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Red Cloud, Dr. McGillycuddy suppressed it by his Indian police force, without calling on the military and without firing a shot. The spoils system subsequently removed Dr. McGillycuddy. His removal cost the Government $1,000,000 and 200 lives of whites and Indians at the battle of Wounded Knee. That was the price we paid for the luxury of the spoils system. Mr. Schurz aimed to solve the Indian question by practical education and just treatment, and the application of the merit system to the Indian Service.
And now I would say a word as to the care of our national forests—our wood wealth richly strewn over the vast regions of the West. It is wealth direct and indirect. By husbanding such resources great supplies of lumber will in successive crops be furnished throughout coming generations. In the wise national nature of these forests, also, lies protection of arable soil, water supply for great regions, and even the blessing of climate. Mr. Schurz, as Secretary of the Interior, was the official guardian of our federal forests. He found them being wasted and destroyed by thieving lumber companies, who were, to use his own language, in a speech made in Philadelphia some years ago, “Not merely stealing trees, but stealing whole forests. I observed,” he continues, “hundreds of saw mills in full blast devoted exclusively to the sawing up of timber stolen from the public domain. I observed a most lively export trade going on from Gulf ports as well as Pacific ports, with fleets of vessels employed in carrying lumber stolen from the public lands to be sold in foreign countries, immense tracts been devastated that some robbers might fill their pockets.” * * * *
