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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 149 ployes were the overseers. They were treated with contempt by the military agent, indeed scarcely more respected than the Indians themselves; and, in turn, they spurned the Indians and crushed them into the earth. I found no man on the reservation but the agent and the doctor. The rest were abject slaves of an absolutism. Th^ y were held at the same distance as the rank and file of the Army are by the commissioned officers. This had been the policy from tin- start, and the agent was not the man to change it. I must say of him, however, that he was temperate, and, so far as I could see, closely attentive to the interests of the reservation. For some reason or other, he had so close a grip on the public stores, so far as the Indians and employes were concerned, that he very well earned the cant name of " Old Stingy." He lived at ease, maintained the unbending dignity of an autocrat, was pretty well satisfied that nothing more could be done for the Indian but to ease his way to the grave, and, after being notified of his removal, he seemed to take no further thought but to get through his time. During my stay the superintendent visited the valley. He staid but a few days. We had drinking and feasting during this time, but no grave attention to Indian affairs ; no extended investigation of what had been done or should be done. The statu quo was ac-cepted as the ne plus ultra of Indian policy. He, too, appears to think that annihilation is the consummation of Indian management. I do not think such men can do the Indians any good. He who does not think the Indian a human being, having rights, and entitled to treatment above that of a child or slave, and capable of civilization, has no business in the Indian Department. His presence is an obstruction ; his manners are repulsive to Indians, and inspire them with no love or respect for the white man, his Government, his religion, or his civilization. If the reservation was a plantation, the Indians were the most degraded of slaves. I found them poor, miserable, vicious, degraded, dirty, naked, diseased, and ill- fed. They had no motive to action. Man, woman, and child, without reference to age, sex, or condition, received the same five pounds of flour per week, and almost nothing more. They attended every Monday to get this, making a day's work of it for most of them. The oldest men, or stout, middle- aged fathers of families, were spoken to just as children or slaves. They know no law but the will of the agent; no effort has been made to teach them any, and, where it does not conflict with this dictation, they follow the old forms of life polygamy, buying and selling of women, and compounding crime with money ad libitum. The tribal system, with all its absurd domination and duty, is still retained. The Indian woman has no charge of her own person or virtue, but her father, brother, chief, or nearest male relative may sell her for a moment or for life. 1 was impressed that really nothing had been done by any agent, or even attempted, to wean these people from savage life to civilization, but only to subject them to plantation slavery. I was informed by many that stores had been sold away from the reservation, by the agents, to enrich themselves, and that in large quantities. I am well satisfied that the Government bounty has not been fairly bestowed on the Indians. But as to any default coming to my own knowledge, I can only make the following statement : During the last two quarters of 1870 the Government is charged with over a thousand pounds of beef weekly, besides the consumption of two or three hundred pounds of pork weekly. I saw the beef received from Chapman & Co., the contractors, and frequently saw it weighed, but what became of it I never could divine. The Indians were allowed no beef, only the employes, those at work, a few sick, and uuw and then a stranger, or as a special favor by the agent. The employes were seven to ten ; the working Indians never over forty, often less than twenty, sometimes none: sick, three or four; strangers and specialties, very rare. And all complained continually of being pinched. What became of the beef and pork ? I asked the man who kept the meat- house, a private soldier from Camp Gaston, a creature of the agent captain, and he did not like to tell ; it might hurt the agent. At the flouring- mill a book was kept in which was entered the flour made daily. I saw this book frequently, and noticed entries of Indian flour and superfine flour made each day. The superfine was mostly as much as the Indian. I do not know what became of it; I never saw it given to the Indians. I never saw any account of sales. During my stay nearly everything was so done by the agent, I mean as to distributing flour, beef, clothing, and stores of all kinds, that no one but himself could know just how it was done, or what quantity was given. The men who sign the abstracts in the returns do so by command merely, knowing really nothing about the quantities expressed. But, as I said before, they are mere underlings, and any refusal on their part to si^ u would be met with indignation and incur discharge. There are some few items which must be excepted, and of which they have knowledge. During my sojourn at the reservation the Indians received, generally, five pounds of flour weekly, if they came for it, but a few times it was reduced to three; why, I know not. Nothing further was given except to those who worked, and as to those, only food. I sug-gested payment as the inducement to labor, and thecaptaiu adopted the plan, and fixed the wages to be fifty cents per diem in Indian goods. I think this works well. I suggested many other devices for Indian improvement, but he said his time was nearly up and he would run his time on the old plan. I visited many of their poor, miserable homes, in |