“ Schurz then went on to quote an exhaustive history of Indian wars, showing how few arose from the maladministration of Indian Agents, and how many had occurred during the time the War Department had had charge of the Indian Bureau. Some of these conflicts might have been brought on by the subordinate officers, who had looked upon them as opportunities for advancement, but there was no reason why the Indian Agent should want war. He would be the first man to lose his scalp, and therefore he would take care to avoid any complications. ”

“ In the second place, the President might be empowered to employ officers in the Indian service. The inspection force there should be increased so that all the agencies might be visited twice a year, instead of once, as at present. He did not know anything more desirable that that the whole Army of the United States should be constituted a committee of one for the perpetual visitation of Indian affairs, and to report to the Indian Bureau. Third, a measure of great importance was the increase of the Indian Police force. They had Indian Police at 22 stations, and found them exceedingly effective. ”

“ Marcy has stigmatized this report as mainly puerile and overdrawn. If he thinks so, he had better address such remarks to the General of the Army. At the present time I do not think it is overdrawn. There are in the Army a great many gentlemen who have good ideas about the Indian service. But it is one thing to have ideas and another to carry them out; and I think that patient labor and care of details necessary to raise the Indian tribes to a state of civilization would not be found among the officers of the Army. ”

“ INCONSISTENT AND INACCURATE STATEMENTS BY ARMY OFFICERS.
“This question of a transfer has been discussed before, and in a report which has attained some celebrity it is stated that ‘under the plan which is suggested the chief duties of the bureau will be to educate and instruct in the peaceful arts; in other words, to civilize the Indians. The military arm of the Government is not the most admirably adopted to discharge duties of this character. We are satisfied that not one Army officer in a thousand would like to teach Indian children to read and write, or Indian men to sow and reap. ”

“ He was not going to pretend that the civil administration was pure, but he would say that they had had no scandal quite so bad as the Cherokee affair. He alluded to the difficulties of the supervision of the different agencies, but said that many abuses that had formerly existed were being swept away. ”

“ He certainly considered $1,500 a year too little, but did not see that a military officer would be more likely than a civilian to carry out his duties faithfully. On the contrary, the civilian agent must prove of greater benefit to the Indians because he depended upon the success of Indian civilization, while the officer held his commission for life. ”

“ Soldiers never thought of the cost of a thing if it was thought to be necessary. As an instance, he mentioned that at the close of the Sioux war there were about 20,000 horses, ponies, and mules taken from the Indians, for which cows were to be given to them, and it turned out that these ponies and mules cost $19,412 96, besides the cows, and that to sell them cost $5,683 additional. ”