Superintendent of Indian Affairs

“ Before the Indian Bureau is transferred from the Interior to the War Department, however, Congress should strive to comprehend the fact that even the War Department can have very little success in managing Indian affairs unless we contrive to attain some settled Indian policy. We have been in the habit of putting the Indians by turns under the immediate care of missionaries and thieves, of Quakers and Catholics, of army officers and contractors. ”

“ The present system of agencies, while absolutely necessary and well adapted for the management of our Indian affairs and for the ends in view when it was adopted, is in the present stage of Indian management inadequate, standing alone, for the accomplishment of an object which has become pressing in its importance--the more rapid transition from tribal organizations to citizenship of such portions of the Indians as are capable of civilized life. ”

“ The Government's responsibility to the American Indian has been acknowledged by annual increases in appropriations to fulfill its obligations to them and to hasten the time when Federal supervision of their affairs may be properly and safely terminated. The movement in Congress and in some of the State legislatures for extending responsibility in Indian affairs to States should be encouraged. A complete participation by the Indian in our economic life is the end to be desired. ”

“ The question is whether there is no one of the 300 millions of the population of India, who is competent to be the officially-constituted adviser of the Governor-General in Council in the administration of Indian affairs. You make an Indian a judge of the High Court, and Indians have even been acting Chief Justices. As to capacity, who can deny that they have distinguished themselves as administrators of native States, where a very full demand is made on their resources, intellectual and moral? ”

“ It is easy to understand that if the management of Indian affairs were turned over to the military service the interests of the Indians and the interests and convenience of the Army might not always agree ”

“ They admit that:
“If responsible government is to be established in India there will be a far greater need than is even dreamt of at present for persons to take part in public affairs in the legislative assemblies and elsewhere; and for this reason the more Indians we can employ in the public services the better. Moreover, it would lessen the burden of Imperial responsibilities if a body of capable Indian administrators could be produced. We regard it as necessary, therefore, that recruitment of a largely increased proportion of Indians should be begun at once.” ”

“ A mean submissive temper can never manage our Indian affairs. The qualities of a kind friend, sensible speaker, and active brisk warrior, must constitute the character of a superintendant. Great care ought to be taken, not to give the Indians offence, or a mean opinion of the people or government our Indian superintendants represent. ”

“ The Indians still remain under the care of the Department of the Interior. We believe that the Administration earnestly desires the promotion of their true interests, but the grievous wrongs under which they have so long suffered still continue to be visited upon them, and will so long as an impossible policy is attempted to be carried out by an insufficient force. The question as to the legal status of the Indian is now before the courts. ”

“ The work in the Bureau of Indian Affairs was perhaps never so large as now, by reason of the numerous negotiations which have been proceeding with the tribes for a reduction of the reservations, with the incident labor of making allotments, and was never more carefully conducted. The provision of adequate school facilities for Indian children and the locating of adult Indians upon farms involve the solution of the "Indian question." ”

“ You go even so far as to add: “Indeed, the whole thing has been so in accordance with the ordinary mode of transacting Indian affairs, or the life of an Indian is counted of so little consequence, that when inquired about concerning it by the Senate of the United States, the Interior Department forgot for nearly a year to answer the inquiry at all, and did not think it worth while to express an opinion upon its character.” ”

“ The first great object should be a total and sweeping reform in this respect. The Department of Indian Affairs, as it is now organized, should be abolished as a costly and unnecessary adjunct to a Government already overburdened with political patronage. We have a large number of meritorious and highly educated officers of the army on the retired list. Many of them have acquired considerable insight into Indian character during the course of their campaigns in our Territories and on our frontiers. They are drawing pay from the Government without rendering effective service. ”

“ One of the things that they contend for more than anything else is that the Federal Government, in supervising and administering the affairs of the Indians should, before they put into operation any policy for their uplift and their advancement, have the consent of the Indians. What an absurd proposition! When you contemplate sending your boy to some educational institution, are you going to permit him to dictate and say to you what you shall do, or, when he selects a certain institution and tries it for a few weeks, say that he does not like it and is going to try some other institution? ”

“ We cannot take the Indians out of the hands of the National Government; we cannot take the National Government into our own hands. Therefore we must work with the National Government in any large plan for the betterment of Indian conditions. ”

“ It is proper to observe, that all the affairs of the Indians, in their connexion and intercourse and official transactions with the Government of the United States, are in charge of the War Department. ”

“ If thought advisable, also, Congress may authorize the President to turn over to the military the exclusive control of such tribes as may be continually hostile or unmanageable. Under the plan which we have 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 adapted to discharge duties of this character. We have the highest possible appreciation of the officers of the army, and fully recognize their proverbial integrity and honor ”

“ He is a man not only of statesmanlike views, but of the courage of his convictions, and of implicit trust in principles. His spirit and force have been felt throughout the administration of his department, and nowhere more than in the Indian Bureau. The Secretary denies absolutely that the administration is without an Indian policy. ”

“ An agent fitted for his place can do much toward preparing the Indians under his charge for citizenship and allotment of their lands, and his advice as to any matter concerning their welfare will not mislead. An unfit agent will make no effort to advance the Indians on his reservation toward civilization or preparation for allotment of lands in severalty, and his opinion as to their condition in this and other regards is heedless and valueless.
The indications are that the detail of army officers as Indian agents will result in improved management on the reservations. ”

“ There is good reason to hope that if Congress will aid the carrying out of the policy above indicated by the enactment of legislation essential to its success, and if the citizens of the West will make up their minds to it that the Indians must have at least some land worth cultivating, We shall in another year make another long step toward that solution of the Indian problem which consists in so settling the Indians that they may become self-supporting, and that their presence among us will cease to be a disturbing element in American society. ”

“ Nearly every year three or four Indians pass into the Civil Service, and on two occasions Indians have been elected by English constituencies as Members of Parliament. Municipalities and local boards, manned almost entirely by Indians, have been established for the administration of local affairs, and now in our local affairs Indians have obtained, at the hands of the British Government, almost the same privileges as are enjoyed by the people of this country in the management of their local concerns. ”

“ Their own high sense of honor makes many of them feel as if they had been laid upon the shelf as being no longer useful, and they would be but too happy to prove that their capacity to serve their country in this line is quite as great as it ever was in their former field of operations. By appointing such men, and merging the Indian Bureau into the War Department, a regular, systematic policy would be pursued, upon which our savage tribes could place reliance, and which would ultimately gain their confidence and respect. ”

“ When this is done so that it cannot be undone, and the officers of the Department are clothed with power to protect the Indian under the civil law of the land, and the barriers to the citizenship of the Indian are removed, and he stands upon the same plane with every other man, alike responsible to law, and equally entitled to its protection, then, and not until then, may we hope for peace with our native tribes. ”

“ When the chief saw every line and curve brought out on the canvas he smiled his approval, and the work proceeded, to the delight of both artist and subject.
In the mutual relations between the whites and the Indians it requires no skilled advocate to show on which side must lie the wrongs unrepaired and unavenged. Without doubt the Indian has always been the victim. One thing is certain, the Indian chiefs, when fairly dealt with, have always evinced an earnest desire to make just terms. ”