The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-01-16
Our Indian Policy.

py the chalr Of secretary Of the Inte-
rior," her ability to comprehend the du-
ties thereof far exceeding that Of the
present incumbent. For proof, read
the following letter written by her and
published in the Chicago Tribune:
To those who know anything OF the
facts, it is hard to be patient with the
self-complacence of our sentimental,
lOng-haired Secretary of the Interior.
He and his family are in a safe place.
The management of the bureau gives
him Thousands 81 appointments and
millions of money to control; and he
can sit at ease in his handsome Office
and resurrect dead aud gone failures as
experiments for civilizing his interest
ing proteges.
The last pretty catch-penny sentence
devised TO protect the bureau frauds and
massacres is this: "The war depart
meut may govern the Indian, but never
can put hOein his hand and teach him
TO use it.n So, 10 get hoe into the hand
of Mr.. 10, and develop his noble muscle
so that he can use the implement. is the
grand mission Of our grandiloquent sec
retary and his bureau.
Now, will people refuse TO remember
that this is just what the bureau has been
proposing 10 DO ever since il had an ex-
istence ? And how many Indians are
using a hoe to-day? How many hoes
did the secretary send out last year. and
how many of them are in use 4? IL the
people furnish money to buy hoe-, and
carry hoes a long distance, and keep
hoeiDg school, they should have some
definite information as to how tie en-
terprise prospers.
4 letter from Commissioner Hag tells
us that, in the last year, he expended
SI45, ,299 80 for the Cheyennes and Ara
pahoes, and gives a list of articles pur-
chased: Bacon, baking powder, cOf-
f,e, -four, lard, soap, tea, beef, beans,
corn, hOminy, salt, sugar and tobacco"
and not a word about hoes. Mr.. Hayt
adds that the injured innOcents dii not
get all the beef they should have had,
or would get before the year was out,
I by 4,7S7,j00 pounds. Moreover, they
should have had, or would get, more
corn, beans, sugar, coffee and flour. IL
| is probable that the hoes DO not properly
come uader the head OF supplies p and
I that they were furnished with the scalp
/ knives, Spencer rifles, tin dippers, plates
and Spoons OF course the bureau would
not miss an opportunity Of furnishing
I hoes, and piel'v Of thom-for it has a
profit on every noe. Should not wOn-
/ der if it had sent out a couple Of thou
sand of self-binding reapers; ten thou
sand moving machines, patent ehurns,
wind-mills, cider presses, and probably
saw-mills in unlimited quantities; and
should report the same as an expert
ment for educating Mr.. 10 in the use
OF the hoe. Such an experiment would
be IN the direct line Of that other eXper-
iment of our philosophical secretary
that Of sending young Indians east to
be taught grammar and hOeing.
When the appointees Of James Bu-
chanan went into the Territory of Min
nesOta to take charge of Indians, they
found thousands Of dollars worth of ag-
ricultural implements rotting on ground
which had been fenced, plowed and
planted by agents Of the government
engaged in the sensible work of teach
ing Indians to hoe, while depriving
them of all the necessity for hoeing.
They had sat around like so many
crows, or worked little for official pay,
and turned their ponies in to eat the
growing crops, and burned the rails for
firewOod. Indians that had been taken
young and educated by the whites were
living in all the vices of heathenism,
were perfectly vagabondized and ostra-
cised by their tribes, or had fallen into
the ole ruts.
The entire history OF our Indian pol
icy is such blot on our natural escutch-
con as few nations have had To bear,
and the glaring hypocrisy and trickery
with and by which il has been perpetu-
ated is enough TO stamp us a nation OF
knaves aud dupes; but, Of all the tricks
Of which l know anything, none has
been quite so shallow as this last, viz
Sending young Indians 10 Virginia to
learn TO hoe
Every one who knows anything about
Indians, knows that IL is not the want
OF knowledge, but want of will, which
keeps them from working. Like ali
other SHAREHOLDERS, they hold labor in
the utmost contempt. All agricultural
and mechanical work is left 10 their
slaves, the squaws; and they scorn both
labor and laborers-scOrn the use OF a
hoe as much ss Henry Clay did that OF
a blackiug brush; aud only necessity
can ever teach them 10 use it. Most OF
them will hoe rather than starve, and
those who will not should be left to the
alternative; but 10 expect to coax them
10 work while feeding and clothing
them, is TO expect a reversal Of the laws
I OF nature.