The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1878-02-23
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY %, 1873.
Our Indian Policy.

We have long entertained the opinion
that the policy or impolicy of our govern
ment towards the Indians was radically
wrong. Millions upon millions have been
expended upon the Indians, and yet they
are as far from civilization as ever, with the
exception of very few who have broken up
their tribal relations and resolved to live
in families and cultivate the soil like the
white man. We have heretofore adverted
to the anomalous position occupied by the
government towards these savages. They
are held to be amenable to our laws, and
vet are treated as ifthey were independent
nations, and our government enters into
treaties with them which have no more
binding force than a rope of sand. Truth
compels the acknowledgment, however,
that the Indian evinces quite as much re-
spect for the obligations of treaties as the
government itself, while its agents rob
these government stipendiaries quite as
regularly as they do the white frontier
settlers. Congress ought to abolish the
whole system, and break up every agency
upon the frontier. The annual Indian
appropriations only serve to foster sys-
TEN of corruption and dishonesty on the
part of the agencies, do the Indians no
good but great deal of harm, and are
continual drain upon the treasury. These
tribes cost the country more as their num-
bers become less. The money expended
for them now is greatly in excess of what
it was fifty years ago, when their numbers
were larger. But they do not get the
money or the provisions which the govern
ment sends them. They are robbed by
these sharpers continually, and in turn
they rob the settlers whenever they have
the opportunity. Let Congress abolish the
whole system, place the Indians upon pre-
cisely the same footing as its white citi-
zens, make all alike amenable to the laws,
and let each race take care of itself. Lieut..
Meline, an intelligent officer of the army
who crossed the plains to New Mexico in
1867, gives his own experience and OBJ
seryations in reference to the Indians, as
follows:
"When you leave civilization behind you
and enter the Indian country, every white
man you meet wears pistol in his belt or
rife swung by his side, and you hear from
him tn at as soon as the Cheyennes, Sioux and
Arapahoes have eaten up the provisions they
are now receiving while in attendance at the
treaty at Fort Laramie, he expects to be at
tackled by them. The treaty will last, they
say, as long as the sugar, flour, beef and other
provisions the Indians get They never knew
It TO be otherwise The Indians themselves
in going to Fort Laramie, made sport OF the
treaty, and said they make one $50 long"
indicating the last thumb joint on the hand. |
The dwel1ers in the ranches all tell the same
story. Notwithstanding treaties and the most
solemn promises on the part of the savages,
the white ranchmen look for another outbreak |
with the usual Indian barbarities and horrors |
as soon as the leaves fall. The trouble APP
pears to be that these Indians have never
been thoroughly whipped They despise the
whites and their government, for they cannot
understand that we should not chastise them
if we have the ability to do it. Their success
sve massacres have been rewarded with trea-
ties and presents. If force strong enough
to subdue them is sent out, they Immediately
sue for peace, and, of course, it is granted
them in spite of all their treachery. Were
we to do otherwise and give them no quarters,
there would be cry of cruelty and oppres
sion, that would deafen Congress and the
country; and yet, year after year, the dread
full farce goes on. Whenever the savages run
short of powder, lead and blankets, they have
all inexhaustible storehouse from which TO
draw. They are not at all embarrassed.
They step down to the Plains, plumber few
wagons, murder few emigrants-a force is
sent after them-they sue for peace-have
treaty with its usual accompaniment OF pres
what they want, and begin over
again when they see fit Some eight thou
sand of them have been for the past two
months at Fort Laramie negotiating, and tits
supposed the treaty will cost the government
more than half million of dollars. If the
were of any avail, we'll and good;
but every one knows it is not of the slightest.
It is very true the Indians do not get all the
money appropriated. Much of it is inter-
cepted and stolen before it reaches them, and
the amount of corruption generated by this
useless and vicious system is precisely one of
the strongest arguments against its existence.
The nature of the outrages and barbarities
by these savages is not generally
at the east Murder and scalping
are their mildest features; their treatment of
women and young girls beggars description.
was in Minnesota during the dreadful Sioux
outbreak in 1862, and speak within bounds
in saying that it is impossible to write de-
scription of the horrors inflicted upon women.
A man, face to face with another man, would
find it difficult to tell them Language can
not render them. -
Here is the impartial testimony of an
intelligent army officer against the whole
system of Indian agencies. Let Congress
abolish it az toto, and save to the Treasury
the immense sum annually expended on
Indian account, but which, practically, is
only fund to foster corruption and theft.