The sun., 1878-07-21

Bureau and in the Second Auditors ONCE are very mper
feet and are 90 kent AZ to facilitate practice ofegu
lAriues with impunty.r
Such are the lessons Of history with re-
gard TO that very feature Of strictncss OF
accounts which 1t is alleged that the noto-
riously roundabout and expensive rcd-tape
system Of the War ONCE would secure for
the Indian Bureau. When the Chcrokccs
were removed beyond the Mississippi, the
army conducted the transfer, and, although
the wholly needless misery caused TO the
Indians was terrible, yet the cost was as
great as II they had been carried with royal
luXuriancc. Gen. SCoTT's contract was to
pay sos per head this was annulled, after
sub-contracts had been let. and now one,
nj nearly double the amount, or Sl25, was
made, though proposals at so were sent in.
The annulling caused damages on the sub
contracts To be paid amounting to $2G5,OO0,
exclusive of $4,000 stolen or msappropri-
atcd by n brace of army officers who were
disbursing agents. There were 1888 more In
dians charged for than were removed. The
transfer could not have been done worse at
the lowest price bid than at the preposterous
price which was accepted. The amount
actually cost, was S2015l41.5s; they could
probably have been removed easily and well
for 1926, 900. as one bid estimated. The differ
cnce between these amounts shows army
economy in Indian management. Taking
together this difference and the damages for
cancellng contracts the total loss to the
Government would be upward Of S2,sO0000
The extravaganza and swindllng in the re-
moval of the ChOctaws amounted to over
million and a half of dollars. 1t was the War
Office, also, that allowed claims OF agents,
traders, and others. against the four mill
lions due 10y treaty to the Cherokecs for
their lands until less than one-twcntlcth
remained to bc paid to them; and Congress
was forced TO come to- the relief of the In-
dians, appropriating to them million and
quarter to repair these injuries.
Three or four years ago the cost Of flour at
the army post of Fort Sill. Indian Territory
was 1925; yet at the Kiowa agency it was
only SLIP. During the fiscal year ending
June 80. 1873 the average price paid for flour
for the army was Sj.2l per hundred pounds,
while for the Indian service it was only
Si6s; the average price paid for beef in the
army was s739, net, per hundred, while in
the Indian service it was only si27i net.
The cost Of Indian supplies that year was
, from A. to 10 per cent. less than that of army
supplies, comparing the tables Of the Indian
! Office with those of the Quartermaster and
| Commissary Departments for neighboring
OF similar points. If the tables of the Indian
Bureau be correct the army last year. 10y
! furnishing the Indians with beef and -four
at army prices, would have expended $3.50, 900
more than what was actually paid. The
Bannocks wore starved under an Indian
Bureau officer; but the Spotted Tail In
diuns seemed to have been stuffed under an
army officer, for they gave to a ncighboring
tribe from their surplus over hundred sacks
of flour at one time
There is nothing in army administration
to make theft and waste impossible In tho
Indian service, nor anything in the army
spirit and discipline to render its officers III
teachers Of the arts Of peace Until the nests
and rings. military and civil, which make
up all there Is Of the HAYES Administration
are destroyed by its downfall, the Indians
have no hope of relief from robbery and VIC.
lcnce Victims still of force and Of fraud
any change in their governors will only de-
eide under the auspices of what department
they are to be maltrcatcd and despoiled.