New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-15
INDIAN REPORF FOB 1882.

1t is, oddly enough. lacking in the most lmpor-
tant feature of any report-an account OF the
actual work done by the person who makes 1t
his outlay, decisions, orders, ETC. There are
two or three points on which the public would
like to be informed with regard to Commits
sionerPrices action certain difficult questions
during the year. None OF these come to the
light, however.
Mr.. Price first urges in - general way larger
appropriations for the payment OF Indian agents
Cheap men, he asserts, are employed, hence the
quality of morals of which the public com
plain We are not 50 sure that higher salary
always commands Ieverent regard for the Dec
alOgue. Nor does the nominal $l,2Oo Ut
81, 800 paid to an Indian agent represent one
1.-THE of his profits as Mr.. Price surely knows
else why should $4,000 or 1000 be paid for
such Offices without grudging
There are, according to this report, fifty-nine
agencies, and one other in which military
officer acts as agent. A deficiency during the
last year of 100000 is reported, the loss of
which has fallen on the Sioux. 1t is due under
treaty obligations, Mr.. Price suggests by the
way. that the law should be altered which pro-
yides that the Indians shall be paid their annu-
tiles in cash. 1t would be much better, he
thinks, that the Department should be allowed
at its discretion to give them cattle OF sheep,
especaly in the case of the Utes. The only
answer to this suggestion is that we owe the
money 4; it is the minimum price for which we
have bought invaluable land and mines and
we have neither the right to cheat them out OF
this paltry sum, to give something else in place
of il. nor to dictate how it shall be spent. The
total number of red men in the United States
Is 262, 1856. OF THESE 77,S0S are In the Indian
Territory Mr.. Price estimates that the diner
ept Churches have spent $2l6,2oO on their
education during the last year. Outside OF the
five ivilized Tribes (Which include more than
one-fourth of the whole number) there are
SAP Indian children now in schools SIX new
boarding-s schools have been opened, making
ths whole number seventy-four. An Indian
boarding-school is ver y different from the pop
ular idea of that aid to civilization, as we may
learn from the "inablity OF many of theiI man
. ayers to furnish them with wells, furniture or
material for clothing" In connection with
schools, 1,245 acres are under CULTIVATION
blacksmithing, carpentering, tailoring, shoe-
making and the care of stock are taught. Ohe
hundred and one day schools are now In opera
ton, and S4S2,200 has been appropriated 1or
fla. wear 1888 for educational purposes. This
sum doubtless seems large, especially 10 the
class who appreheud that the Indian VIII DC
kept alive a little longer among US by tamper-
ing with knowledge. But 1T must be remem-
herea that in most cases the establishment of
schools and support of q teacher are part OF the
animated price for which enol nous tracts
have been sold /; that the larger part OF the
money goes to the building or the school,
house and support of the teacher, and that the
agent as rule, also assumes the duty Oh
teacher and receives the salary. There can be
no doubt that the people and the Government
ara both in earnest in the desire that the lndl-
ans shall be educated, and that they give their
means Literally for that purpose. But rs In all
Indian affairs, the slips are likely to be so many
ae,wen cup and lip that the drops which
reach il are few enough.
Mr.. Price urges the removal in the spring or
The Nez Perces, OF rather the few remaining
members of the tribe in the Indian Territory,
hucl, 10 their own land in Idaho. Chief Joseph,
# will be remembered, surrendered to General
Miles only on receiving that officers promise
that he and his band should be permitted to
return TO their homes. The Government falsi-
fed the work of the gallant soldier, and for i've
years they have been exiled They are fast dy-
inc out in the malarious district to which they
are banlshed. There is room and to spare
for them in their old homes, AMI to forbid them
to return is the sheer wantonness OF cruelty.
The brutal inconsequence with which the ln-
dian Department moves tribes and parts OF
tribes about as q child might shift chessmen Is
almost incredible when We remember that
these are men and women with peculiarly
strong domestic and local attachments, who are
dragged from their Binsfolk. homes aud all as
sociations at the will of two or three young
clerks in an Office at Washington. The barbara
ty of slavery was that it separated now and
then family at the rbitrary will of a master
out of their homes. For example, Mr. Price
adverts to the ostensibly voluntary removal OF
100 Cherokees from North Carolina to the In
dian Territory during 1851 the fact gaining
significance by an intimation that encroach-
ments on their land ara now made by the
whites, and that an agent has been appointed.
etc, etc. Why should these Cherokecs leave
| the rich bottoms of tho 5000 and Oconalufta
Rivers to 90 across the continent to the sickly
swamps of the Indian Territory? I 10y had
| FIVE years ago 10000 acres under cultivation
they had churches, schools, houses; they had
the keen delight of proprietorship. The inside
history of this case, as every other, would only
show Ahab looking with greedy eye on Ma
| both's little field.
| II these men in North Carolina or Idaho nae
the right to go into the cou ts and protect thei
rights we would each shudder ut such injus
y t;.n Than t.,n tha n,onav enant IN THAR adm
cation would be Of some actual practical use.
1
Under the somewhat startling head. Anothe
neu,crat ikeiv IN get JusticeD Democrat tic ne VS.