Harper's Weekly

“ But it is none the less curious that it should show itself in a controversy with a Secretary who is wholly free from the suspicions which have sometimes hung around the Interior Department, and who can not be accused of deliberate foul play toward the Indiana. President Hayes has wisely requested Generals Crook and Miles — two military officers who are singularly fitted by sympathy and intelligence — and two civilians, to visit the Poncas and ascertain their wishes, and to report what course ought, in their judgment, to be pursued. ”

“ Meanwhile both the Poncas and the Sioux are speaking for themselves in Washington, and their words and the replies of the government are closely watched. This is as it should be. It is the satisfactory guarantee that every just step will be taken to right the wrong, and that among the other good services of this Administration will be that of furnishing a wise and humane precedent in the treatment of the Indian question. ”

“ To return the Poncas to these lands under such circumstances seemed a dangerous experiment, not only on their account, but also because the temper of the Sioux at that period appeared still very critical, and it was believed that the slightest irritation might lead to another outbreak of that tribe, the most powerful of all the Indian nations. ”