The American Missionary, Volume 34, No. 11, November 1880Various
Religion
The American Missionary, Volume 34, No. 11, November 1880
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
The other fact is that, when Congress has ratified Indian treaties,
the prerogative has been repeatedly asserted of changing the treaty
without consultation with the Indians. In the Cheyenne Treaty
of 1861, the Senate struck out article eleven, one of the most
important articles, and then held the tribe to the treaty as it
chose to amend it.
IV. Two changes must be wrought in our Government before these
wrongs can be permanently righted.
1. The people must be aroused. In 1862, Secretary Stanton said to
a committee who went to him demanding justice for the Indians: “If
you come to Washington to tell us that our Indian system is a sink
of iniquity, and a disgrace to the nation, we all know it. This
Government never reforms an evil until the people demand it. When
the hearts of the people are touched, these evils will be reformed,
and the Indians will be saved.” When the people demand justice to
the Indian, and officers know that swift retribution will be meted
to those who longer trifle with his interests, Indian Commissioners
will no longer dare to condone corruption, and Interior Secretaries
will cease to stand in the way of righteousness.
2. There must be a reform in our system of civil service. In
British Columbia, for the last hundred years, there has been spent
not one dollar for Indian wars, and not one life has been lost. In
the United States, thousands of lives have been lost, and more than
$500,000,000 expended. What do these facts signify? That in British
Columbia they have had able and honest men in the civil service;
and in this Republic, imbecile and corrupt men. Contrast parts of
the two systems. With us the Indians are under the control of the
Secretary of the Interior, and the Indian Department is but one of
numerous important and complex departments under the supervision
of that officer—each one enough to tax to the full the ability
of a trained statesman. With us, the Indian Department must take
its chances with others, and he who ought to give it his entire
attention is “Jack-of-all-trades and master of none.” In British
Columbia, the Minister of the Interior is the actual superintendent
of Indian affairs, and directly responsible for them as the most
important part of his official duties. With us, in our Indian, as
in our civil, service, which is as vicious as any system can be,
officers are continued only during party supremacy.
In the Dominion, officers are continued for life or good behavior,
with the obvious benefit, in matters requiring special skill and
experience, produced by a civil service well established, on a
correct system of selection, which with us has only recently been
attempted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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