The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1876-08-18
Ehe Indian ~sItuailon.

distributions of food and clothing
in retufn for the surrender OF
lands which they really never
owned in any sense in which the
'VCrl j. Used in civilized iurispru-
dence; is a system of legaliZed
pauperism, containing all the
sGiis of paupcrism in It's worst
form. 1t world not pc possible
ior d civilized government 10 do
4 band of savages a worse injury
than to collect them in a camp
around a store house, and give
them provisions and coarse cloth
ing for nothing through employees
of little character ~ education,
and treat tiItir crimes and Outra
Ees as corporate and not individ-
ual offences, and send an army
against the tribe when one mem
Der of il commits a mErder or
lifts cattle" There l. in this
ruin for both body and soul. 1t
gould debauch white Iaen Of any
race: NC Wonder it debauches saw
ages. What we now
do is to degrade the tame Indians
into lazy and filthy paupers, pig
paratory to their extinction
through disease, drunkenness,
and the loss Of vital power which
results from total lack of occupa-
ton and the disuse of the observ-
ing and inferring faculties, whilG
we pursue and kill the Indians at
great loss of live to ourselves.
n fact, our philantmophy and our
hostility tend to about the same
end, and that is the destruction
of the Indian race, and th2re is
nothing in cur experience to set
tie which is the more rapid pro
cess. The Improvements which
we have endeavored to make ia
the ph~ilanthropic enterprise have
been curiously charactistic Of our
politics daring the last forty years,
and are a valuable illustration of
The moral bearings Of Il civil
Service. Ii is now a settled max
i'm in the administration Of the
more highly civilized countries of
Uhristiandom that in dealing with
conquered populations, occupy
ing for any reason the position of
wards or clients, the representa-
lives of the government ought to
be persons Of peculiarly careful
training and high character-that
j., that the best side Of the nation
ought to be presented to its de
pendents: hat if harsh measures
ore called for, they should at least
See the justice and probity Of its
officers; if measures Of relief or
Regeneration, that they should
encounter its men Of science and
It's ablest administrators and most
experienced philanthropists. We
have had this kind Of work de-
volve on rs only twice in our his
tory-in dealing with the Indians,
and in dealing with the South;
and in both cases, where England,
France, and Prussia would have
used the power Of their educatRd
youth, their most honor(l sol
ltiers, and wise9t Lawyers and
Scientific men, we collected a
large horde of broken-down men
.f all trades and callings, and men
of name, the riff-ralr Of cancauses
and nominating copventions-in
fact, the very refuse Of our busy
and prosperous Society-and
made them the medium through
which the Government came IN
contact with its vassals and wards.
The attempt to do better, made
by Gen. Grant-though it ought,
il JUSTICE to him, to be said that
he first tried to get the services
of the army-by committing the
wild tribes to the care Of the mis-
sionaries and like pious persons
in search of employment of any
kind at small wages, was worldly
in all respects of the ruler who,
thinking our foreign consulates
needed inspection, selected for
the task his own pastor, a Metho-
dist divine. The missionary eX-
pedient MAY be said to have fail
ed. Its most prominent represent
alive. Mr.. Il. p. Smith, fell a vic
tim to cunning and unprineipled
men," and was removed, and
With his removal the experiment
Ought to have come to an end.
The necessity under which the
Commission has since found itself
Of handing over Sitting Bull and
his men to the secular arm, marks
with painful emphasis the made
quacy of its machinery, particu-
larly when we find that our troops
are shot down with the newest
breech-loaders furnished at the
agencies, and that it is not unu-
sual for the warriorg toleave their
women and children to the care OF
,he missionaries while they go off
for a summers fighting with the
saldigrs. ifanythihg can deepen
The ais srdity Of our Indian sys-
TEN in the eyes Of the public, this