516 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



Mr. Cox wanted the clause excepting the Indians from the operations 

 of the bill stricken out, and stated that the Secretary of the Interior 

 had already said to the House that the civilization of the Indian was 

 impossible while the buffalo remained on the plains. 



The Clerk read for Mr. McCormick the following extract from the New 

 Mexican, a paper published in Santa Fe : 



The buffalo slaughter, which has been going on the past few years on the plains, 

 and which increases every year, is wantonly wicked, and should be stopped by the 

 most stringent enactments and most vigilant enforcements of the law. Killing these 

 noble animals for their hides simply, or to gratify the pleasure of some Russian duke 

 or English lord, is a species of vandalism which can not too quickly be checked. 

 United States surveying parties report that there are two thousand hunters on the 

 plains killing these animals for their hides. One party of sixteen hunters report 

 having killed twenty-eight thousand buffaloes during the past summer. It seems to 

 us there is quite as much reason why the Government should protect the buffaloes as 

 the Indians. 



i Mr. McCormick considered the subject important, and had not a 

 doubt of the fearful slaughter. He read the following extract from a 

 letter that he had received from General Hazen : 



I know a man who killed with his own hand ninety-nine buffaloes in one day, with- 

 out taking a pound of the meat. The buffalo for food has au intrinsic value about 

 equal to an average Texas beef, or say $20. There are probably not less than a mill- 

 ion of these animals on the western plains. If the Government owned a herd of a 

 million oxen they would at least take steps to prevent this wanton slaughter. The 

 railroads have made the buffalo so accessible as to present a case not dissimilar. 



He agreed with Mr. Cox that some features of the bill would probably 

 be impracticable, and moved to amend it. He did not believe any bill 

 would entirely accomplish the purpose, but he desired that such wan- 

 ton slaughter should be stopped. 



Said he, " It would have been well both for the Indians and the 

 white men if an enactment of this kind had been placed on our statute- 

 books years ago. * * * I know of no one act that would gratify 

 the red men more." 



Mr. Holman expressed surprise that Mr. Cox should make any ob- 

 jection to parts of the measure. The former regarded the bill as " an 

 effort in a most commendable direction," and trusted that it would pass. 



Mr. Cox said he would not have objected to the bill but from the fact 

 that it was partial in its provisions. He wanted a bill that would im- 

 pose a penalty on every man, red, white, or black, who may wantonly 

 kill these buffaloes. 



Mr. Potter desired to know whether more buffaloes were slaughtered 

 by the Indians than by white men. 



Mr. Fort thought the white men were doing the greatest amount of 

 killing. 



Mr. Eldridge thought there would be just as much propriety in kill- 

 ing the fish in our rivers as in destroying the buffalo in order to compel 

 the Indians to become civilized. 



Mr. Conger said : "As a matter of fact, every man knows the range of 



