The Indian Dispossessed
thing; this relegates local matters, such as the seizing of Indian lands, to the control of a very few—the interested few. Wherever a few faithful voters are gathered together, they can, if they present their demands vociferously, impress their own particular congressman into their service. They become, for him, "the voice of the people"; silent ones do not count. He is the servant, not of the whole American people, but of his immediate constituents. It becomes his business to secure the necessary legislation; no matter how questionable the business may be nor how much opposed to the righteous sentiment of the whole people, a congressman cannot rise above the average moral standard of his own clamorous electors if he would hold his political ground. But this imposes no moral strain upon the congressman, unless he be an accident in office. He makes representations to the Indian bureau, backed by documents galore from the anxious settlers, and the case travels from official to official as the expressed "will of the people." He approaches a few other congressmen, each burdened with the wants of his electors; "you support my Indian bill, I vote for your scheme;" the rest will vote "aye" anyway, little knowing whether it is to be a cheese factory for New York City or a junket to Hoboken.
Thus a bit of depravity threads its way, unrecognized, upward through the official line to the Chief Executive. Thus a "vociferous few" obtain national
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