—Precisely what civilizing agencies would be brought to bear upon these people under the War Department is not stated in the report. Whether the school and the church would be allowed, or only the stockade and the garrison; whether bullets should take the place of books, and guns of Gospel. This does not follow of necessity, only from the despairing tone in regard to the attempts to civilize.
—We beg our readers to notice carefully what class of men, as a whole, sustain and desire the change to the War Department, and what sort of men oppose it. There is great significance in such discriminations.
—The recent Sioux war cost $2,313,531 in money, and 283 men killed, among whom was the gallant Custer and his staff, and 125 wounded.
—Sunday Afternoon says: “It costs the United States about $1,700 a year to support a soldier fighting the Indians. It costs the American Board about half as much to support a missionary preaching to them. Would it not be cheaper to send more missionaries and fewer soldiers?”
—Hon. A. C. Barstow, one of the Indian Commissioners, and a man thoroughly conversant with the whole subject of Indian affairs, gives the following opinion regarding this important branch of our Civil Service and the men who control it. He says:
“The present Commissioner of Indian Affairs is an able man, of large business experience, and, moreover, (as chairman of the Purchasing Committee of the Board of Indian Commissioners for two or three years, and up to within a few months of entering this office), of large experience in Indian affairs. There is no man in the country whom corrupt contractors have more learned to fear and to hate; and, in my opinion, they are the men who are fanning this flame of excitement, and who are exerting all their influence to turn the administration of Indian affairs over to the War Department. They are pinched by the present policy, and desire change. They cannot suffer by this or any change, and may be benefited—hence, their noisy zeal. I am sorry that any good man has for a moment been led to believe that the Secretary of the Interior is open to the influence of this class of men. I think the public may safely quiet their fears upon this point. Whatever else may be said of him, he is not a ‘bird of that feather.’ From what I have seen, I think the public may look for an administration of his department not only honest but able, and may also be assured that the policy of President Hayes toward the Indians will be eminently humane and Christian.”
—The educational work among the Indians may be summed up from the Commissioner’s report for 1877, as follows: There are 251,000 Indians, and 28,000 half-breeds, exclusive of Alaska. Among them are 330 schools, of which 60 are boarding-schools, with 437 teachers; and 11,515 pupils have attended at least one mouth. Largest monthly average, 4,774; average for the year, 3,598; expense to the government, $255,379; to Tribal funds, $81,989; to the religious societies, $33,950; in all, $371,318; 40,397, of whom 23,196 are adults, can read; 1,206 learned to read last year.
—The religious items, drawn from the same source, show 207 church buildings on the reservations; 126 missionaries, not included among teachers; expended by religious societies, $36,164; 27,215 are members of the mission churches of all denominations. We question whether the $36,000 reported as expended by the religious societies, represents, even approximately, the full amount given from this source, since the A. B. C. F. M. and the Presbyterian Board, together, expend annually nearly this amount. We claim that, considering all the disadvantages of his condition, and the fewness of the laborers, the results are gratifying and hopeful.