The sun., 1873-09-29
SWINDLING THE INDIANS.
TIiE NEW INDIAN MTSSTONER
AND THE CHIPPEWAS.


COinmlseioncr or indian Affairs, concerning
whom THE SUN said " llo Is a recent experi-
ment. who must Yield or retire. IA Gen. Walker
was forced to do by Deano's intriGucs because
he refused to comply with his demands and
could not be used by the Ring" There Ia not
the slightest chance that the Rev. Smith will
ever be forced to eslgn for any such reasons.
unless he has greatly changed since becoming
Commissioner. II may indeed be taken for
granted that his selection by Delano was not
an experiment, but that his subscrvicncy to tho
Ring was well understood beforehand case
which Is beginning to be noticed hercabouts
will suffice ~ a sample Of Mr.. Smiths doings.
Word has just been received in this city that
there Is disturbance among the Indians on the
/ Lecch lake reservation in the northern part pf
Minnesota. At present there are upon the re-
serve a party Of lumbermen who nre pfeparlng
for logging during the coming winter. These
lumbermeu have cut q quantity Of hay for win
ter supplies Recently "a number Of Indians
burned all the hay cut except where the lumber
men were by to protect 1t, aud declare their in
tention TO prevent any timber from being feilcd
this winter. Ihey even went beyond the re-
serve and burned hay belonging to outside par
ties, and when finally stopped they went Of
promising to return with renforrcments 1t Is
quite probable this little affair may be the be-
MORE SERIOUS rRoupLr.
The Indian on the reserve are the Pillager and
| Minuihagoshsh bands of the Cnippewa tribe.
The Iillagcrs are a very bad set, aud always dis
poscd to be thieyish and quarrelsome. and win
disposition l. partly natural, but any one at all
acquainted with the history Of Indian affairs in
this state will readily confc-s that the chances
are that the evil qualities Of the Piliagers
| fOstoted 10y injuries done the Ddnd. Certain 1t
j. that the present disturbance Is due To AN in
famous attcunt to desprn this already poverty
stricken people. The man who Is directly re-
| spon~ILle TOR tins attempt is the Rev. Commits
The numbering operations objected 10 by the
ipdisns are based upon fraud p,,pStratod hy
Mr.. smith, whereby tLe Indians and the Govern
ment are rrcs " cheated. The frat indications
nf the scheme appeared IN ls,l, when MIR. smith
was lhu.4H Agent ior the ChtrPeTds; La ne
| report ot NOV, 81 TINT year y the Commits
sioner Of Indian Affairs, Mr.. Smth writes a.
follows:
Ther, are many dlnculcs in the way Of the improve.
country win ont here and hcre patch su.ecpt6le
y uiasst lhgre % are. hoSeNei, POl1s on me lase
@ @the &Gy4G.,e lam m 'sI "a 80 & ne II9d' h NOR i9r
tim1ef standing on the reservation The pine lumber
winch auvHuda VA some pytOa 81 the aliefent teser.
s'aqds. Il is perpetual object OF greed to lumpe;
indans or By Bargaining vim the bands Or Win mi.
Elne lgli.n' ine PINE iiei T. rspidy wasting "a,
,he iciugmc9' OF 1ne gd ,gr G1iry aad t9e grow,
w i,mlhi ior Iunb-r IN tu' STATE az ttls pue n
no ,ma income ,or the beheht OF Tie tribes rec" u.
mend that the department assume discretionary cor.
troll Of all ihe pine t"ocr on thc tax
mcafnTes To hrias into marNci. s!ninf d'nn,ey -
be made 0t tac proceeds.
! 1t will be observed that Nr. Smith has truly
! good ahhorreuce Of greedy lumber dealers, and
/ Is very de-rous of improving the condition IF
! the Indians. The result Shows that MIR. smiths
+ Professions Of care for tue Indians under his
/ charge were
| PURE nUMBUGGERY.
! On Nov. S, ls.2. lust one year from the date OF
/ the report quoted, MIR. smith, representing the
! United states, entered into contract by winch
/ the Indians are cheated and robbed in the most
/ harefaced manner. The other party to the con-
tract is one A. H. wilder, a speculator, contract
| or, aud 80 on, OF this city. wilder used 70 be a
/ Democrat, Tut l- now one uf the Indian Ring in
/ Minnesota. and Of course loSal to Grant. lu this
| contract Wilder doubtless represents others of
/ the Rang besides himself. The Ring would never
I let one man svboe the whole uf such rich
prlze.
selis to Wider all the pine ana cedar timber
I standing on the LreCh Lake reserve, and within
four miles from any stream nPon which logs cat. can
fl.I5 per thousand feet.
HERE u TUB FIRsr FRAUD
u w,,as, ihe contract Pine timeSr 6 as SOLD TO
! man IN Minnesota, from S25l to - per
thousand The difference In price depends
. on warn us matters not necessary tu explain.
/ smith himself about wear before making the
Wilder contract had sold to another party the
tion ono wear Tor q ~ per thousand. and the
Red l. Ae timber is further from market, and
that At Leech Lake. Here then. was a clear
fraud ~ At least sl.'5 per thousand feet. In the
mated f. contain SS'Gnt0J feet Of timber. 80
that TO start with W. have fraud Of S,10,pn ~
least. This, howsyer.is only small part of the
Preceding t. read the contract further, one
finds this remarkable agreement;
All m Rn5 mail l pae nd i b ' nan r
NH ma se HcrcalnSbe n saw oss Su, tn, he
party the SECOND part sisll not 'c obliged 20 cut
hol or rees of es di,ncter al i6c IoP twenty fcet
from The ground than fourteen inches
Any one couycrsant with numbering will see
the snare IN thts provision at once. Pine trees
| fourteen inches in diameter at the height of
Twelve inches in diameter AZ twenty-four feet
from the ground i the measurement ordinarily
agreed upon in selling standing timber. wilder,
common size. lie j. not obliged to cut or pay
for any of lesser size. But, although not
"ohlisr,l,' he may cut IL, for ii Is good mer-
chHntabie timber at much less measurement
than that named In the contract
For all these smaller trees he is not Obliged
To pay a cent. In fact, although he agrees
TO pay for @@OOAOO foot or more, Il more
vision quoted only he required 20 pay for a very
small proportion ot the timber and Sl35 per
thousand less than its true value at that.
But even this II not the whole of the fraud
The contra ruuS for twenty years Wilder al,rec-
ing To pay on Aug. "t each year for what tim
Der has been cut and driven during the pre-
ceding year. This twenty years Will enable
much timber which is now small to grow 10
II cut when not yet up to the contract measure
ment and he cannot be made to pay anything
for IT, And II at the end Il twenty years there
shall he any thinner sthl standing, Mr. llder IL
to pay for u at sllj per thousand. lie con etslll
take care that there none standing Of the SIZE
for which he is obliged to pay.
There are various other points in the contract
by winch the fraud Is stu! more increased.
have taken those most easily understood. The
contract Is So loose rs To- make fraud possible
under almost ANY "f Its provisions. For Ont
/ thing wilder gives no security, ana II H. should
refuse to pay or become bankrupt after any
Years Operations, then Tie government coule
whistle for its money. There l. even
4 FRAUD ABOUT TIE NAY
which the Indians have just burned. wilder
agrees to pay the Government for the right {,
wne G hay ~ is W w6T6 M IN St. FaG about " Il @ "T si
luh on thS average ol course Lht NalIe away 90