Mr. ROSS. I tried when I was out there to find out by what authority the Indians had been hunted down like wild wolves and placed upon reservations where a white man would starve; but I could not find out. In my judgment it is done by the military without authority of law. There are there in NewMexico 10,000 human beings, the wards of the government, whom we should look after and pro. but who are now held in absolute slavery there. The Gentfrom Ohio [Mr. SchENck] asks us to extend that legislation and to give to officers of the Army and permit officers of the Army to go out upon the plains and lord it over the red man of the forest. Sir, I will never give my sanction to so great an iniquity attempted to be fastened on any people. Many of them are placed upon these reservations against their own will, and I know that there are orders made that if they attempt to escape from the reservations and go back to their native mountain homes they are to be shot down like dogs. These are facts for the House to consider and deliberate upon in determining whether we shall place these Indians, whom we have robbed of their possessions, under the control of such men. I wish all the members of the House could go out and see the payments made to these Indians, They are the wards of the Government and look to us for support and protection. They have no right to sue or be sued, and when imposed upon what is their remedy? They have none in Congress and none in the courts. They have none and know none but retaliation. And it is the injustice practiced on these Indians by vicious white men on the forontier that brings about all the difficulty and between this Government and the in. lans. We inquired, sir, into these difficulties. We made it our special business to look into them, and our report shows that our Presence there. in conjunction with the action of General Pope, stopped a war which would have cost the government millions of dollars. There are always some men out there of the Army who are anxious to fight the Indians. They all talk about “chastising the Indians.” Speculators and contractors urge the Government to send out troops to fight the Indians that they may reap a rich harvest in contracts for transportation and supplies. My judgment is that if you would withdraw all the troops from the Territories there would not be one man killed of the ten who are now killed. I cannot in the House relate all the facts that came to my knowledge in reference to the abuse and the treatment of the Indians. It could not be related in language that would be proper here. The facts are all incorporated in the testimony which has been Presented to the country in a published volume which all may see. [Here the hammer fell]