New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-08
PITS PRISONERS.

PATS PRISONERS.
The plan for the management OF the
captive Chiricahuas which has been urged
upon Secretary Teller by Secretary Lincoln
and General Crook, and has been practically
agreed upon, contemplates a mixed admins
tra,ion-half civil, half military - and will
make an interesting experiment IN lndian
affairs. Secretary Teller refuses to receive the
captives on the San Carlos reservation ana
become responsible for their good behavior,
and the Secretary of War and General Crook
have therefore urged that the tribe be received
upon the reservation, but only as prisoners oil
war, the Indian agent directing the Issue OF
suppljes. the management of schools, etc, as
under ordinary crcums tances, while the mill
tary should act as the police. This plan, 1t is be-
lieved by General Crook, will be satisfactory
TO the other Indians now on the reservation,
who have been unwilling that the Chiricahuas
should be brought there to enjoy the same
freedom as themselves. The white people In
the Territory will feel secure against further
outbreaks, knowing that military force Is
keeping watch, and the Chiricahuas themselves
will be content with a substantial fuliilment
of the promises made to them.
This plan seems to have the rare quality OF
being acceptable to three opposing interests,
and its adoption will doubtless be regarded
by the country as the wisest step to be taken,
chiefly because it Is approved by General
Crook, whose opinion on the situation in Ari-
IONA must be worth more than that OF any
other officer or official.
Yet it is peculiar settlement when all the
was
general feeling when the Apaches were taken
that their unprovoked and uDjustiiable raid
should be severely punished and this feeling
seemed to be shared by many who had been
prompt to resent the frauds and crueles to
which Indians have been so often subjected.
Here, it was thought, was case where the re-
sponsibility was plain. and severe punishment
would be lesson this tribe and all the other
tribes would remember 1t might naturally
have been expected that this opinion would be
shared by q noted Indian fighter like General
Crook, who had just emerged from the cam
paign against the Chiricahuas, and who might
be supposed to take the stern views of Indian
management which are usually ascribed to the
Army. But he has from the first said that
this could not be done. The Indians had left
the reservation and gone on the war
path: they must be allowed to come
back to the reservation, instead of being
banished to some distant and lonely spot, or
having their tribal character destroyed by
being scattered here and there. They must
have the chance to work farms and become
self-supporting, which they had asked for.
More pacific and merciful treatment Of
predatory band Of savages could not have been
suggested by any one. All this was necessary,
General Crook urged, not only because of the
promises he had made to secure the surrender,
but in order to prevent another uprising, and
to insure the return of the captive white boy
who is supposed to be with the lands
of women still out in the mountains.
In fact, the Chiricahuas, like any other con-
qucred Indians, recall the story of the Irishman's
prisoner "Pve got prisonerW cried Pat.
"Well, let him co." was the Captains reply.
I" But he won't let me-" said Pat. We might
be glad to let all the Indians CO. but they
"won't let" us. They cannot be extermi-
mated. They are with us-tO stay. They must
be fed, whether they behave well or ill-whether
they are peaceful citizens or freebooters.
When they have gone on the war-path, have
been beaten, and have been reduced to the
status of prisoners of war, we must go on edu
eating their children and issuing their supplies
as if nothing had happened We must do this
in order to prevent their committing the same
crimes all over again.
Add to the Inconsistencies and problems of
! a system like this the troubles arising from
sharp practice and other wrongs by whites, and
we see, for the thousandth time, the difficult
| ties of the Indian question, which seem
almost infinite in number. We see also
the impossibility of making fixed rule which
shall fit all cases. No fact Is better established
than that there is great diversity among the
various tribes of Indians. in character as well
as characterstcs-almost as much, it has been
said, as among the various races of whites.
These differences in disposition make it all the
more necessary that there should be room for
! Just such personal discretion IN dealing with
the various tribes as General Crook has been
in position TO exercise in this case, and also
that the persons TO use it shall have had prac-
| teal experience. Under civil system of adj
ministration, involving frequent changes of
officials, this has not always been possible
One OF the strongest arguments for military
management of the Indians Is, therefore, that
the Army Is life service, and that there