| OCR Text |
Show - r 26 REPORT OF THE COXMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. farmers and herders, when it was decided to issue them to the Indians,. and thus save at least the expense of keeping, which amounted auuu-ally to the value of the cattle. But few of these cattle are now remain-ing among the Winuebagoes. They bare died for wantof oare, or have been eaten by their owners; but iu this process, expensive as it has been, the Indians have learned the value and oare of cattle, and are now receiving a new supply, purchased by their own money, and are giving them the treatment requisite fbr protection and increase. In the erection of houses upon a' reservation, it will be more expensive to attempt to utilize the rough labor of an Inciinn than to hire .white labor, but the house is wort,h tenfold more to him, not only for the increased interest with which he will always regard it as the work of his omu bands, but for the lesson of labor which its erection has afforded him. In the same manner a plow or ,wago!l broken iu the Indian!s experi-ment of his first useful exercise of muscle, is a costly expenditure, and vet exneriments which involve these and more serious outlav"e., a re ;n the end highly economical. For this comparatively brief training-period larger annual appropria-tion will be reouired than if the Indian were allowed to co~~t iouheis life of vagrancy and barbarism. The cost of furnislring school-houses and teachers in a commouwealth will be considerably greater in any five Tears than to allow the children to run in idleness 2nd i-e. norance duri;lg tllat period. 13nt Leior,r that geuc.ration of. ei~ildren bas con16t to manhood, tbe cost for 1)olice a~rd~ ~rrni$hnreuwt ill be luar~.y ti111l:s greater than the sum required for their proper education. In like man: nee a discu.ssiou of the question of comparative economy in the oiviliza-tion of Indians rnust not fail to couut the cost of the alternative. When settlements approach an Indian country, this uncivilized class comes into ~lemre latious with the Government. If they are allowed longer to roam, they will be a heavy expense either to the people, by marauding, or to the Government. b the mainteuauce of a sufficient lni l i tar~f& cc to prrveut or l~uni~&I ;c h ularauding. The Territory 01 ' Arizo~~1:i1 l.escnta a strikiug illusrratio~jo f the ecot1oni.v of eiviliz;~tion. Bv tlre eon~birledm firts of the \Yar 1)ellartment a~rdt he Lnteritw, tlre f i k e , bloody Apaches, who three years ago were the terror of that Territory,.making a twentymile ride out from its capital unsafe without a guard, are now in quiet upon their reservations, aud, with the excep. tion of a small number, followers of Oochise, who as Set occupy the Dragoon Mountains, are digging ditehesfor crops, and making adobe dwellings. Meauwhile, tllc country is freed from hostile incursions, and the Governmebt is enabled to reduce the militarv force hitherto reallired for pcncr a ~ l dsa fety i n Arizona. The cost of m~ i ~ ~ t a i l lthi ~isr g hall of' the a~ilitaryin Ariroun for n single Fear exceedsall the expend-itlrl. es 4\. tlre lrrdiau Uurea~r for all tlre .\p:icI~rs irr that Territorx ti)r four ~'earspast,:iodfr om this time the rxper~ditorew ill i~rrnuallyd ecrease until the Apaches become entirely selfsupl~ortiug. ' 'Phinl. The aeents n,l~os tau~lf or rhe Governu~ent in close contact with the 1ndiaui must be coinpetent for t11e business in hand. They mast be able to conlprehend h3w far it reaches beyond the mere attempb to gratify the Indians or to keep them quiet. They most be men who have faith in their fellow-men, who believe that the lowest creature God has made is capable of coming up higher. They must he not only strong in integrity and able to resist the plots and machinations by which greedy and unscrupulous men will seek to use t l~e n~bu, t tbry runst I also possess such administrative ability as will enable them to brhg all their personal and otiicial power to bear ill restraiuing and eurirrg |
