The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-12-05
Sec'y Schurz on the Charges Against
the Interior Department.

WASHINGTON, Nov. "a.
The Secretary of War has received,
and referred to Gen. Sherman, letter
from the Secretary of the Interior,
sharply replying to certain statements
by Gen. Sheridan in the latter's annual
report. Sec'y Schurz says:
"Tbese statements, as far as they reflect
upon the conduct of the Indian Service, are of
q sweeping and somewhat vague nature, but 1t
must be assumed that Gen. Sheridan would
not have made them and permitted them to
become public, had he not in his possession
specific Information concerning certain agen-
cies aud certain branches Of the Indian Serv-
ice, to which these statements may be indi-
vidually applied. Gen. Sheridan, In his official
document, gives it as his opinion that, with
wise management, the amounts appropriated
practically applied to the exact pur-
poses specified, but that reports of
Department Commanders would indicate a
different result. except in the case of the Red
Cloud and Spotted Tail bands of Sioux. He
would certainly not have expressed such an
opinion without being acquainted in detail
with the appropriations made by Congress and
the specific purposes for which they were in
tended. 1t is also to be supposed that, before
making the sweeping charge above quoted, he
was cognizant of specific cases in which those
appropriations were not either applied at all,
or diverted from the purpose intended by
Congress. You will greatly oblige me by re-
questing Gen. Sheridan to communicate such
facts as may be in his possession, giving the
names of agents, dates and other circum-
cludes all the Indian agencies in the Military
Division Of the Missouri, except those of the
Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Sioux.
1t has been my constant and earnest en-
deavOr since l entered upon my present duties
to correct all abuses in the Indian Service that
f<,sv 1y,,Nx ylolo
by furnishing such specific information, would
thereby render greater service to this Depart
ment, as well as to the Indians, than bv mere
general statements. As he has put forth a
sweeping charge, the specifications may justly
be called for. / make this request with par
ticular urgency, in view Of the fact that GER
tain military officers seem of late to have
fallen into the habit of indulging officially
and probably in general reflection on the In
dian Service, without taking the trouble Of
substantiating with such statements in detail
as would facilitate the discovery and correction
of the abuse. do not deprecate criticism at all.
rather invite it, but when it is officially put
forth, there is, it seems to me, certain fair
ness due from one branch of the public serv-
ice to another. should for instance, not
deem any officer of this Department justified
in blaming, in general terms, the army for it's
failure to intercept the runaway Cheyennes
on their march of several hundred miles
through Kansas and Nebraska, and across
the Union Pacific Railway, without being able
to point out certain instances of mismanage.
ment or neglect. If such instances had come
to the knowledge of this Department, which
they have not, / should have considered 1t
due to the army that they be specifically as
certained and stated, before indulging in gen.
eral arraignment. think it is not asking too
much in the interest of the public service,
that such rule be observed by officers of the
army likewise"
Gen. Sheridan's intimation that the Red
Cloud and Spotted Tail Sioux were allowed to
select their present locations, owing to .
systematic working up Of the case BY
traders and contractors" is also made the sub
ject of emphatic comment by Sec'y Schurz.
He states that this policy was adopted by the
Department on the earnest advice of dis
tinguished Indian fighter and manager, Gen.
Crook, who, as result of his long experience
with the Sioux, opposed any policy that would
force the Sioux, against their unanimous and
determined protest, to stay on the Missouri
River, as seriously endangering our peaceful
relations with these powerful tribes, and, the
Secretary adds, that SO far, at least, their 10y
al conduct seems to have justified the course
adopted.
Sec'y Schurz challenges Gen. Sheridan to
produce evidence In support of his imputa-
tiOns, and meanwhile remarks that it would
not have been asking too much of him to in
form himself little better of the circum-
stances before publishing his assertion in an
official document.
The Secretary also makes the following
comment upon the remark of Gen. Gibbon
that 'there is an entire absence of RESPONSE
bility in the Indian Service:" "If Gen. Glib
bon, when writing his report. was cognzant
of specific cases of wrong-doing, he would
have obliged the Department by reporting
them. and if after such report the charges
thus made had not been inquired into, and
the guilty persons held to their proper respon-
sibility, the sweeping statements contained In
his report would have been adopted as justi-
fed. If he will communicate such specific
information now, he will find there is no such
lack of responsibility as he alleges. Several
employees in the Indian Service, who are now
under criminal prosecution, have discovered
fhis at their cost ~