McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-09-25
THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
The Policy of Gen. Crook 1oUard the
IpdcIies.

me HCucy OF UcH. tTo"fs &"'e"'N CIV
ApacI,es.
st. Louis Globe Democrat.
Gen. George Crook has given the re-
suit of his policy toward the ApacheS
in q letter to Mr. Welsh, of the Indian
commission. Crook, more than any
other man in America, has been sue
cessful in his dealings with Indians,
and is the only officer who has ever
won and retained the respect and the
confidence of the Apaches, the most in
tractable of all the native tribes. In
full command of the department OF
Arizona, with all the army at his back,
the iron hand of authority has been
hidden by the glove of gentleness, but
none know better than he how and
when to make his power felt and re-
spected. His methods have been con-
demned by those who thought they
perfectly understood the Indian pro-
blem, but he has mostly had his way
because his superiors had the good
sense to trust his experience and judg-
| ment. There was much difficulty
year ago when he insisted on admitting
| the Chiracahua Apaches, who had sur
rendered to him in the Sierra Madre,
| after committing horrible atrocities, to
| the San Carlos reservation with the
others who had remained peaceably be-
hind, though Cooks advice was taken
in the end. OF the results he now says
| that the reports are of the most encour-
aging character. Of the SIP members
of that band all save the small children
and a few broken down men and
| women are now hard at work at farming.
The Apache has been kept from idleness
and made producer. He has begun to
realize the value of money and that he
may fill the measure of his needs with his
labor. The Apache is quick to know
his rights and as quick to defend them
with vigor and ferOcity that made his
name a synonym for all that was horri-
BILE and repulsive in the Indian charac-
ter, and rendered it hard to do Justice
to his natural sense and robust virtues.
Crook first applied his policy to the
Apaches in 1873, IA and rs, but dur
ing his removal from the department of
Arizona for some years, the good re-
suits he had attained were nullified by
the acts of sharks in the posts of Indian
agents and their abettOrs, who plumber
the Indians right and left, until the lat
| ter lost all confidence in the govern
ment and were on the brink of an out
break. 1t required all of Crooks tact
and influence to keep them at peace
till an adjustment could be made. He
believes that had there not been such
an interruption of their progress in the
path of civilization, the Apaches would
now, at least many of them, have been
fairly well qualified to receive the cleo
|
been self-supporting and generally
prosperous. Crook finds the Apaches
now beginning to be anxious to follow
agriculture and stock-raising, to give
their children to the schools, and with
| general inclination to make money.
To have awakened such desires in the
breasts of such savages has gone very
long ways toward solving the problem
of how to produce good Indian with
out killing him. 1t is not in the char
acter of all the tribes to produce such
results, at least not without efforts last
ing through generations. But when
Gen. Crook closes his letter by saying
that there is not in the State of Penn
sylvania a village of the same popula-
ton more peaceable and law-abiding
than the five thousand Apaches on the
San Carlos reservation, he presents an
extraordinarily strong case and seems
to have fairly demonstrated the posi-
bility of making peaceable and useful
citizens of these hitherto implacable
free-booters of the plains. 1t is not to
be expected that the red tape which
binds the Indian bureau can readily be
cut so that the methods Crook has
found so efficient may be applied in
other quarters, but the results he gives
are so gratifying that it is impossible
they should not have influence in COM
ing legislation on the Indian problem.