Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-26
INDIAN RINGS.
Wow the Government Has been Robbed
by RascaIly Indian Agents.

Wow the Government Has been Robbed
by RascaIly Indian Agents.
WASHINGTON, June "A. - Happen
ing into one Of the offices of the Interior
Department to-day was shown the largest
and coarsest made horseshoe that can be
Imagined.
"Where did that come from?' / asked.
1T is one of the shoes that We're fur
nished for the Indian Department. II is
supposed to be mule shoe, proper for
the diminutive Indian mule Of the
frontier"
"What will it weight"
"SNmething over two pounds"
''Tell me all about it."
swell. YOU see, there il contract made
for h0rseshoes among other things, and
this shoe is an illustration of how these
contracts have been filled in time past.
The Indian Department is looked uDon as
n legitimate place 10 steal from the gov
eminent. The man who takes the con
tract tofurnish hOrseshoes, when he gets
around To it uuloads everything be has
upon the government. You can see how
easy il is for the agent to stand in with
these various contractors and let such
things pass.
''The fact is, that people take contracts
at what seems to be "A low price, and then
get even by furnishing poor and unsal-
able stuff ofone kind and another They ex-
cuse their consciences by saying that the
government is rich and the Indians are
Frauds and DO not appreciate "A good
article. All this is very similar 10 the
star route business in the Post Office De
psrtment Of which everybody heard so
much few years ago. Those star route
Ghieves, you know, would take contract
very low for carrying the mail from one
point to another and then, when they once
got il, they Immediately went to work to
get the route expedited and made big
money on the eXpediting. The Indian
contractors have for years bid low on the
supplies and then unlOaded everything
and anything upon the government But
COmmissiner Atkins proposes to stop all
this If there is any such thing. He has
certain original methods Of his own for
doing this He proposes to master the sub
Ject in a way IL has never been mastered
before. lie is soon to start on tour OF
inspection all along the line. He does
not propose that any of the agents of
posts shall know when he is 80 arrive, aud
when he gets back here in September he
will know very much more about the ser
Fice than he ever has before"
lis it not a fact that there is a great
deal of fraud and nonsense connected with
the management OF the Indian Depart
mentN'
"Undoubtedly. / have been here for
many years. | have taken several trips
in the West myself and the waste and
extravaganza of the various agencies
made me sick. Ipresume did not know
much of it either. 1t is sight for the
blind to see the Indians come to one of the
agencies on ration day. | have seen
elegant steers let loose for the braves to
capture, and seen them chased down and
killed and only small slice of the beef
from the hind quarters taken, and the re-
mainder OF the carcass left to rot. | have
seen the squaws take the sacks Of flour
and meal TO a short distance from camp
and empty 1t out upon the ground folding
up the sack for future use. ! have seen
them take suits of clothes and trade them
at the suffers stand for a pint Of whisky,
and 20 away to get drunk. have seen
the braves take the regulation pantalOOns
and cut the seats out of them before wear
ing them. The Indian business has al
ways been one of the most gigantic
frauds of the nineteenth century. If
man was disposed to be dishonest there
was no place so open to his schemes as
this. 1t is far from the base Of sup
plies. The agent is as absolute as q king
in many ways, and has generally done as
he pleased.
But worse than all these petty ;hev-
ings and wastefuness, we feel certain
that nearly all the Indian wars that have
been raised in the past twenty years have
been caused by government employees or
their agents. When things get a little
dull at the agencies, and it seems that
supplies are not exactly liberal enough,
q few hali-breeds who stand in with the
Indian agents are sent out to murder a
few peaceful settlers and burn a few
cabins. This is telegraphed to head
quarters here and troops are ordered
against the Indians and large sur
plies are sent. This makes a big thing
for the agent and the stealings enrich
him."