Show AS TO THE RED MAN AMONG the most sensible ex explanations lap we have bave seen regarding the nausea cause of dissatisfaction among the indians appeared lately in the st paul press being pertinent in its relationship to a current subject of unusual interest we herewith present it if the gentlemen at WaR washington hington who are debating the question are really anxious to learn wherein where inthe the government is mostly at fault for the present indian outbreak laide aside from its abodin ible policy oy of per permitting mittin the bearing of arms they should look loof to the infamous spoils system as applied in the indian bureau of all the mistakes with which our miserable indian policy is so fully embellished there is none more inexcusable than that which puts in charge of the moin important agencies in the country men whose tenure of office is more r e secure s than that of the party to w tol ich e b they belong to see the spoils 8 system at m at work full blat blast in the indian ian bureau and then find intelligent men wondering why the indians are not under better control is a thing to make men almost despair of the government under which they live no one can deal satisfactorily with the indian except upon u on a good good understanding of the mian indian character this untutored savage Is not a bit of plastic material that we can mould to I 1 aortic suit tour our purpose he has the inherited attributes of unnumbered years behind him childlike in some yer particulars tic ulars he is fixed and immovable in others and one of his characteristics is his entire confidence in 0 or r his entire contempt for the person with whom he has official relations the indian does not generalize he tests practically cacti the agent put in charge 0 of him if he finds that person a man of good qualities I 1 tle s firm true to his word fearless y yet t generous ene rous and kind he makes of him a friend to him that agent is not at all the representative of a i government of which ho he has only the simplest concep concepion ion but the man who possesses pos semes his confidence and trust I 1 an an went agent who has established such relations with the indian can exercise over him almost unlimited control an agent who has incurred suspicion or dislike may discharge bis big duties with fidelity and still be only a cause of constant irritation it follows that when once an indian agent has secured an influence over the tribe with whom be deals when they trust him and have formed a sort of attachment for him he becomes one of the most v valuable officials that any government e could have he can do more with the indian in peace or war than an army with banners it is by the influence of such men that treaties have been concluded when the whole power of the government could not have secured the assent of a score of indians indiana it is through them that the indians who have bees been neglected and seen the government ignore Us its most 80 solemn ae P n obligations have been brought to ta endure privation patiently it is by their influence that conflict has been avoided aided in numberless cases and this individual way of dea dealing ling with the indian is the only way that has ever met with the slightest success consider now the atrocious folly of our practical politics here is an agency where many thousand indians are gather gathered where an agent who knows his duty and does it bag baa been established for many years and where the indians have come to like him and to trust him to them he is the government ern ment to him they are a lot of undeveloped full grown children whose individual peculiarities he understands and can use to control them at pleasure now comes a change of administration for no reason in the world except to give a place to some political worker this experienced man is in removed and a green hand put in his place every time that this happens the govern ment deliberately invites a disturbance that may cost many lives and is sure to cost many dollars the indians indiana resent the removal of the man for whom they have come to cherish a kindly feeling they know nothing about victors victora and spoils they know only that the man they trust has ham been sent se litaway away and charge of them been transferred to a stranger whom the they hate for his very strangeness he we enters this atmosphere 0 of hostility and in nine oases cases out of ten has not the least idea of the nature of the beings he must deal with or the methods be ought to use what the result is we have seen over and over again it is this hide ous system that is responsible for no small part of the present trouble and it is a system so obviously designed to make trouble that its continuance in a civilized nation is a marvel of stupidity it boull be far more sensible to make every commissioned officer in the regular army a political appointee and to change the whole list of them from general down every time a pres 9 ident is elected than to enforce the spoils system in the indian bureau it would be more reasonable to remove every school teacher and pastor castor of a church in the country after an 9 election than to change indian agents to make place for more politicians yet this is the worse than foolish the absolutely criminal policy that is pursued in indian affairs as a matter matte of course As long as there are to be agencies and agents we cannot hope for even a decent measure of success with the indian until civil service reform in its most radical sha shape e is applied to the wh whole ole body of me the indian service |