The Portland daily press., 1878-12-07
THE INDIAN BUREAU.
Secretary Schhurz ON the Proposed
HrQm

Secretary Schhurz the Proposed
Transfer.
WASHINGTON, D. c. 6.-rhe joint commission
consio. ring the proposed transfer of the Iodian
bureau to the war department. heard the views
OF Carl Schurz this morning.
Mr.. Schurz dsclaimed any personal desire to
retain the control Of the IBdian service. no
branch of bis department being SO troublesome
and thankless. He thought the Indlaps were
emitted to hum ane treatment, delivered through
tue Processes of educatioo and civil zatiou, aud
that the military was uufitted for the task. ae
quoted at length from the report of the Sioux
Committee in support Of hia views He said
that the cause Of the Iudian wars was the
b eik1Og of treaties, and encroach ments by The
whites. He dId not b-lieve Sherman. Sheridan
and others desired war, but snorrdiuates who
had repu alton 20 make we're no so keen Tor
oeace, esp, lily With the Iudsn tace He ad-
vistd placing the troublesome Iudisus on the
reserv atoms under martial law and i creasiug
he Indian police force from $50 to 1000 or 1900
rnis force was very reliable and had rendered
good service.
He had read in the papers a statement hy
G-u. Marcy, that when be was in the war de-
psrtmeut the bureau was worked smoothly
enough, that there was no mlsmanage ment
and in fact, no suspicion of auy 1t was, ia
fact, as be had said, "as # angels han descend
I'd upon the earth doing gentle miuisrratlons
among the savsges 10 lead them to q higher
state OF wel-dolng." 1t was easily proved that
his was far from being the case. Now he
(ScbuTz) should be very slow to assert. that the
army officers, as such, had dishonest tendencies.
de thought the army deserved, as whole, its
reputation for honesty; that is TO say, for honest
Intentions; yet it would be absurd to saw such
a class of men weresinaccessible to the bad i'm
pulses OF human nature
Gen. Marcy had stated that while the admin
'strstion OF tue war department cost 81 800 900.
the indian department cost Sc. 900 600 Sncb !.
comoarison was ab-urd. The Iudian business
10 1S49 was nothing to what it had DOW become
DE read stat ment of the amount paid Der
one hundred pounds of beef by the two depirt-
ments for the Indian buresu and the military
which showed saving of $644 $50 10 favor OF
the former Gen. Miles had stated that the
transportation of the army cost $4,000 900.
nile the transportation of food, clothiug etc
for the Indians, only cost S225,OOO A glance
should show that the department. of the inte-
rior got its transportation at cheaper rates. He
did not attribute any of these things to the dis
honesty of the army. bat rather TO their cava-
ller way OF looking aud dealing with things
Soldiers never thought of the cost Of a thing if
it was thoughtto be necessary. AS an Instance
he mentioned that at the closing of the Sioux
war there were about 200 horses, ponies and
mules taken from the Indians, for which COWS
were to be given them, and il turned out that
these ponies and mules cost SIS, Alb basdes the
cows, and 10 sell them would Cost SIS 6S3 addi-
tional.
Secretary Schurz enumerated one or two
other Instances of similar character. and con.
cluded his remarks by showing that the H.
dams themselves were very much averse to the
transfer of the bureau. He did not know
wne,ner it would be best to make il an inde-
pendent department as the agricultural depart-
ment was. Ii would entail the reorganiz alton
OF the Cabinet, but he though it would be we'll
to authorize the President to place such reseI-
vations VI the Indian tribes as might be in
volved in trouble or threatened to become so
nd fhn H.
ment, and under martial law if the consttu-
tioo admitted of it.
In the second Place the President might be
powered to employ officers in the Indian
service. The inspection force there should be
increased 80 that All the agencies be visited
twice year instead of once as at present.
Third, d measure of great importance was TO
increase the Ind an police force. They ad Ia
dian police at y stations and found thea ex.
ceedngly effective They were found perfectly
reliable In the discharge of their duty aud It
would bs we'll to increase the number from 45O
TO 1000 or 1900. This would relieve the militia
~ of great deal of the trouble il now has
Fourth, the appropriations made by Congress
for the support of the Indians should not only
be ample, but be made promptly want oil
this IN the past had created great tmbarrass
ment and much dissatisfaction at the agencies
Fifth, an appropriation of about 800 DOC
should be placed in the hands of the PRESIDE Of
tor the payment of the Indians who assisted
the troops against Troublesome tribes
f. Q. Watkins, one Of the Inspectors, was
next called and gave his opinion that the
transfer of the bureau to the War Department
would in no way benefit the Indiaus 1t
would discourage them in their purposes to.
ward civilization. rednce the amout of their
agricultural lands, and initiate against
educational movements, because the Indians
regard the army as their enemy, and they
would undoubtedly protest against b,ine
governed BY force, He knew the feeinys nj
the Indians themselves to be against the
transfer. From his own observation he found
very large majority of the Indians ia favor
of working and becoming independent. He
considered more schools needed
Friend John d. Miles having charge of the
Chesenne and Arapaboe tribes in Indian
territory said as to the transfer to the Wal
Department, that his ten years. exp rience as
an agent leads him to b3lieve that the Io clan
affairs can better be managed by civil off GERS.
Since the organization of tue police force he
had no occasion to Call upon the military and
did not anticipate any difficulty in managing
the Indians under his supervision prov led
sufficient numbers of Inilan police are
allowed.