Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-10-11
SATURDAY, OCT. II, 1879.
THEINDIAN QUESTION AGAIN

We do not intend to retract a
single word we have said in refer
ence to to the Indian policy of the
Government, or the supreme folly
of sending out a handful of Federal
soldiers every year or two to be-
murdered by savage tribes. We
fully appreciate the trouble that
has arisen from time to time, and
for which we may look again, COM
ing from the presence in the Indian
country of white men who are
worse than the Indians can be.
Some of these white men are
officials, whose hearts are as corrupt
as the Devil can make them, and who,
for the sake of gain, will commit an
act of rascality which may imperil
thousands of men, women and chil-
dren. They are natural thieves and
every instinct of their nature is the
instinct of thief. Then there are
bloodthirsty murderers, robbers,
housebreakers and fugitives from
justice who 60 among the Indians to
escape the punishment they SO much
deserve. They are brutes in human
form, the slaves Of brutal passions,
and they subject the Indians some
times to indignities which they can
not be expected to bear without re-
sentiment.
We appreciate all these things and
more but if we have any use for
an army at all, we want an army
sufficient to defend the frontier
against savage vengeance when ne
cessary. The extent of our frontier
is fully twenty-five hundred miles.
Besides this, we must keep some
troops along the Rio Grande to pro-
tect our Texas neighbors against
the depredations of Mexican cattle
thieves. Besides, we have military
forts and military property in differ
ent portions of the country which
is to be guarded and taken
care of. With all the legiti~
mate demands made upon the army,
any man with a thimble-full OF
brains, and who is not blinded by
partisan prejudice until his vision is
as defective as that Of a siX-hours
old puppy, must see how absurd il
is to expect an army Of twenty-five
thousand men to perform the duty
expected of them. We would be
the last man on earth to wantonly
provoke a fight with the Indians
and we would protect then
against the outrages perpetrate'
by brutal and unprincipleo
white men as far as it is possible
to do so, but because they have
been imposed upon at times, fur
nishes no excuse for sending out
little squad of Federal soldiers VIII
have never harmed them to b
offered up as a bloody sacrifice t
their savage wrath. And the Gov
eminent that permits such a thin.
to be done, as it has, is guilty o
the murder of its soldiers. Twis
and turn the facts and cir
cumstances as you may, ant
yet the truth stands out il
bold relief and even a blind mai
can read it. It is all well enough
for men who are safe IN their homes
lounging in dressing gown and slip
pers, smoking their richly favore'
Havanas, to indulge in fne-spul
sentimentalism about the treatmen
of Indians, but it is very diferen
thing to meet them face to face i,
their own native wilds, and the ma
who has not learned this, has neve
learned enough to be a member {
Congress, and have voice in tn
disposition of the regular army.
"Comanche" says there is nothin
more fatal to the romance of kiS
than to have your girl sneeze at til
e l0kf fNhn5n q