The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-05-08
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BEEF FOR TIE INDIANS.
Among the items Of news called out
oy the Modoc massacre is one stating
that large bills are in the Treasury.
awaiting payment for "beef furnished
70 the 1odisos!" Can .oy ooe give tho
shadow of reason Why the Indians
should not furnish their own beef and
have large surplus for sale =? They oo.
cupy some of the finest grazing lands
IN this country. Raising cattle is
about the first step from savaeery to
civilization. 1t comports with nomsa
lite and involves little labor. They do
raise pouies-why not cattle ? The an.
s"er to this question is, that ponies are
useful In war while cattle would be an
lncumbrance, and that they prefer steal.
ing to raising them. This is all plain
enough bat when We consider tha.
our Government is employing agents to
Christiauize and civllize them, what
shall We say of the policy which thus
pays bonus on saVagsry7 If We bar
their way to this first natural step to
ward civilization BY supply iog the
wants that lead to it, how shall We hope
to teach them the more advanced arts ?
What nonsense it is to talk of civiliz.
ing people while depriving them Of
tho ordinary incentives to labor. 1t is
necessity which drives the average
man to work. Without work he is
savage; but here We have . powerful
Government, with hundreds of Chris.
tian agents, engaged in the absurd task
Of reelaiming savages by doing all in
its power to stand between them and
Gods law of labor. Our promises
OF maintenance are the highest premium
We can offer to vagrancy and crime.
They aferd an apology for idleness
and unlimited provocation to vengeance,
for it is next to impossible that they
can be fulfilled l became familiar With
one instance of tho difficulties through
which Uncle Samuel maintains his In
disns, aud, from all have learned, the
case Is not an unfair specimen Of this
Indian maintenance business. About
eight years ago party started from St.
Cloud to pay ap annuity to the Ret
Lake Chippewae. The rendezvous was
over d hundred miles from any road.
The annuity coos listed largely Of beet,
pork, beans, -four, aud blankets.
The time was Autumn. Some una.
voidab'e delays made it late Autumn :;
but the expedition got under way With
wagons, horses, oxen, boats, tents, a
preacher, aud dozer or two of other
men whose salaries averaged not less
than SIS per day. This caravan drag
| ged its slow length along, day after day
and week after week, creeping through
long, dried pr.irle grass, opening roads
through strips OF timber, circling
swamps or wading them, fording
streams, or following their course when
they led in their direction, and so max
ing the boats relieve the wagons. Que
part Of the party would cross lakes with
the freight, while the other went round
with the animals aud wagons. Some.
times they came to llaces where the
water was not deep enough for boats,
and was too deep for draught animals
or where the ice was too thin to bear hor-
ses and too thick to break with oar or
paddle, and there seemed to be no way
around or one too long to traverse
Then these representatives, Of the noble
red mans source Of supplies got out
their long rope, fastened one end
around their bodies, tied the other to
the light scows in which MIR. Los beet
was carefully slowed, got on their sur
veyors' boots, ventured to place their
overcoats and other superAuous clothing
in the scows with the beef, and so bent
themselves to the work of finding Iu-
disns, while the teamsters took wagons
and animals BY long circuits to rejoin
them when they reached firm land.
OUR GOVERNMENT THE INDIANS
CATERER.
They were, I think, nearly two
months reaching their destination, and
oil this time knew that their aristocrat-
ic highnesses, for whose welfare they
we're turning themselves into draft an
imal,, were impatiently waiting for
their winter ratioss, engaged in the en-
nobling pursuit Of that game found 10
abundance on their own sacred persons,
aud in improving their minds playing
poker and also that, if they failed to
get their freight to its destination a.
something very near the time specified,
the poor Indian would be very hungry
and very angry that his righteous in.
dignatiou over his wrongs would prob.
ably lead him to arise in his wrath and
butcher several hundred women aud
children, and that, if he should be driv.
en- thus to express his disapprovsl of
Uncle Samuel's tardine4s, the Eastern
public would see in tho transaction on.
ly another instance of tho total de.
pravity Of frontier settlers, who will
continue to provoke the "Red Stock.
lngs" Of the West to such vigorous as.
sertious Of their natural rights aud su.
periorit,es! By dins of bard pulling,
deep wading, and preearious trips over