St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1865-03-09

'"""tna", anu uncnrlStlan, 1t mas, at the
same time, been unwise and ruinous;
Since tho 18th of March, 1880, the
government has appropriated, directly
for the benefit Of the Indians, the enor.
nous sum Of sS9,l55,09S.32. If to
this direct outlay We add the sums in
curred BY the government in the Indi.
an wars in Illinois, Florida, Oregon,
Minnesota and other quarters, they will
swell this sum to the vast aggregate of
at least $50, 100000.
The total number Of Indians rcceiv-
ing annuities is 4G,365. If we esti-
mate each family to consist OF four per-
sons, which is a moderate calculation,
and divide this sum of Sl50,0OO, 900
among the chiefs or head of families,
we shall End that for each of such chiefs
the government has expended the sum
of $4,000. \ ~.. :...
Where now is all this WEALTH., Has
it reached the Indians? Have its &C.
cumula;ions descended from father tc
son? Do we find it represented to-day
among the tribes by comfortable homes
and FLOWING graneriesY No. Upon
our western prairies are scattered this
miserable, degraded, impoverished peo-
pic, an everlasting reprooch to our chris
tin" nation aud disgrace to humanity.
Where, then, are these great sums !!
They have gone to fill shc Golfers of
those who stood between the govern
ment and the Indian, and deceived the
one while they robbed the other.
MIR. Chairman: l feel that it is nv
duty to speak of these things. The
evil results of this pernicious system
have descended upon my own State in
Gre and blood. An innocent and an
unotfendins population of white settlers
have paid the penalty for years of
misgovernment with their lives; and
although the scenes Of devastation and
ruin and horror have passed away from
my State, I trust forever, the system
still lives, and Is already preparing new
stores Of suffering and calamity for 9TH
er communities. When l have looked
upon the humble homestead Of the FROM
ticrsu'an in ashes, and behcld the corpse
Of its owner lying gashed and bloody
beside it, l coull not but trace home
the terrible responsibility for all this
evil to this capitol, and to that system
which, taking charge of savage race,
retained them in barbarism, made no
proper efforts for their civilization, aud
ut last turned them loose like wild
beasts to glut their brutal passions and
infuriated rage upon an unsuspccting
people.
I assert urhesitatingly, and uron ma
ture reflection, that not even our white
race could rise from barbarism to civili
zation against the pressure of such a
system as that under and by means Of
which it is proposed 10 civiliEe the In
dians. So:
Let US look at some of its details
One Of the Red Lake Chippewa
chiefs of Minnesota said but two years
since, when solicited to part with the
lands Of his tribe "Wbcn we sell our
lands we dig our graves"
! The savage had summed up the ques-
ton in a sentence: The Indian is
hunter, and requires large acres of land
in which to find his support. Deprive
HIM Of these lands, 6ll them with a
white population, which drives out the
wild game, aud at the same time give
him no instruction to enable him to
compete in the arts Of agriculture with
the white man, and he becomes, per-
force, a vasabond, thief, and, it may
be, an assassin. ... ''... ii.
The civilization of the Indian be-
comes, therefore, a matter Of the first
necessity to the comfort and safety of
his white ueighbor.7 Injustice to him
is iojuiy to ourselves. ~ <'''s :''..''"
"This swords hilt ID the sharpest and cuts through
The hand that wields It,"
But what is the course of the gov
eminent ? It concentrates upon small
strip Of land the population for whose
sustenance the whole of the ceded ter
r,tory was before necessary. Il sur
rounds this fragment, this island Of bar
barism, with dense civilized white
population. The savage must either
remain npon his reservation and starve
or invade the precincts Of the white
man and beg and steal. The strain is
too great for human nature. Collisions
follow, and both white and red ore
speedily involved in common suffering
and ruin, equally victims. Of PERM.
cious system.