Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-12-07
Secretary SchurZ Enteriaius the Special
Indian Commission with his Views
at Length Concerning the
Change of the Indian
Bureau.
What an Eyewitness Saw at the Ban
quet rendered Hon. Casey Young
and Colonel J. M. Heating
Four per Cent. Subscrip-
tiOns, Etc.

1
| that letter be- prepared for transmission to
| the speaker of the house of representatives,
| foresbadowing the discontiuuance of the
| postal. car service in all parts of the country
| on the first of January next, unless congress
| shall In the meantime make appropriation to
| continue it.
sCHURZ ON INDIAN AFFAIRS.
The joint commission for considering the
| transfer of the Indian bureau to the military
| department heard Secretary Schurz to-day.
| He dIsciainied any personal desire TO retain
/ the control of the Indian service under the
interior department No branch Of the de-
! partment's business is so troublesome and
| thankless. He thought the Indians were
entitled to humane treatment, and this could
| be only rendered through the processes of
| civiliz stion, education and kind treatment.
This the military were not fitted TO promote.
The secretary quoted from the report of the
Sioux commission, signed by Generals Sher-
man, Terry, Augur and others, setting forth,
| In effect, that If peace with the Indians was
required, the management OF their affairs
should he placed under the civil department
of the government. The secretary continued:
Nov, | agree with these gentlemen on this
point. There are great many officers Of
the army who have excellent ideas about In
dian affairs, but il is another thing to carry
these ideas into practical effect" The mill
tary arm of the government he did not con-
slider gifted with the patient labor re-
quired to place the hoe in the In
dian s hand and teach him how to use it..
He denied very emphatically that the red
tape system of reporting Indian outbreaks,
which had been asserted, was required under
the present administration of Indian affairs.
Whenever case arises where prompt action
Is necessary, he Ia person communicated with
the secretly OF war or general of the army,
as the case may be, thereby causing but very
few hours delay In pertectiDg the necessary
arrangements to meet the emergency, rather
than months, as intInlated by General Sher-
man. He claimed that the demand for the
transfer of the bureau from the civil to the
military department, was based upon as
symptoms rather than upon facts. History
will prove that the Indian bureau is credited
with Indian wars which in reality occurred
previous to its organization under civil man
agement. The cause of majority of the
wars, In his opinion, is the breaking of trea-
ties, together with the eGcroachment of
greedy whites upon settlements allotted to
woulG-be peaceful Indians. He did not be-
Leve such military officers as Generals Shec-
man, Sheridan and others desired war, but
subordinates who had reputation to make
were not so keen tor peace, especially with
the Indian race. Army officers, the secretary
SAID, III reply to a question by General
Hooker, who have been in charge at Indian
agencies, have been very faithful and efficient.
Their duties were, however, In connection
with the unsettled state Of affairs, and not
with a view to clVllizlng the Indians. The
secretary advised the placing of troublesome
Indians on reservations under marshal law,
and of increasing the number of the Iaaiah'
police force from one hundred aud fifty to one
thousand or twelve hundred. This force Was
very reliable and had rendered good service.
He said he had read in the papers a state
ment by General Marcy that when in the war
department the bureau was worked smooth
lxy h.. hot
management, and, IN fact, no suspicion
of any. 1t was, In fact, as he had said, ''as
if angels had descended upon earth doing
gentle mlnlstratlonS among the savages to
lead them to higher state of well being"
1t was easily proven that this was far from
being the case. A report of the committee
to the house Of representatives made in 1912,
when the war department had charge of In
dian affairs, charged the clerks with unpar-
donable negligence, that the accounts showed
an almost total want of method, that the ac-
count of the expenditures were 50 carelessly
kept as to furnish scarcely any trace of the
expenditures. Very large sums for several
years entries were made in such s'oyenly
manner that the very clerks themselves could
not explain them. There was net single
entry referring to Indian lands, and all re-
cords left by the Indian officers of the war
department were scraps of memoranda,
pencil notes, etc. To bear out his statement
the report OF Lieutenant General Hitchcock,
ard instanced the action of the department
IN reference to the removal of the Cherokees.
The contract was made at ten dol
lars per head, and twenty thousand
Cherokees were removed, but sixteen
thousand in excess Of the actual number
were charged and paid for making the ac-
tual payment two hundred and four thousand
seven hundred and twenty SIX dollars in e.
cess, or one hundred and three dollars per
capita. He also read a report dated 1884,
which showed the exorbitant prices which the
Indians were charged for various articles,
and that from all this it would be seen that
the record of the war department manage
ments OF the Indian affairs was by no means
SO clear as General Marcy tried to make out.
He was not going to pretend that the civil
administration was pure. No such thing;
but he would say that they had no scandal
quite SO bad as the Cherokee affair.
supervision of different agencies, but
said that many abuses that had
formerly existed were being swept away.
With the exception of the treasury depart
ment's prosecution of the whisky ring, he
did not think that any department had been
more active IN prosecuting its contractors
when they were detected They had, per-
haps, some fifteen or twenty Under prosecu-
now, and only few weeks ago one of these
contractors was convicted. Now, he
should be very slow to assert
that army Officers, as SUCH had dishonest
tendencies; he thought that the army de-
served, as whole, It's reputation for honesty
that Is to say, for honest intentions. 1t
would be absurd to say such a class of men
were inaccessible to bad impulses of human
nature. General Marcy had stated that while
the administration of the war department
cost one Millien eight hundred thousand dol
lars, the Indian department cost FIVE million
i~iiars. e difference of three million two hum
dred tbousann a"iiars-sach a comparison
was absurd. The Indian business ". .n lS49
vas nothing to what 1t had now become.
He read statement Of the amount paid per
one hundred pounds CT baei by the two de-
partments-the Indian and nlihGary-whlch
showed saving OF six hundred and forty
four thousand dollars in favor of the former.
General Miles had stated that the transporta-
ton of the army cost four million dollars,
while transportation of fJod, clothing, etc,
for the Indians cost only two hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars. 4 glance
would show that the department of the inte-
rior got its transportation at cheaper rates.
He did not attribute any of these things to
the dishonesty of the army, but rather to
their cavalier way of looking at and dealing
with things. Soldiers never thought of the
cost of 2 thing If 1T was thought to be necessa-
ry. AS an instance, he mentioned that at
the close of the Sioux war, there were about
twenty thousand horses, ponies and mules
taken from the Indians, for which cows were
to be given to them, and it turned out that
these ponies and mples cost nineteen thou-
sand four hundred and twelve dollars, besides
the cows, and that to sell them cost FIVE
thousand six hundred and eighty-three dol
lars additional. This was an instance of their
cavalier way, which was not found in the
interior department.
G. C. Watkins, inspector CT the Indian
department, followed Schurz and opposed
the transfer. He explained the mode of 10.
spection of the Indian supplies. Friend
Miles gave his reasons why the cont ol of the
Indians should not pass to the war depart
ment.
AN EYEWITNESS RELATES WHAT HE SAW At
THE BANQUET IN HONOR OF Colonies
CASEY YOUNG AND j. NJ. HEATING.