Pooh Bah. Certainly. In which of my capacities? As First
Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney-General,
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Privy Purse, or Private
Secretary?—The Mikado
A new Agent at the Cañon headquarters, a greenhorn to boot, and
immediately a thousand questions were asked: questions of Indians, of
employees, of missionaries, of traders, of traveling cattlemen and
drummers, of tourists, of everyone having an interest in that country,
even if ever so little. And the new Agent was to answer them all,
promptly, that they might go forth with instructions and permits to do
the things that they felt most necessary to themselves. I had brought a
little book of regulations from Washington, and too, I thought of the
commission. It read:—
All the duties relating to the Moqui schools, Agency, and the
Indians contiguous thereto, are hereby devolved upon you as
Superintendent.
Rather a large order, depending of course on how sincerely and
conscientiously one would view the matter. Here were close to four
thousand square miles of territory, having five thousand people of many
conditions, three fourths of them uncombed savages; and all their
problems devolved upon me.
I remember one particularly worthless Civil Service employee who once
said to me: “But, Mr. Crane, you take these matters too seriously.”
It was necessary for me to cancel his engagement shortly thereafter. I
did this abruptly, for he had shown a strong tendency to go off to
sleep at the scales. He then emitted another philosophical remark,
worthy of a Civil Service employee:—
“Well,” he said, “I will get home just at watermelon time.”
Now one does not have to take the thing seriously. I have followed
several Agents who did not. But there is no traditional “George” in the
Arizona Desert, and the Agent can always be found. He is the official
goat, tagged, manacled, bonded. He may not leave his jurisdiction for
longer than one week without having procured special permission; and
when he goes, the work continues in the hands of irresponsibles under
his responsibility and his bond. I spent several evenings with the
little book of regulations, and answered my own queries.
What are the duties and responsibilities of an Indian Agent?
On a closed reservation, where the Indians are non-citizen wards:
1. He is the Disbursing Officer for all activities, and will
expend $100,000 or more yearly, the reserve’s allotment of
funds, without including the moneys of individual Indians that
may be deposited with him.
2. He directs a corps of employees, persons procured from the
Civil Service grab-bag (persons he does not select), a
gregarious and vagarious outfit, consisting of physicians,
nurses, stockmen, farmers or rangemen, mechanics, teachers; and
he often coöperates with the Irrigation or other services and
their corps.
3. When there is construction work of any kind, from quarters
and schools to roads and bridges, he often designs these
things, always passes on the efficiency, and nearly always
directs the actual work.
4. As Chief Health Officer, he should know enough to advise and
support the physicians, who require more of direction and
guidance than one would imagine; and among the Indians he is in
great measure responsible for the legality of their actions. In
times of epidemic he must lead.