Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1881-09-29
How to Deal With the Apaches.

Santa Fe New Mexican
The changing sentiment of the
country in reference to the Indian pol
icy which has so long cursed the from
tier, embarrassing enterprise as well as
sacrificing life is shown in the current
of newspaper comment. Articles sim.
liar in tenor to the following from the
Washington Post are appearing in the
leading papers everywhere, and we are
prone to believe that the solid horse
sense of Secretary Kirkwood viii as
sert itself, if imperceptibly, for the
adoption of more effective, energetic
policy, which will permanently quiet
the existing troubles.
1t is very plain that the same pacific
and humanitarian policy which the
government has adopted in It's treat
ment of Indians who are susceptible
to pacific and humanitarian influences,
will not answer for the treacherous and
implacable Apaches, or any others who
?refer the war path to the reservation.
1t is well to use all practicable means
to molify and civilize the savage, but
the government is under the most
solemn obligation to protect its own
citizens in the first place, and at all
odds, especially against the perlidiOus
ingrates who accept favors at the
hands of the Great Father" only 10
betray his people into ambush and who
are at heart the sworn and relentless
foes of the white race. 1t is to the
soldier rather than the states man-to
gunpowder rather than philanthrophy
that we must turn for relief in such
startling emergencies as have arisen
in Arizona and New Mexico. There
is no longer any doubt that number
Of officers and men belonging to
Colonel Cars command have been
slaughtered in the service, and by their
own trusted scouts. Admit their fate
to be an incident of war, instead of
mitigate it as we may-it is
tragedy that exhibits war in its most
cruel and barbarous phases, and makes
it bloodily self-evident that the ene-
my with which we have to deal must
be visited with the swiftest possible
and most unsparing retribution.
This is no time to preach the gospel
Of peace or proffer the olive-branch,
unless it be that the lives of our brave
soldiers and heroic pioneers, of our own
kith and kin, of our wives, daughters
and children are to be held of less ac-
count than the wild beasts who devour
them. The practical solution of the
whole difficulty is to be found in Wig
crouS war policy. It is summarized in
the views of the veteran General
Hatch. who holds that all Indian reser-
vations in the disaffected region shall
be held under military control; that
the Mescaleros shall be sent east to
keep them out of temptation; that the
Navajoes shall be corraled on their
own limits, and that negotiations be
opened with the Mexican Republic for
the capture or determination of all
hoStiles along the border. General
Hatch holds also that the district of
New Mexico should have, besides its
present garrisons of infantry, five cav
airy battalions of four companies each,
with all necessary pack mules and
means of transportation.
These opinions were given before
the late catastrophe occurred. but
sufficiently foreshadow the military
policy which. in the opinion of army
officers familiar with the hostile In
dians and campaigning, should be at
once and vigorously instituted. In the
event of a general war, which is not at
all improbable in the Apache country.
there should be no lack of men or ma
terial. If our regular force is too
small, depleted by useless details or
weakened by the folly of congression-
al retrenchment, let it be recruited
up. Let the governors of Arizona and
New Mexico be authorized to put their
militia in the field, well equipped for
active duty. Let bold, sharp. decisive
work be made of this whole miserable
and heartsickening business.
Such course alone points out the
nearest road to peace and safety. The
government cannot afford to daily or
temporize with so imminent a peril.
The lives and property of thousands
of citizens depend upon prompt and
terrible use of the army.