Arizona citizen., 1877-12-21
Secretary schurz on the Indians.


 quite sensible and practical in his dis cussion of Indian affairs. He does no say civil management is a failure o even undesirable. He explodes thC common boast of superior management of Indians by the British in Canada by saying the tribes there have i'm mense hunting grounds unoccupied 5y whites either to encroah upon them ol to make war with. He suggets nine reforms or that many leading things tC be done in the interest of peace and Indian civilization, but these nine are not all new by any means. They are however, mainly possible of accom- plishment and worthy of trial Briefly he recommends:
 l. Keep good faith with the Indians and never promise them more than we are able and willing to perform and then perform what we have promised
 ? As much as possible discourage
  hunting and encourage to exchange, as far as practicable, their ponies for cat tie, and says "they should be permit "ted to possess only a limited supply !" of arms and ammunition"
 3. Where Indians depend in whole or in part upon hunting for sustenance. thelr wants must be provided for in another way"
 1. They should gradually be gather ed upon a smaller number of reserva- tions; the Indian Territory will afford room for the Southwestern tribes; one or two reservations in the Northwest east of the Rocky Mountains for the Northwestern Indians, and like num- Der west of the mountains for the In dlans westward of them-the locali- ties to be determined after more min- ute inquiry into the local circumslan- ccs.
 D. The enjoyment and pride of in- dividual ownership of property is re- garded as a most effective agency for civilization and therefore should be encouraged; and the 9th proposition is to extend the civil laws of the Unit ed States over the reservations and en- force them by the proper tribunals; and "a body of police composed of " Indians, and subject to the orders of |" the Government officers, should be " organized on each of them. It is a matter of experience that Indians " thus trusted with official duty can " almost uniformly be depended on in "point of fidelity and efficiency"
 T. Educate the children and that in the English and not in the Indian lan- guage. To be civilized, the children must learn the language of civiliza- " ton "-says the Secretary.
 8. Instead of farms on reservations being worked by white men merely to "raise crops for supplying the agen- |" cies and Indians," they should bel used in the first place for the instruc- ton of the youths at school"
 9. As far as possible, dispense with white labor on reservations and use that of the Indian, and then properly discriminate "in the granting of favorsI between those who work and thoSeI " who live as idle vagabOnds so that honest effort might be encouraged byI tangible recognition and rewarded" "I
 The Secretary admits that to accom- plish these reforms" time and pa- tience as well as honest service are re- quired. His whole remarks on Indian affairs show a purpose to try and civil ize and improve the Indian by purely civil methods and by civil manage ment. He regards the general condi-I ton of Indian affairs unsatisfactory, but says it is useless to disguise the fact that a perfect solution of the h. dian question, "that is to say, so com " plete an absorption of the Indians in " our social and political system that ' they no longer appear as an incongru- " ous and troublesome element-is, in d our day at least, fraught with per " plexities which cannot be solved by a " mere stroke of legislation"
 He regards the Indian frontier as a thing of the past-as having eX- isted but wholly disappeared. The a absurd treaty system we inherited from the "early colonists on this con- " tinent." The system at the the same time regards the Indians as independ- |" ent tribes, as national wards and as |" subjects"
 Tn view of the fact that the Presi- dent heartily endorses the Secretary's Indian views, we have thought it we'll to outline their main features, as tOf the close of the present administration, the public may expect, as far as possi-I ble the practical enforcement of them. It will be seen that no radical change IS contemplated in Indian treatment, ] but a promise is sent forth to the eff feet that the methods and policy of the former administration are to be more rigidly applied.
 CuARIEs IANIR saNs. W \ chiid's al