be
one of the few officials in whom the Indians
have confidence, and with him they treated
unreservedly.
The point gained by him in inducing the
Indians to take the $4,000 paid by Govern
mcnt for this REIMBURSEMENT Of hunting priv
ilcges in cattle, wagons, and harness, is a
very important one. Their first choice
was for horses and arms and ammuni-
ton the very things they should not
have il they are to be encouraged in any
attempt at self-maintcnance or discouraged by
peaceful methods from their n0madic habits
and savage modes of life. The soil and eli
mate of their reservations are not such as in
vic to successful agriculture, and even if they
were, the prcudiccs of the people are so strong
against agricultural pursuits that it would he
almost impossible in their present condition to
overcome them. The plan of leading them
out of savagcry toward civilization by the sue
ces,ve stages which history tells us were
adopted in the first essays of man
kind to rise out of baibarsm, has
long been considered by thoughtful persons
the only practical solution of the problem
which their existence on the continent pre-
sens to us. The first step is to make them, from
hunters, shepherds and stock-raiscrs; from
that to tilling the soil and the processes of agl-
culture is natural and easy. The experience of
the Government with those tribes which have
already become civilized and self-slIstaning
proves that their progress in the direction of
civilization must be slow and by successive
steps, and that they need careful oversight
and an honest administration at every step.
With the best intentions on the part Of the
General Government it has to he confessed
that through lack of knowledge in part and
very largely through the Deliberate dishonesty
of the agents who have been in;nisted with
the business, the administration of our
IA'ian affairs has been almost from the