National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1879-01-10

General Sherdans annual report and thus
gives some color to the apprehension / cx
| pressed that the General had made the
charges first and might have TO Look for tho
evidence afterward, Is particularly interesting.
| IL Is also worthy of remark that Lieutenant
| Lees letter refers to un Indian tribe which
was according to General Shcridau's annual
report, very well, perhaps even too we'll sup
/ piled under the present administration, and
which was, since | came into Office, under
Lieutenat Lees management until recently.
/ It may have escaped General Sheridan's notice
! that in June, 1877, | appointed commission
to inquire into the condition of the Indian
| service.
That inquiry was very thorough and COM
| prehensive. II laid open many abuses and de-
| icCts, and led TO important changes in the per-
/ sOnnel Of tho Office, rs well as improvement in
the business methods and the system of super
vision and accountability. These changes and
| improvements could, of course, not be effected
in day but they have gone on as rapidly as
| possible, and have already taken much wider
range than the complaints of military officers
contained in General Sheridan's supplemental
report seemed to call for.
| 1t is perhaps Just to General Sheridan to rs.
sumo that during the six weeks he devoted to
the search for old evidence against tho Indian
Bureau aud to the preparation of new testi-
mony, he could notsfnd time to inquire into
the improvements introduced by the present
|
he might have easily had the information had
he asked for It,. Had he been able TO do so his
sense Of justice would have suggested to him
the prOpriety of appending to each complaint
in his supplemental report u statement Of
the action meanwhile taken thereon by this
Department in furnishing offenders and in cor
rocting defects in business methods. In that
case his supplemental report" would have
! presented very different aspect.
lie would have had to mention not only that
Contractor McCInn, of whom his report speaks,
was criminally prosecuted by this Department
and has been tried and convicted that Agent
Livingston and others with him. have been
| indicted and are being crimnalIy prosecuted,
but that similar prosecutions Of agents and
contractors have been set on foot in other parts
of his military division. He would have had
| to state that not only the agents who are Justly
complained of in his Supplemental report"
have been removed, but many other similar
changes have taken place, about which Gen
eral Sheridan seems to have had, so far no in
| formation. He would have hal to recognize
| that the methods of business and account tbility
| have been improved far beyond the changes
which his complaints suggest as necessary.
Had General Sheridan found time to seek
| this information and produced it, his supple.
mental report would have become rs complete
vindication ofthe efficiency ofthe present ad
ministrltion Of Indian affairs as l could desire
If | could induce General Sheridan to give me
the honor of n personal inspection of the bus-
ness methods now introduced in the Interior
Department las also when testifying before
1t, invited the joint committee of Congress eX-
amining into the transfer question: | am not
only confident that he would find those meth
obs infinitely superior to those which pre-
vailed in the Indian service when it was under
military management, but it is quite possible
that he would have to admit them to be at
least equal, ifnot superior, to those of the mil
itary service now in point of regularity and
precision in the system of accountability, the
safeguards against fraud and pecuation, and
the strictncss Of their enforcement
General Sheridan had evidently not informed
himself about these things, and only thus can
it be explained that during several years pre-
vions to the incoming of the present Admins
tratiOn when the large majority of the cases
of fraud and mismaragement alluded to in his
"supplemental report occurred, very many of
which passed with impunity, and not one Of
which led to a criminal prosecution, he had 4,
although advocating the transfer of tho Indian
service, not single word Of denuncation
for them in his annual reports, while now, un-
der this administration, when the thieves are
at last OH their way to the penitentiary when
dishonest or incompetent agents are held to
account and dismissed without mercy when
the ring men and fraudulent claimants unite
in chorus of curses against the Interior De-
partment and struggle to get out ol
its clutches; when the leaks and op.
portunites for fraud and peculation arc
stopped one after another by effective business
reforms, and when every possible effort is fear
lessly made to raise the service to u proper
level of honesty and efficiency, now the Gem
cral does not hesitate to assa in his official re-
port this Department of tho Government with
unmcasured allegations, the literal meaning
, of which he finds himself compelled to dis
claim rs soon as lie Is confronted with 1t, and
which he strives to support with an enumera
ton of delinquent officers who have already
been punished and dismissed, and of abuse
! which have already been corrected. Had Gen
eral Sheridan better informed himself h,
would certainly have preferred not to stant
in such an attitude.
The question Is not what the management
| Of Indian affairs has been under former admin
strations or at the beginning of this; the Ques
ton is, what 1t is now, and what, under th'
) present method of direction, it is likely to be
come. L do not pretend that it is now what
desire or hope it will be made. Further change
in the personnel MS well as in the business reg
t ulations may be suggested by experience
Neither do pretend that we can accomplish
t wonders with the means allowed this Depart
! mcnt for the Indian service. General Sheri
S dan, who speaks about the sufllciency of appro
pratiOns, Is perhaps not aware that last yea
| all the Indian service had to spend for goods
t and clothing, for subsistence, for agriculture
t tation was 81, 2,S90,097, while the army wa
{ allowed 81 100000 for transportation alone, 81
. that the one item Of transportation alone in th
{ military service cost over 81 10000 more than
| all the food the clothing and the agriculture
+ tools and implements we furnished to mum
e Der of Indians many times larger than th
: army, inclusive of transportation. This yea
the proportion will be about the same Thi
Y proves that the Indian service is by no mean
particularly favored with abundant appropria
e tions, and thorough inquiry into the subec
, would undoubtedly show that in point o
0 economical management it will compare favor
. ably with any branch Of the public service, an,
especially with the army. About some in
A stances Of that economical management, Gen
{ eral Meigs the QuartermasterGen Of th
z army, found occasion to express surprise whel
$ testifying before the committee of Congress OF
] the transfer of the Indian service But tina
Y we cannot furnish food to Indian tribes 10
A.. which we are allowed no money, il needs II
3 argument to prove.
Q There arc many expressions in General Shel
D idan's Supplemental report" calculated to leav
V the impression that most of the Indian war
s originated in some mismauagement of Indian
affairs by civil officers of the Government
Il Every student of the subject will agree witt
n me in saying that this is historically unfound
J. ed. While such msmanagement has undoubt
& edly taken place, it is an historical fact that