The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-08-09
THE CAUSE OF THE RED MAN.
acts for the People Relative To the Army,
the Indians and needless Taxes.


n,a,ives by Mr.. De LaMa,yr, June 2d, 1870.
cad twice, referred to committee on Indian
FAIRS, and ordered to be printed:
WHEREAS, The forced expulsion of the
adams under Chief Joseph and Sitting Bull,
Me starvation and massacre of the Bannocks
4 nd Cheyenncs, and the proposed removal OF
I her tribes from their rightful homes in Ore
on and Colorado, have caused distrust among
ne Indians and II growing disgust among the
hites; and,
WHEREAS, 1t is morally certain that twenty
even thousand dollars, appropriated to pay the
lost of Il commission, representative OF the
OUNIvERsAI. PEACE UNION" will do more toI
estore confidence and peace between the races
aen the twentyseven million dollars which it
proposed to appropriate for the support of
ycnty five thousand soldiers; Therefore,
BE Il enacted by the Senate and House # Rep.
aseAtatices IN Congress dSSembted That the
,xehdent is hereby authorized and requested
II 5Appoint peace commission III accordance
,th the memorial of the UNIVERSAL PEACE
MON of May B. 1879, which was presentedto
ne senate and Is now waiting for COMPRESSION
action.
But as congress have failed to pass this bill,
re are left to infer that it will rather risk an
ther Indian war than be without prcteXt for
standing army, and we ponder on the TACT
hat republican form OF government implies
hat il is controlled by the votes OF the people
nd that Congress is the representative wisdom
If the entire nation; but since the presentation
If bill tor appropriating the sum of $4,000,
100 fer the support of great standing army
n time of peace we are led to ask who wants
t? The women and children and patriots OF
very class who compose the largest portion
If the people do not The greatness of work
,n,,,r ,rboCn loh will have IA nav the cost
10 not Tie defense of the country against
oreign foes does not require it, for we are at
peace with all the world.
1t is not necessary on account OF the Indians,
or they all want peace, and there is no exist
No difficulty with any Of them, not even with
Sitting Bull but what can be settled by arb
ration much easier and vastly cheaper with
nut the army than with ii.
Neither the South nor the North want 1t TO
,onrol their respective sections; hence tins
Iextm session and long discussions, The minis
(.rs of the Gospel cannot apploveof it, because
heir vocation calls for peace on earth and
gotd will to man.
'Tlc icachirg q u, Christina Scriptures,
upon which our Government as>uncs t" he
based, enioin: PUT up your sword and beat
hem into plowshares, and your spears into
purninghOOks, and learn war no more" and
very time the PRAYER is offered: "Forgivc us
our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass
against us" is literally n prayer for all the
starvation and misery and death for ourselves
which the army is designed to lntlct upon
others; hence If every minister was Moody,
md every singer Sankey, and every house Il
house of prayer, it would not avert Gods re
ributive law; therefore there is no alternative
out to stop fighting or stop praying that pray
Nr,,l, 81, fnnt batn \ / aSly a
. Of humanity, who wants to pay the enormous
5um of S21,000000 per annum to keep $4,000
men and horses in ldleness or in mischief, |
which is worse; for 1t Is well known that an
,rmy Is great consumer and more destruc-
. i've than an army of grasshoppers which the
armerS so much dread.
We can conceive of no answer to these qucs
I ions but on the supposltion that bankers and
. stock iObbers who have controlled the currency
| to enrich themselves, are afraid that the work
ing masses will like the lndians) fight for
bread rather than see their children starve or
to feed On charity soup, with no prospect for
family but poverty and hopeless dependence.
Americans, are you content with such doom
I Will you toll on to support an army for which
you have no use, and which exists only to
Ftcare or to kill those who resist oppression? Ii
,heys were no resources to develope, no work,
and scarcity of food in the cOun-
Plry. YOU might mantully endure hardship. But
l I'VE have abundance of all these to enrich our
Nation, and it Will only need the wise use OF
,our ballots to put those in office who are hon
st and able to use the wealth which comes
rom the labor of brains and bones from one
| IS much as the other SO that the hod carrier
and the architect may have equal fccilities for
the enjoyment and culture of themselves and
their families that none may flourish in the
sunshine of plenty at the expense of those who
ramsh in the dark shade of poverty and ne
elect.
Our Pilgrim fathers attributed these Unequal
tiles to divine DEGREES; they seemed content
with the thought that the majority of their
nelghbors (womcn and children included)
were doomed to a fire and birthstone hell, that
it was right to hang witches and whip quakers,
but wrong to shoot on Sunday, except to kill
wild beasts and Indians
To-day, these ideas are ignored as unworthy /
of the age; nevertheless Indians are shot, and
the poor are starved by selfish monopolsts;
both races are alike sufferers, and il Is only 10y
a common sympathy, and united effort for
the equal rights of each that redress can come
TO either, and until this fact Is practically ack
nowledged, politicians may scheme, and phi
lanthrophists may labor, but without plank
in their pLdtt0rUts for the rights of the Indians
as well as tor themselves they will fail, for no
mere declaration of the equality of human
rights, or the universally of the golden rule,
amounts to anything without direct specific
application for the benefit of those who suffer.
Slavery was not abolished until politicians and
reIAyionists resolved and worked for that end.
Neither will war or oppression of the white
man cease, until the red man has full protec
ton in the enjoyment of his rights, for the law
is absolute that with what measure we mete
il shall be measured to us again, and
therefore 1t is morally certain that the party in
power in the coming presidential campaign
which Is most explicit and earnest for the
rights of all will deserve the most votes, and
in the long run is sure to win.
JOHN BEEsoN
RuckleB's Arnica Salye,