be rendered to the Indian cause at present would be given, therefore, by some one sufficiently interested to obtain an answer who would write to Secretary Schurz, and request him, on the part of the Indians, either to aid them by publicly and cordially endors- ing this effort of the Poncas to secure their legal rights in the courts, or else to give his reasons against this attempt, in so clear a form that one could undcrstand them. If there are good rea sons, there can be no ground for keeping them secret, and the public has a right to know them. If not, no man can call him self a friend of the Indians who throws cold water on the present interest of the public in this matter.

"Secretary Schurz has already stated that it was not worth while to suc for the Ponca lands, as the Poncas are better off where they now are; but Secretary Schurz cannot deuy that it is worth teu tinmes $10,000 to prove that if the Government seizes land given to the Indins forever by solemn compact, the latter can by the courts rccover it. Secretary Schurz has also said that n bill to give the Indians land in sevcralty is alrcady before Con gress. If he wishes that bill to pass he must know that it is only by hclp of the people that the ignorance, apathy, and greed which arc accountable for the shameful record of the past can be orer- come; and that, whatever hia sentiments toward these particular Poncas, he cannot afford to throw aside the interest they have excited

"For a hundred years thc Indians have bcen the victims of fraud and oppression on the part of the Goverument. Will any- thing put an end to it but to give the Indians the legal right to protect themselves? Promises and plans wil not do it, for who can assure their performance? Secretary Schurz's position is a strange one, and the public are waiting and watching to sec what it meaus. Is it possible that be is sutisfied to have 250,000 hu man beings, with valuable possessions (however uncivilized), held as absolute slaves, with no rights, and at the mercy of a govern ment ike ours, whose constant changes, to say the least, render most improbable the wise, equitable, and humane treatment he recommends in his report-and when the distance of the Indians from the personal interests of all but those States which have a personal interest in possessing his lands makes the assistance of Congress in snch treatment still more unlikely? I cannot but believe that he has allowed himself to be driven into an oppo- sition he does not really fel; and that he will yet have the agnanimity to forget any criticism on his own acts, and tako