The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1879-10-29
For ThE RECORD.
OUR INDIANS.

M. EDITOR :--In looking over the columns
Of your paper we find the Following from yoor
Mt Airy correspondent, over the signature oe
Capt. Jack, and to our mind bio takes !
very narrow view Of one Of the broadsst oA,es.
tions Of the day-the Indian problem. Hs
says:
|" The government seems at sea as to how to
solve the Indian problem. BY reference to-
the Treasury department it appears that since,
the beginning Of the government M TO the
LIST OF July. 1879, the government has expend-
ed on account of Indians the enormous sum
OF one hundred and eighty one million dol
lars and that there airs still living abont;
three hundred thousand red skins. The.
question Is easily solved. Nothing short of
determination will ever settle them, and the
way we are doing il costs not less than Atty,
thousand dollars per head. New we wifi
agree to undertake the job at $50 pkf head
ana hnish the Contract by the LIST of October,
1885," &c. e
Erterminate the red MANI Such PROPOSE
ton is unbecomng to this age of enlight-,
eminent Such policy, in the face of the facts
OF injustice which the Indians have submitted
to, should make any one blush to advocate it,
The savage is taking to the war PATH but
who is to blame? The noble red man expects
his claims to be recognized as well as does the
noble white man, and as God is the "Father
of us all why shouldnt justice be balanced
evenlyP Before this great Indian problem is
settled, it is well to act slowly and weigh we'll
the cause and we know that the effect we are
seeing win not be without solution. In thou
sands of instances, because of their lack of in-
telgeuce they have been the sufferers of
wanton and untold mischief at the hand OF
their cicilssed brother. Has the Indian no ex-
cuse for taking the war path The stories
their runners " are telling from tribe to
tribe are such as the treatment of the Neg
Perces, the violations of the conditions of sur.
render with Joseph, how he is held prisoner
in hot and sickly land, the death by disease
of his innocent women and children, OF the
massacre of the Cheyennes the removal Of the
Poncas at the point of the bayonet, when they
had always been friendly to the whites they
tell of their 200 dead who are buried in what
is to them foreign land, of the driving of
Moses and bis people from their lands In Ore
gon, of the threatened removal of the Sautees'
aud of a hundred other such things How
would the noble white man stand such treat
mentp The history of our past tells bow we
redress wrongly the bloody hand of war.---
Our Indians act under precisely the same i'm
pulses and are guided by identically the same
train of reasoning as would white men under
like circumstances When their horses and
cattle are big enough to be of service they are
driven off in herds by white renegades wheu
his wheat and corn and vegetables are almost
ready for the market his reservation Is chang
ed and sometimes as in the case Of the Pom
In speaking of the Indians, Gen. rock says !.
81 win say, without hesitation, that our In
dians have adhered more closely to the spirit
of treaty stipuations than the white men or
the white mems Government has ever done"
They are not protected by existing laws. Gen.
Crook continues "Tbe Indians have abso-
lutely no status for claiming protection under
our laws. Let me cite the case of the g Red
Cloud and "Spotted Tail y bands Of Sioux
now living on reservations lying on the north
ern boundary of this department. am per-
sonaly acquainted with the chiefs and head
men of these two powerful bands, which agl
gregate somewhere from 10 900 to a. 600 souls.
believe that they are earnestly DESTROYS of
remaining at peace, and they Will remain at
peace until aggressions goad them to war;
You know to what an extent these two bands
have been preyed upon by organized compan-
les of horse thieves during the past Winter
and Spring alone they were robbed Of
over 1000 ponies. Their agents, Dr. Irwin
and DR.. v. It. McGilIicuddy, have been ex-
ceptionally jealous and capable, but they have
been utterly powerless to check the evil COM
planned of. Under the - Posse Comitatus y
Act, the military arm of the Government is
paralyzed, The Sioux can't understand any
thing about legislation ia military affairs
they don't want to understand It. All they
know is that bands of white thieves boldly
sieze their ponies and drive them off, finding
a ready sale for them among ranchmen and
cattle herders." Indian property when found
in the hands of well-known thieves can scarce
ly be recovered because tho Indian is not REQ