The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-11-08
A SERIOUS

| dulges in q severe criticism oil MAJOR 1 Dung
management of affairs at the Blackfoo
Agency. If what the Record says OF Majo
| Young is srue that gentleman has remaine
quite long enough at the agency. His fur
ther continuance at the post could be yer.
well dispensed with. The Record says: 81
| appears that in order to cooperate with tn
settlers of this section in the suppression o
horse stealing, which has become most dan
g~erously common, Major Young has Offered
a standing reward of five dollars a head fo
all ste len horses that his Indians may recover
and bring i to the agency. As all our read
ers are perhaps aware, the Blackfoot Agency
is most advantageously situated for inter
cepting the Northern Indians who cross the
Canadian line into Montana in order to steaI
horses and kill cattle. Moreover, Major
Young has at his disposal some thirty braves
well armed and mounted. who draw govern
ment salaries to ~oficiate as agency police and
have ne work worth mentioning. At the first
glance the Major would seem to be the SAVIOR
of settlers who have been robbed Of Their
horses, and were the Majors halcyon views
Of the condition of his red men correct, or did
he understand controlling his proteges prop
erly, this seemingly might be reality. Ths
plain facts of the matter, however. indicate
the contrary. His Indians do occa-
sionally get hold Of stolen horses and
bring them in, and Major Young, without ad-
vertising the recovery to the owners, has
them about tic agency, keeps = strict &C.
count of the time of holding them and
charges for the same. When an owner acct
dentally hears that his horses are at the agen-
cy and goes to get them he is confronted by
a bill for horses keep almost equivalent to
the value of the animals. In one instance
we have heard Of, a poor man has three
horses still in the possess on Of Young which
were recovered last summer, because he did
not hear of Young's having them until the
stable bill was too large TO pay. But the
worst feature of this reward business is that
these Piegans Of the Blackfoot Agency steal
horses themselves for the reward. With an
innate taste for thieving, and a reward put
upon its qualification by that rare judge of In
dian character, Major John Young, what else
is to be expected. Broadwater Il Go. have
had a number of half-brseds freighting for
them between the Coal Banks and Fort As
land Youug's, as 1t were, licensed
have been stealing from them for
Some of these half-breeds have
gone TO the agency and recovered stolen
and had them stolen again by the
Pisgans ere they could get them to their home
There are many things about this whole
Indian agency business, the mention of
which makes the gorge of the average West
I'm man rise. In the first place a man is ap-
to take charge of an Indian agency
simply because he belongs to one of the vari-
Jus religious denominations. The question
Of his fitness for the position has nothing to
10 with his appointment. In nine cases out
# ten he never saw an Indian until he ar
lived at the scene of his labors. He knows
about the indian character, his hab-
IS or Lis needs. What little knowledge he
of them was obtained through Sun
ay school books and missionaries. But he
a professor of religion with a sanctimonious
and a voice sweetly tunedI for
inging the songs of Zion. Being possessed
f these amiable qualities he is supposed to
g able to deal successfully with the cunning
wages OF the West, and being Endorsed by
deacon, or presiding elder or bishop, he
,cures All appointment, and clothed with
and the title OF "Major," supp'e |
rented with a salary OF $500 per year, he
a,hers his psalm books and hastes away to
is charge, and enters upon his duties. These
re so foreign to all his prsconceived notions
t them thai he is at once at sea and readily |
ields to the force of surrounding circum-
:ances. These circumstances are not calcu-
ated to lead hin in the line of his religious
and the chances are that he falls by
he way-sids and becomes a victim to the
to which he was a stranger in
inging agent soon casts his songs, his high
esolves and religion to the dogs and goes
or the almighty dollar. He generally gets
t, nor is he particular as to the order of get
ing it. Taking up estray horses is a new de-
ice and may prove quite as remunerative as
utting double blankets into halves, or deal
ny out sand to half-starved wards for sugar.
l is simply a matter of taste, or q choice of
peans 10 reach the same end-makiug
money. With a few honorable exceptions
he application of the agency system in deal
ng with the Indians has proved a lamentable
allure. 1t should be abandoned and the In
Iians turned over to the War Department.
SPIRIT OF THE EASTERN PRESS.