THE INDIAN AGENTS WE NEED.
The vacancy in the Indian Agency, referred to in the last number of the Missionary, has been filled; but, as other vacancies are likely to occur from time to time, applications, with proper credentials, may be forwarded to this office.
As to the qualifications necessary, we can state nothing more clearly than we find it given in an article, which we republish below, from the Springfield Republican, written by a gentleman who seems thoroughly familiar with Indian affairs. We will only repeat that an Indian Agency is no sinecure, and should be undertaken by no man who is not thoroughly competent and self-sacrificing:
A residence of two years at an agency in Dakota gave the writer unusual opportunities for observation of the requirements of this service. The popular impression seems to be that this office is a sinecure, affording retirement for decayed politicians and inefficient goodies, whereas the service is, when faithfully performed, an arduous one, requiring exceptional and diversified ability.
The agent must have executive capacity, together with that rare selective faculty that recognizes at sight a competent man for a given place. The character of the agency force of employés, and the quality of their work, reflects the personality of the agent. The progress of the Indians in the schools, and in learning to work for their own support, is in proportion to the efficiency of the agent as an executive. A vigorous, capable man infuses his spirit into his subordinates, and, in a more limited degree, into the natives.
The agent needs judicial knowledge. No laws are in force on Indian reservations, with a few exceptions, but the treaties with the Government. The administration of justice and the punishment of crime are left to the agent, with such coöperation as he can secure from the Indian chiefs. He settles family quarrels, neighborhood disputes, complaints against Indians by neighboring whites, questions of the boundary of lands and the ownership of property. He receives acknowledgments of deeds, executes contracts, administers estates and takes depositions. Crimes of all degrees, from petty theft to murder or arson, come under his jurisdiction, and he is often compelled to administer punishment almost as arbitrarily as the captain of a man-of-war. He is even called upon sometimes to prepare a code of laws for a tribe in an advanced state of civilization.
Business ability and experience are indispensable qualifications. The agent has to purchase miscellaneous supplies amounting to from $5,000 to $50,000 annually, on contract or in open market. The opening of bids and awarding contracts on sample requires actual acquaintance with the market, and experience in judging of the quality of goods of every variety. He needs the experience and judgment of a first-class country merchant. If the agent is an incompetent buyer, contractors and merchants are quick to discover the fact and profit by it. A knowledge of accounts is essential. Accurate returns of every item of cash and property received and expended, are required by law, and are subjected to most rigid scrutiny. Absolute correctness, in both matter and form, is required, and ignorance of methods is not admitted as an excuse for errors.
The diplomatic qualifications of the position are by no means inconsiderable. A copious official correspondence is required with the Indian office at Washington, and must be conducted with due formality and dignity. All matters of importance are submitted to the Indian Office for action, and it often requires skilful presentation of a subject to make a clerk at Washington take a view that seems self-evident to the agent on the frontier. Great tact and patience are requisite in dealing with the various outside influences that embarrass the agent, and often bring him to grief. Frontier settlers are continually having difficulties with the Indians that require attention. Liquor-sellers, claim-agents and swindlers lie in wait for the Indian, who must be protected. Scheming half-breeds and “squaw-men” create dissension among the natives. Then there are the contractor and sub-contractor; the man who failed to get the contract he wanted, and the man who is planning to get the next contract. There is the ex-agent, who corresponds with the employés and Indians, and criticises his successor, and the man who wants to be agent, and watches for a lever to oust the incumbent. (There are always twenty of them!) There is the dissatisfied employé, who corresponds with outsiders about agency affairs, and the meddlesome clerk at Washington, who gives him private assistance. The agents are few who meet all these difficulties without serious trouble.
Especially, high moral character is a prime requisite, not only on account of the agent’s influence upon a people just rising from barbarism, but to enable a man to maintain his integrity under the extraordinary temptations that surround the place. Said an ex-agent of unimpeachable integrity: “I know of no service that tries a man’s principles so severely as the Indian service.” In spite of all precautions, opportunities for peculation, direct and indirect, are frequent, and present themselves in the most seducing forms possible.
Having shown the requirements of the position, we may consider some of the obstacles in the way of securing agents who are thoroughly competent for the work. First comes hard work. No branch of our civil service draws more heavily on a man’s time and strength. The agent is involved in a constant round of wearisome details, varied only by frequent hard journeys by wagon or stage, or worse, by frontier railroads.
The responsibilities of the place are onerous. The agent is held accountable, under a heavy bond, for all funds and property that come into his hands, as well as for all the acts and failures of his subordinates. He may be ordered away for months at a time, on public business, and in the meantime he must depend entirely upon the fidelity of the agency clerk, who is not a bonded officer, to discharge his duties and care for agency property. Release from bonded accountability can only be had after complying with all the forms of law and going through a long and tedious process of examination of accounts. Two years after closing his term of service, an agent was required to account for one iron wagon-bolt (purchased by a subordinate, three years before), in order to secure release from his bond, and five hundred dollars arrears of salary. The agent’s family must endure practical exile, separated from society, schools and churches.
Every agent, honest or dishonest, suffers in reputation. If a man is thoroughly honest, dishonest contractors and jobbers invariably slander him, to get rid of him. This consideration keeps many competent men out of the service. The salary paid is entirely inadequate. It is that of a country postmaster, an army lieutenant, a school-teacher or a traveling salesman. Here is the root of the whole difficulty. Even in the present state of the labor market, it is impossible to get a $2,500 man for $1,500. The expenses of the position are high. The agent keeps open house for all strangers, newspaper correspondents, army officers, Indian inspectors, and others. His family supplies are brought from a distant market, at a heavy expense. This matter has been presented to Congress by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, each year for several years, but without effect.
In spite of these disadvantages, the service is much better manned than might be supposed. Indian-Inspector E. C. Watkins said to the writer: “I have visited a large number of agencies, and, in view of the meagre salary paid, and the difficult service required, I have been surprised at the capacity and fidelity displayed. As a class, the agents nominated by the religious societies perform their duties with ability and success.” When a thoroughly competent agent is found in the service, one of three things will almost invariably be true: Either he enters the service with the idea of supplementing his salary (honestly or dishonestly); or he is in search of novel experience or a change of climate for himself or family; or (as is often true) he has the spirit of a missionary, and seeks the advancement of the Indian race. If we wish to escape the burden of providing for idle Indians, we shall have to employ competent agents, at fair wages, to train them to habits of industry.