The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-03-27
AN lTDIAN'S VIpW OF INDIAN
AFFAIRS.
What chief Joseph Can Not Under
stand and What No One Has Ex-
plafu.d - HIm-His wears Made
Sick by Broken ProInises.

orth American Review for ApIiLI
have shaken hands with a crest mary
| friends, but there are some things | want
to know which no one seems able to ex-
pIaIn, ! cannot understand how the gov
eminent send. q man out 10 fight IA, as 1t
| did Gen. Miles, srd then breaks Its word
Such a government has something wrong
about il. I cannot understand WHY 50
| many chiefs are allowed to talk so many
different ways, and promise 20 many differ
| ent thing. | have seen the Great Father
| 1.-THE Preeidentl. the next great chief (Sec
rotary of the Interiorl. the commissioner
chief (Haytl, the law ohIei Gen. Butler,
and MANY other law chiefs (Con.ressmen),
and they all say they are my fri -nds, and
thst | shall have Justice, but while their
mouths all talk right | do not understand
why nothing j. done Tor my people. Good
words do not LIST long un!ess they smOunt
To something. Words do not pay tor my
dead people. They DO not pay for my
country. now overrun by white msr. The
do not protect my fathers grave. They do
not pay FIR all siy horses and cattle. q cd
words will not give me back nv children
Good words will rot mske good the prom
ise of your var chief, Gen. Miles,
Good words will not give nv
peorle good health snd stop
the N from diving. God words will not get
nv people home where they can live IN
pesce and t-ke care of themselves. sIn
tired Of talk thrt cOmss 10 nothing. II
makes nv heart sick when | remember all
the good words and all the broken promises
There has been too much talking by men
who had no right to talk. Too many nls-
Representations have been m ade, too many
Misunderstanding have come up between
the white men about the Ind ana. II the
white man wants TO I've in peace with the
Iudian he can live in pesce. There need
he no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give
them all the same Law. Give them all an
even chance TO live and grow All men
were m sde by the same Great Spirit Chief.
They are all brothers. The esrth il the
mother Of all people, and all people should
have egusl rights upon il. lon might as
we'll expect the rivers to run backward as
that any man who was born a free man
should be contented when penned up and
d.ried liberty to go where he p'eases. 1t
Won tie horse 10 a stake do Won expect he
will grow fat? II you pen an Indian up on
a email spot, and compel him TO stsy there,
he will not be cnntented, nor will he grow
and prosper. / have asked some OF the
great white chief where they get their su-
thority to say to the Indian that he shall
stay in one place, while he sees white men
guing where they please. They can Hotte!l
ne
I only ak Of the Government 10 he
treated IA sll other men are treated. II
cen not % to my sown home, lie; me have a
home in some country where my people
will not die so fast | would ike to go to
Bitter Root Valley. There my people
would be healthy: where they are Eow they
are dying. Three have died since left
nv camp to come to Washington.
When think of our condition my hesr'
ia heavy. | see men Of our rsce treated "a
outlaws and driven from country to coun
try. or shot down like animals.
! know that my race must change. We
c.nnot hold orr own with the white men
sc we sre We orlv ak an even chance TO
live az other men live. We SIX TO be re
cosnized a. man We ask that the same
Lao shall work slke on all men. II The
Indian bresEs the Law, punish him by the
law Ii the white man breaks the law
punish him also.
Let me b. free man-free to travel, free
to stop, free to work, free to trade where |
choose. free 10 choose my own Teachers. free
I, follow the religion of my fathers free to
think and talk and act for mvself-and |
will obey every law, or submi. to the
penalty.
Whenever the white man treatz the In
disn as they treat each other, then We will
have no more wars We shall all be alike
brothers of one father snd one mother
with one sky above US and one country
around ia, and nne government Tor all
Then the Great Spirit Chief who rules above
will smile upon this land, and send rain TO
wash out the bloody spots made by brothers'
hands from the face of the earth. For this
time the Indian race are waiting and pray
ing. I hope thst 10 more groans OF
wounded men and women will ever go to
the ear of the Great Spirit Chief above,
and that all people may be one people.
In-mut -yah-lat kut has spoken for
his peonle