The Montana post., 1869-03-26
The Montana Post
INDIAN AFFAIRS.

We would be glad to have confrma>
tiol Of the rumor that Col. Ely Parker
is to be appointed Commissioners of In
dian Affairs. 1t gives good promise of
a better candition of affairs for both In
dians and whites, and will elicit an ap-
proval from the frontiers that neither
General Sanborn or the other aspirants
named would receive. Col Parker has
Indian blood in his veins, is the present
Chief of the Six nations, and has been
for years a member of Grants staff.
The appointment would establish conf>
dence in the Government on the part of
the Indians, and guarantee a complete
unity of sentiment and effort between
the Commissioner and the President In
any policy decided upon, and that pol
icy, we believe, would not be as puerile
and vascillating as has characterized it
for years. The suggestion that three
fourths of the Indian Agents would be
Quakers we deem a good thing for-the
Quakers. The Quaker population will
lively in the Washington mar&ss-
We trust that before the Senate adj
iourns 1t will consider the treaties made
by Major Cullen with the tribes along
the Missouri, and if found worthy,
ratify them These treaties extinguish
the Indian title upon all this portion of
Montana, give consistency and equity TO
the action of the officials, and lessen the
existing difficulty of administering inn
partially "the Indian Intercourse law"
under which the liquor and robe seiz-
ures are made, now so prolific of Ill feel
ing and discomfort. All this portion of
Montana is, as yet, Indian ground. I'm
der specific instructions OF the Secretary
of Interior, the Agents are required to
seize and confscate all liquors or goods
bartered for liquors by the Indians
or middlemen on Indian territory.
of course this cannot be enforced in
Helena, although it applies here as well
as in a Sioux camp. The only recourse
the Agents have is to seize the liquors
IN transit toward the Indian camps,
az Sun River, Forts Shaw, Benton and
Cook, and goods acquired by the barter
of liquor. This cannot work otherwise
than partially and unsatisfactory. The
treaties with the Blackfeet, Bloods and
Piegans extinguish the Indian title on
all land north of the Missouri as far
down as the Teton, and on the south
side of the Missouri as far as Muscle
shell, giving up all the settled and VAL
liable portion to the whites. These
three tribes compose about one thousand
lodges, and we believe their compensa-
tion is 10000 annually. Beside this,
the Government has given them a res
ervation of very superior agricultural
lands, ten miles square, on the Teton,
on which Capt. Nat Pope, Agent, has
erected a farmers and Agents house,
store, hospital, school-house and black
smith shop. enclosed in a substantial
sfockade, and "a houses for Indians OUT
side the stockade, capable of housing
comfortably 500 or 600 Indians. These
buildings are now complete, and in a
few days he will commence breaking
ground for putting in a CROP of grains
for their use. This is in compliance
with the terms of these treaties.
which we are to assume the Indians
signed in good faith, and which it is TO
the advantage of our Government to
ratify or accomplish the extinguishment
of the Indian title by other means. In
this manner alone, or by modification
of the laws and instructions regarding
liquor traffic. or its presence, can the
muddle, now annoying and embarrass-
ing all parties, be cleaned up.