The Clifton clarion., 1885-07-15

exchange. Is in striking contrast to the almost unanimous senti- ments of the press in the two Territories, which have been so fearfully scourged by the period ical outbreaks of the hostile Apacbes, and will not bear the test of impartial criticism. The writer evidently IS not posted on the lnwardness of the Indian problem, or writes from partial standpoint:
 "We would have had our hands full," said an officer, holding a prominent position here, in com menting upon the contents of a dispatch, If the Apaches in south
 eastern New Mexico had gone on the war path, the Utes in northern and northwestern New Mexico, the Apaches in Arizona and the Cheyennes in the Indian Terri tory. They are all giving us trouble, and they are widely sep arated. When one knows the con dition of the Indians he cannot blame them for their action. They must do something or starve to death. They have no food and there is no game for them to kill. The government is not half feed ing them. I understand that ap- propriations for the Indians are now less than they were several years ago, and I have it from no less authority than the General of the Army, that they are cheated out of portions of the food pur- chased by those appropriations to which they are entitled. By col fusion with dealers and agents they get cattle weighing one-half or one quarter of what the con tract calls for. Of course, when this is done, their food gives out before the end of the year, and they can get nothing in the way of provisions on the reservation, except snakes and insects, which they do eat" Another army off cer says that the amount of food allowed an Indian by the govern ment will not equal one-fourth of the amount that is given to the soldiers. In 1877, during the trouble with the Cheyennes, Gen. Pope sent the following hereto fore unpublished report to the War Department: "As matters stand, the military forces are placed in false and very unsatls- factory condition in relation to these Indians. It is inhuman to compel the Indians to remain at the agency of their reservations, slowly starving. They do what any other man would do under the circumstances-leave the To- calities where they are placed to procure food to prevent them selves and families from starving. It is considered the duty of the army to pursue and force them back, and compel them to starve peaceably. In other words, the military forces are required to compel these Indians to starve quickly or be killed. If they are not willing to do it, it is impossible to believe that the government intends, knowingly, to be even tacitly a party to so monstrous a crime against humanity, and l consider it, therefore, my duty, both to the government and the military forces, to acquaint the authorities with the facts, how ever disagreeable they may be. It will be perceived that a large sum is necessarily used from ap- propriations for these Indian tribes to transport their supplies to this and the other remote agencies, and it is not proper for the agent to invite attention to numerous recommendations 1 have made in the last twelve years that Indians confined to reservations by treaty stipula- tions be brought to points where everything IS cheap and where the enormous expenditure for the transportation of supplies to them will not be necessary" In Sep tember of the same year Gen. Pope sent another dispatch to the Department, and said: 'The pa pers forwarded contain more re statements of what 1 have so often brought to the attention of the authorities that l feel reluc tant to forward them; neverthe- less the subject must be presented and must be dealt with, unless the honor of the government, the faith of its promises to common