Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-11


EXPENSIVE :. ECONOMY IN THE INDIAN SER.
vICE!-1he Commissioner of Indian Affairs re-
ceived today the following dispatch from
Agent DanielSon, at Ross Forks, Idaho:-sI
could not keep roaming BannOckS here when
the amount of supplies was scarcely enough to
Iee4 "a. Indians !, engaged IA in farming. All quiet
a! the agency. The explanation of the Indian
dlfnculties, suggested by this dispatch is the
fact OF insufficient appropriations by Congress.
IL the Indians are to be confined ON reServa-
furnished to send teachers to them, to
furnish them with agricultural implements
and to feed them until they be-
come come partially or wholly self-Supporting
berlng nearly l,5W, are furnished for Subsist-
ence with $4,000, or $l6 per annum for each.
les less than cents day. Perhaps one-third of
tion of food. Under this condition of affairs
the Indians must remaia on the reservation
and StarVe or break away and make trouble
Not being philosophers or Chinese, the In
dlans cannot live on few cents day, nor
can they bear starvation with equanfmity.
And the result of not providing adequately
for them in the first place is a war, costly in
lives and money.
THE SINEws OF WAR.-Mr. Henry NJ. Baker,
a claim agent of this city, is by permission of
Secretary Sherman, making canvass of the
Treasury department for subscriptions from
the employees to the republican campaign
the SUBSCRIPTIONS are wholly voluntary, each
head of division or bureau 50 informs his
clerks before Mr.. Baker makes his tour
through his office. No amount is designated,
but MI Baker suggests TO employees, that one
per cent. of their salaries would be acceptable
HIS success is not phenomenal. Being a
claim agent it is understood that he receives
from the republican managers, a certain per
cent, of the amount he collects.
As SHOWN recently in the STAR il the Post
Office department disburses the full amounts
which it has been authOrizd to expend, aud its
revenues for the last six months of the fiscal
year are In the same proportion as those of the
The The Bill l which passed the hello House Sc on Saturday
Al increase Of si,5s2, ,7s7.I0, or more than Ii
six in e months fseP d the 6 c s s six @
assumed. Let US compare this assumption
with the one on which the deficiency appropri-
alton in the item of compensation to postnas-
such compensation was s7,253,0N, of which
s., $50, 742- -25 was expended on the 3lSt of De-
cember last: leaving balance for the remain.
ing six months of the fiscal year of s. 393 2577 70
or Si63, 1880 less than the expenditure for the
first six months of the year. The deficiency
bill makes an appropriation Of $4,000 on this
item. 1t is thus assumed that there will be
decrease OF the expenses under this head for
the last six from the first six months of the
year of S63, 4S450, or nearly per cent.
But tne revenues OF the department and the
compensation OF pOSGmasters are in direct
The amount of compensation is
not regulated by the department but is fixed
by law, pOStmaSterS being authorized to retain
a nHed per centage OF theiI receipts In the
SettlementS OF their accounts. Receipts and
compensation being thus In exact proportion
must necessarily increase or decrease together.
And yet the House deficiency bill contem:
plates for the same period an increase of IL
per cent. in the receipts. and a decrease OF
per cent. in the compensation. During the
first six months OF the fiscal year 1t took little
over q per cent. of the receipts to pay the
to p0stmasters; the logic of the
deficiency bill is that it will require little less
than "a per cent for the same purpose during
the remaining six months although the law
covering the subject and determining the pro-
portion remains unchanged.
@-The condition of William Cullen Bryant
became alarming last evening.