New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-12-28
THE WRONGS or THE INDIANS.
"H. H. TAKES UP MIR. SCHURZ's REPLY.
FEW NOTICEABLE POINTS IN HE STATEMENT OF
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

FEW NOTICEABLE POINTS IN HE STATEMENT OF
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
To the Editor or The Trt6Hne
SIR First-The Secretary does not say that the
reservation trader would give the Omaha Indians
the market price for their wheat last summer IL he
would. why did the Indians carry their wheat 10
Sioux City to sell Aud why was the trader in
formed tha if he trusted the Omahas on account Of
their wheat he would have to rely entirely on
their honor to secure his pay"
>ecoRd-The Secretary says 1t will scarcely lie
considered a hardship when persons duly empOw-
cred by the Government cut hay on Indian reserva-
tions or Use the products of the soil that are not
used by the Indians for the of the Indian agen-
cIes or military posts" To whom does the " soil
of the Indian reservations belong Ito the United
States Government, or 10 the Indians 10 whom 1t
has been coded and renquished" i'll cOnsidera-
tion Of other lands by them given up! The SeSre-
tary further says: Admitting that white men do
cut down wood on some of these reservations and
sell il to steamboats, on the Missouri RIVER
but the white men doing this have to steal II
in order to get 1t. The law does not authorize
them to take IT." suppose the agent who is " duly
empowered by the Government sees tit to con-
nive with the white men who cut down this wood
The law makes it impossible for the Indian to in-
ferfere. He has no propretorship in the wood"
if an Indian on Reservation raises a flock of sheep
he cannot sell the wool. neither the agent sell
the wool. and give the money 10 the Indian. The
money must be turned into the United states
Treasury. TINS statement in the letter of II. II.
was made on the authority of former head clerk
of the Indian Bureau. The Secretary says that
" when flock Of sheep belongs to the agency" the
money for the wool Of such flock is accounted
for 10 the Government by the agent, under the
head Of miscellaneous receipts and paid into
the Treasury This would be more satisfactory if
ii had been explained how and when Hocks Of
sheep belong to the agency and If it is even
specified in treaties giving Reservations TO Indians,
that the Government reserves the right of sheep
raising on tracts therein included
Foartk-The Secretary says that H. II. should
have added to her question: How many Ameri-
can people know that an Indian cannct be legally
prosecuted or punished for al offence committed
against an Indian y the statement that " this De-
partment Las been endeavOring for a considerable
time to induce Congress 10 pass act putting
Indians under the protection well as under the
restraints Of law" Why should II. H. have stated
that' What has it to do with the present fact to
which H. HIS question pointed
EIfh-The Secretary says that II. II. ought
TO have added to the account of the suterings Of
the Utes when their yearly supplies held one
whole year in storehouse in Rawlins, Wyoming.
and refused TO them, though they were literally
starving that the failure to supply the Utes
from the delinquency of transportation cOntrac-
tor who has since been prosecuted by this Depart
meut tried, convicted and sentenced to the Peni-
Tertiary, where he is now serving his time Why
ought II. II. " to have added thisf What differ
ence does this make 10 tho Utes who starvedi The
statement of the Utes' suiferings not made to
4.
honest contractors. when it happens TO ind them
out, but to show that the Utes had had in years
past some "just cause of complaint" So, also, in
regard to the of money said to be due from
our Government TO the Utes: and if Senator
Tellcr's sgnifcantly- worded resolution of inquiry
whether any mony be due to the Utes r brings
ont an open statement Of the truth in regard to the
pecuniary relations of the United States Govern
ment with that tribe the information will be in
deed useful to all interested in these matters
Sirfh-The Secretary says that " the present
Secretary Of the Interior and Commissioners of
Indian Affairs werc the first persons TO bring the
wrongs inflicted the Poncas to public notice"
They were among the first. The first. however
were A. F. Tibbes and Messrs. Webster and Popple-
ton, of Omaha, when they applied for writ or
habeas Corpus TO rescue Standing Bear aud his
band from the United States soldiers. who held them
under arrest The letter of the present Secretary
r,rfser. of August %. 1879 was of the next
noticeable instrumentalllies in bringing the
- wrongs inflicted on the POncas 10 public notice"
And one of the most noticeable statements In this
letter was the following:
The buildings OF the P0ncas, which consisted Of log
cabins rhe margin OF the river turned over TO
the Spoted Tail Indians. There more than
sixty az these cabins, and many OF them had been
washed away by the rain before the Poncas left.
In this connection it will be " useful to quote
from the official documents of the Department OF
the Interior tho following statement:
Tn May last, d. II. Jerome. ~ the Board Of Indian
Commissioners Lieut.. nantCOlOnel LugenDee 1st In
fantry L. s. A.. and T. II. Hammond, superintendent OF
Indian Affairs Dakota Territory, appointed
commission select locations for the new Red Cloud
and Spotted Tail Agencies For the former the site
chosen Is the Yellow Medicine and Missouri Rivers For
the old Ponca Reserve decided upon where
the Agency dwellings stOrehOuses $50 Indian houses
ana 500 acres cultivated fields, left vacant by the
Poncas offer special advantages fer present quarters
Report OF Indian Commits siOn, 1871 p. Is.
Boston, Dec. %, 1879. H.H.