The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1879-11-18
THE INDIAN QUESTION.

General Sherman's report, which was com
pleted about a week since, says: There are
only about 10000 men in the army who are
left for actual SERVICE" And speaking Of the
Ute troubles: sThese Indians are of the
worst class and occupy the toughest part of
the country for farming, grazing, or military
operations. They are very warlike and have
no difficulty in procuring in exchange for
their deer skins, horses and sheep any amount
of the best rifles and ammunition. As long
rs the game lasts they will rot work or at
tempt farming except in the smallest and
most ridiculous way, and that only by conf
! pulslon." General Sherman says further that
he believes "Major T%hornburg acted from
the beginning to the end exactly right. So
! did Mr.. Meeker. and the crimes afterwards
| committed reat wholly on the Indians He
| remarks Respecting the incursions of Indians
from Sitting Bulls camp that something more
secure must be relied upon than " the mere
good will of our neighbors." He recon-
mends Congress to appropriate "Sl00,0O0
more to complete Fort Assinaboine and $780,
600 to build a new post near Wood Noun
tain,' and says lie is convinced that it will
| soon be an "absolute necessity to move all
the Indians now located On the upper Mis-
souri,, viz: Arisarees, Glos Ventres, Piegans,
Bloods and Crows to the Sioux Reservation
below Cannon Ball creek" southwestern
corner of Dakota) and to open for actual SET
Element "all the land in the region north and
west of hat reservation" The ideas con-
tanned in the above abstracts will commend
themselves to any sensible man. There is
one difficulty which will prevent the opin-
ions of General Sherman having the weight
they should have, that is this: He has been
over the %grounl, he is acquainted with the
country. he knows the red man as he really is
with the romance stricken of. If he had
never been West, if he had the sentimental
piety of those clergymen who met in Chicago
recently, if there was more sentimental gush
about his report in place of practical good
sense, then it would commend itself at once
to the superficial, gushing prejudice which
exists in some parts of the country regarding
this Indian question.
At the very last part OF his weak and lncon-
slstent administration it is said the President
is coming to his senses and now believes the
Indians should be turned over to the War
Department. 1t is time. The weak policy
of SchurZ and other fanatics has been tried
long enough. 1t has cost thousands of dol
lars and many lives. When the government
will once place the Indian on the same legal
footing as the white man, give him the same
rights in court, punish his oppressors, but be
just as careful in bringing him to justice for
his crimes, have an army large enough to en-
force the law, then will there be peace and
not till then. The West needs TO have its
Representatives present this Indian question
in Congress and thoroughly v~entilate the
subject. More than that, it needs Western
men to be represented in the executive de-
partments, mel who understand something
of the West. For over a hundred years this
country has been governed by rulers from a
narrow strip of land along the Atlantic
Ocean. There are Just as good men west of
the Mississippi as east, and if the West gives
up the Presidency to the East the country
west of the Mississippi certainly ought to
have its share of Cabinet officers. Then
might we expect wiser measures adopted rel
alive to the Indian question.