Seth King Humphrey

“ It is a shame which the American nation ought not to lie under, for the American people, as a people, are not unjust. If there be one thing which they believe in more than any other, and mean that every man on this continent shall have, it is fair play. And as soon as they fairly understand how cruelly it has been denied to the Indian, they will rise up and demand it for him. ”

“ The final measure of a congressman's political usefulness is his ability to secure a fair share of governmental favors for his district, and for his political supporters. Harbor and river improvements, fortifications, dry docks, arsenals, federal buildings, irrigation plants, and ten thousand and one desirable federal offices,—all these are within the gift of Congress, and every congressman has a right to indulge the hope that, with reasonable endeavor on his part, these favors will be dealt out to him in fair proportion to his political representation. ”

“ What better can a people expect of legislators whom it virtually holds to the business of legislation by private agreement, than that they will also make private agreements on their own individual accounts? Congressmen have only to maintain a reasonable showing of returns to their constituents from the system of legislative barter, to effectually kill the kind of public sentiment that lacks the inspiration of some selfish interest. In effect, the people are without representation in Congress as regards their moral convictions. ”

“ There is no despotism more whimsically cruel than that of men unused to power, who suddenly find themselves in absolute control of a people whose one vital interest—an advantageous foothold on good land—is in continual conflict with their own chief desire,—the possession of that same good land. ”

“ The Indian's story does not argue that the Indian should have been at any time given the protection of the franchise; but it does argue that in a loose-jointed republic where national legislation is at the beck and call of every little coterie of irresponsible voters, the Indian has been subjected to more devilish variations of human caprice than if he were at the mercy of an openly oppressive, but more consistent and centralized style of government. ”

“ The miserable story of the California Indians had dragged itself through twenty-five years; every measure of relief had been blocked in Congress by the interested few,—the Vociferous Few in the Indian country. "This class of Indians," concludes the Commissioner, "seems forcibly to illustrate the truth that no man has a place or a fair chance to exist under the Government of the United States who has not a part in it." A more illuminating commentary on the Indian's unhappy status in the land of the Free can hardly be written in one sentence. ”

“ The Indian iniquity, and these other evils, will persist as long as the irresponsible community stands equally with other communities in the ease with which it can secure legislative enactments, restrained only by such vague moral considerations as may in Congress survive the exigencies of the trading system. They will persist until the people are willing to give up some of their freedom in order that a few may not be too free ”

“ The support of delegations from other Indian reserve districts comes as a matter of course,—they may in turn be called upon to perform a like service for their constituencies. Together, they are an influence in Congress which can determine the success or failure of a dozen other projects—and they are intent upon advancing only this one. What, then, is easier than to convince the ardent seekers after river improvements, and public buildings, that their scheme is one of sheer philanthropy for the Indian? ”

“ The people earnestly desire justice for the Indian—of this there is no question. Congress is made up of the people's representatives, and Congress, ignoring the general sentiment, has from 1789 to 1904 persistently, steadily borne down upon the Indian in the interest of the few in the Indian country. ”

“ It is no more than natural that from these conditions there should have developed in Congress an elaborate system for the exchange of support in the business of securing these local favors; in view of the expectations of his constituents, it is not only natural, but necessary, that a congressman, even a conscientious congressman, study the distribution of his influence as much with reference to the returns it will bring in exchange as to the merits of the schemes to which he lends it. ”

“ Every tendency within the system is reactively downward; constituencies, knowing little of methods, are quick to recognize success; and it is the natural tendency that only "successful" men are returned to Congress. With the strengthening of this class comes increased opportunity under the peculiar methods of the trading system.
Now, among these numerous favors at the disposal of Congress place the American Indian. ”

“ Even in this business—and it is strictly business, not statesmanship—there need be no menace to the national honor; to gain strategic advantage for one good cause by skilfully advancing other good causes, is good business. ”

“ That is just where the Indian has been for one hundred and twenty-five years,—a valuable asset in the general stock, to be manipulated and exchanged with as little regard for the human interests involved as though his lands and all things material to his welfare were no more than harbors and dry docks. A western district covets the best portion of an Indian reserve; the way to the Indian land lies through Congress, and the business is placed with the district's representatives. ”

“ A not too close scrutiny of the projects to which he gives his approval brings to the congressman a greater measure of support; in turn, if his supporters are equally accommodating, his own demands for governmental favors may safely assume questionable proportions. ”

“ In general, each section has its own particular desires, and is scarcely interested in the ambitions of its neighbors except as they affect its own ambitions. The seaboard town urging the betterment of its harbor is indifferent to the construction of jetties in the Missouri, while a dry dock appeals to the western member charged with securing an irrigation appropriation merely as having an unpleasantly suggestive name. ”