, 1878-12-21
a,bnan an the sEGfan ercsiioa.

t.:bDDn en- the zLGian Grcs;iO8.
In his report 70 the War Dcpartmcn;
Gen. Gibhon. c ..nmanding the depart.
meYt Of Dakota, after describing the IN
provoked murder Of Edward Frazer BY
The lid dians, astr Fort iIcrthOid, tcHders
lis contribution .C The literature of the
Indian D, i,.rtinent question, holding tha'
a.r q. clip, t. pla", he control Of Indian
Affairs gnder tw" departments 50 T.ai-cJ.iy
opposed III principie Is the military and
.d.aa ielar;neL-s ha; resulted II clash
ins If authoc.ty ana state of affairs
wl.:ch IS working T. the detrimeBt Of the
Indian. The average Indian agent, intent
upon the spiritual welfara Of the red man,
desiruus of clav&tiEg hi, soul and achlcv-
ing what has never Vet been reached III a
single gerlea ton, ual,ir; 4 civilized man
81 !iin, hu5 too frequently neglects las
bodily wants, alil whi.e the agent lsprepar-
mo hun for Hea,sIl, as he thinks, IS &c
iuallY making = he'll fo; him upon earth
ly leaviSu hii. uliclothed and unfe,', while
hg:t toy r,..:y!e:.yly the price OF his cloth
ing and fool is put INTO the agent pcci1
Ct The army Qiic r, Oh the other hand,
compelled by The sys;sm of responsibility
under which h. has been educated u ac
count strictly for every cents worth Of
p. q, .erty he receives from the government,
and anxious, by feeding aid clothing tie
Indian, 10 keep him peaceful and tEas
avoid wars in which he and not the soul
SAVING Indian agent takes part, and which
are rot only tedious ard har;sSsing, but
withopt 9iorr, attends first to the Indian
bodily wants, and hence cams credit ii
/. the minds of {. great lnauy well meanlii::
people of being not only utterly regard
les oi his spir:Juai. needs, but entirely op-
posed Ia any steps being taken toward ID
yarc:le !.ni in the sc;.!e of civilization.
ii The system Of responsibility which
prevails in the army existed in the Indian
department.. much OF the now well foam
dci c!i.Fg: 0f irrScncSS and fr:,Td wnaid
he avoided But under the total lac; Of
systrln IN that department the responsi-
bilty is 81 loose and fraId So easy that
the wondcr IS not that pecnlat.en should
sometimes occur, bat that il does moi hap
uon IL ali cases Nor Guss the attempt
To intcr?mingl" the two s. stems by rcquir-
! ing a:rny officers Ia inspect Indian sup
/ plies and witness the issning of ;.Gnu.ties
( work fayorably for the reason that " hl,,
the cuEntry at large IS led To believe mere
can be 40 frauds, HOW that officers OF tie
army ;ne p,lf9rmin" this iHsp, elton duty,
7 bu; few are awart of The fact that frJm
( the defective syatC.a of responsibility iii
/ the Indian department these inspections
/ foriA no check whatever upon the oper-
| tiuns Of the Indian ageuts, whose a.
/ counts seem to pass scrutiny IL Washin.t-
/ ton Just as well wiilOut these inspections
/ rs with them. III several instances IL
! this department officers of the army
have at the request Of the Interior D3-
/ paTtmcnt been assigned 10 daiy III charge
/ of Indian AGENCIES. Ia put Il stop to frauds
apparently inscpcrah!e from the system
which has prevailed Tor SO many years,
| IL other Instances, 4 sort Of divided re-
sp"nsIhllity Is exercised by the military
and the ciyii agents of the Interior De
| partmeut, which las resulted in inevitable
c!a>hinG between the two. In one case il
w;.s openly charged by the agent that 4
! prominent and distinguished officer of the
army, III command near the agency, had
inst!@atcd ;ln assault upon him by the iu-
dams, when III fact the officer had per
sonally rescued the agent from violence
at the hands Of The incensed Indians Of
/ his agcncy. In c,nsedGence Of this state
Of affairs the question as To how best to
I provide for the rcd man, now surely and
RAPIDLY being pressed Of this continent by
advancing ciyii:;zation, still remains uii-
solved. The reservation system, Us here
tofore Followed, does not wofl. toward the
I, protection Of the Indian, for the reason
that The moment the white man wants the
land assigned to the Indian he goes and
! takes it and the laws Of the country and
! the fierce at his disposal ,,rc entirely inaG-
/ equate to protect the indians against en-
croachmentS AMI imposition. Mere es-
peoially is this the case Whenever gold IS
discovered (whelher in payiu" quantities
or mott to exist on the reservation. : re-
+ cent and prominent example of this Is TIE
case II the Bl.,ci, Hills, and The influences
are now at wori, which sooner or later
viii force every peaceful tribe III the ccun-
try into a hostile attitude toward the
whites.