The New York herald., 1878-11-29
The Government and the Indians.

Secretary Of the Interior, since il is the
most important subject committed to his
department. The administration OF pen
sions and patents requires only moderate
attention to q settled routine, with an occa-
sional suggestion to Congress for slight
changes in the laws. The superntendence
of the Land Office is more important and
demands greater vigilance, but 1t Is not
often that it calls for n reforming hand
Secretary Schurz has tackled with COM
mendable zeal the trespasses committed on
the timber lands, and herein he has laid
his reforming hand on precisely the right
place, although his zeal somewhat ontran
his knowledge in his first steps against
these thefts, as zeal is apt TO do in men who
court distinction as reformers. But these
depredations on public property ought to
be arrested, and it is the duty of Congress
to strengthen the hands of an officer who
has had the enterprise to discover. the cour-
age to assail and the persistence to pursue
and attempt to uproot a species Of thieving
which has grown to formidable dimensions.
Bat this is simple matter in comparison
with the great problem Of dealing with the
Indians. The vigorous brush which
has taken place between Secretary
Schurz and Lieutenant General Sheridan
will be Of service, quite apart from the
merits OF the controversy between them, If
it shall assist in awakening public interest
in the i'm portant question OF the manage
lnent Of the Indians
Ii we so back TO the earliest period Of
our history ami trace the Indian question
downward we shall find three principal
stages. In the earliest Of these, which ex-
listed for some time alter the first settle
ment of the codntry, the In dians were en-
tlrely independent Of the whites and gen.
merciless enemies. During that pc
Rod the savage aborigines were quite
self-subsstent. They had skill enough
to flbricate their own weapons and
implements, and the game Of the for
ests, the fish OF the streams and the prod
ucts of a very rude agriculture suffced for
their wants. But the contact Of savage with
civilized life brought on the second stage,
in which the Indians became partially de-
pendent on the whites. They acquired
taste for indulgences which the forests and
streams did not supply, and they learned
the use of firearms which they could never
acquire the skill to manufacture. This led
to trade in which peltries were exchanged
for gums, powder, blankets, ornaments and
rum, and caused general Generalization Of
the Indians. They lost the ability to make
their own weapons and implements and with
it their independence. Intercourse with ths
whites became necessary to their subsist-
ence, and trade and treaties superseded the
old relations Of mutual hostility. The new
intercourse was diversified with occasional
Indian wars, but there was in the main
a recognized frontier behind which the Ind
ians lived as they pleased, SO long as they
kept their treaties and did not modest the
settlements. The Indian frontier kept re-
treating until at length it passed the Mis-
sissippi and Missouri rivers without any
essential change in our mode Of dealing
with the tribes. We established regula-
tions for the Indian trade and bestowed
annual bounies on frontier tribes as means
of maintaining friendly relations with
them. This system worked not precisely
well, nor yet intolerably i'll, until we began
to build Pacific railroads through the vast
stretch of wilderness and our mining and
other settlements were pushed into that
region This ended the possibility Of o
definite frontier with all the Indians on
one side and all the whites on the other
side Of it, and created necessity for an
entirely new Indian policy. This brings
US to the third period, which presents a
problem about which we have been houn-
dering for years in vain attempts to solve it.
Indian Affairs were committed to the De-
partment Of the Interior while the old
frontier method was in operation. and the
transfer seemed we'll enough until the ex-
tension of our settlements into the heart Of
the Rocky Mountain region rendered such
line of separation obsolete and impossible.
We doubt if the Department Of the Interior
is competent to deal with the problem in its
new shape. The time is past for coaxing
and coddling the Indians or for negotiating
and bargaining with them. We are, indeed
bound to treat them with justice and hu-
manity but we, not they, must decide
what is just and humane. They must
have no voice whatever in marking
out their future destiny. The potter
ing and palavering Of certain set Of
twsddling, soft-hearted and softer-headed
humanitarians must not longer be listened
to, and the new policy necessary to be
adopted must be enforced with the temper
ate steadiness Of military administration.
The management Of the Indians must be
remanded to the army, and be continued in
the army until the problem which now lies
before US is solved. Not by any means that
the framing of new Indian policy should
be intrusied to the army, for this is the
proper work of Congress but the policy
a :. Il - u 4