Arizona weekly miner., 1877-04-27
THE INDIAN POLICY.

Ii iS to he expected that the visit of the deputation of Friends" to the President will he immediately followed by an outpour- ing of brotherly love for To and his race. This is usually the result of such conferences, and the thing has been practiced 50 often in the past that we know exactly what to look forward 10 in the present case. The public havn come 10 regard the qualification of the peace policy with the Indians as part of xhc regular duties of the agents and eN-agentS, and there seems to be a feeling of dissppoint- nent when the role Is not strictly carried out.
 But for all that. the history of our deal jngs with the Indians shows COnclusively that We have bad altogether too much theory and too Little practice, too much policy and too little practicality. Ii anything was ever an sgregious failure. our tayorite Indian policy hsS been, and since il has proved its utter inefiiciency, it should be at once and forever discarded. By 1t the Indians of the most gentle as well as of the most savage tribes were placed under the control of the same class of peaceabe. irrcsoutc men. With ell-disposed Indians the system worked we'll: with savagcs of the opposite descrir- tiOn it produced no effects save increased IswlcsSnesS, and a disposition to render themselves even more intractabc than before
 The late Administration acted wisely in deciding to take the control of the Indians from the hands of civil agents and place II in charge of military officers. The latter had to be present at every agency anyhow. and since the army Wa> the only part of the United States Government for which the Indians had the slightest respect, 1t was proper that they should hc compelled 10 look exclusively to the army for their rations. their clothes. and the payment of the annui tics due them from the United States. Be sides this the consideration of economy went far to determine the question, since the army officers would be unemployed if not looking after the interests of the Indians. and if thev were charged with the entire ln dian department civil agents became super numerarlc>.
 For some time also the conviction has been growing that. whatever may he the sd- vantaoes of dav->chool> and Sunday schools to whItc-. the uses of these popular institu tions among the Indians are very small. while IL l. well known that in most instances the ofiice~ of Farmer. Carpenter Blacksmith and thc ike have been mere superhultlcs. IL l. not conducive Ia the comfort of Farmer" who l. trying to initiate the say age- into the mysteries of agriculture to feel that lac dare not turn his back on his du>ky pupils lest they brain him with hoe-handle. So this and similar little inconvenience have .tmbined 10 render the office q >inecure. So with The other positions on the agencies. Now tha; most if not all. of them have been abolished. and a rational plan adopted of Junishing deprclator- a> they deserve, il l, 3o be hoped the Government will not inter ferc. The Indians are more afraid of one officer in uniform than of regiment of ln- dian agents. and the imports from the plains indicate that among the agency Indians there is less dissatisfaction in regard to their sup plies than has been seen for many years. Jet the plan of letting well enougl, alone bc judioi0usly followed.