Daily press and Dakotaian. [volume] (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-01

with these same Indians, and we have don
y L solemnly and sacredly. Who. has broke
. that provision? we, or the Indians Z No,
do not talk of dirty, thieving, barbarou:
. savage, renegade Indians, and Sentiments
ism" "unwarranted interference with III
plans OF the pioneer settlers" "prosperit
Of this portion of the James river valley,
t &c. Who has broken that sacred pledge
. Be honest and frank, and do not for ono
catersto a. prejudiced public sentiment ant
let US hear you SAY. aloud if 70,
can, that the Indians leave
For shame to talk about "God-given civil.
z%ation.' The truth is we are sem,-barbari
ans yet ourselves, boast as much as we viii
Of bur practical ideas ofcivflzation." The
provisions we have made for those Indians,
by the treaty referred to, is not all the claim
they have OF US for protection. This very
locality was given them to make their homes,
in the form of q military order, issued
at Fort Rice in consideration of services
rendered in fighting our battles for US, after
the close of hostilities with the Sioux,
their own brethren. Now do not let us try to
excuse ourselves, by saying that a home has
been given them on the Missouri. They
have selected and made their homes, where
they desired them, and where we promised
them they might, and where we have
agreed to protect them against any annoy
ance or molestation of any one, especially
the whites. What is, all the talk about the
settlements along the Mohawk, the Hudson,
the Potomac, the Ohio, the Mississippi, &C.,
to do with our present subject? Had the
Indians occupying those localities been left
Just where We found them, and protected by
the same laws that govern us, and allowed
to settle and make their homes like other
people, in and among the whites and had
that policy been carried out all through, the
Indians to-day would haye been all absorb.
ed in the body polite, occupying positions
OF trust and honor in every sphere of life,
adding material wealth to the nation, and
the millions that have been spent in keep
ing up the reservation system sayed, say
nothing Of the numerous massacres that would
never have occurred, growing out Of the
injustice done them. In other words, we
would have made men of them, producers,
instead of babes, consumers, as will always
be the case with the reservation system.
This is not all. You know we'll that a
reservation is a home for the Indian Just so
long and 10 longer than the whites
do not want it; when they want it,
then the word comes, and it is always the
case that "the Indians must go" Two
cases. right inapoint: The Ponca's, your
%neighbors, with their cultivated fields
houses, and the sacred attachments of thei,
homes, they must go, and tho heart render.
lrg scenes that accompanied that &C. o.
forcing them from their hcmes is enough tc
make the most stoical savage weep. The
utes of Colorado they must go-they were
in the way, and to accomplish the end de.
sired all sorts of means are devised, even tc
driving them into desperation. | do mo-
say in this case that there is no fault on III.
side of the lndians-but it it is the natura'
consequence of the reservation system, anc
these horrors and evils will follow as Ions
as; the old system is kept up. This. is no,
all. You have lived on the frontier Ions
enough to know that this old system is the
great corrupting machine of the gov.
eminent. Did you ever know
an Indian agent that did no
leave his post "well heeled" Did he dc
it on fifteen hundred a year salary? How
oft have We heard our former Indian agent;
in Dakota make "no bones" in saying tina
a man was a fool who could not steal one
half. For these reasons, andlmany other!
that mightb be urged, l earnestly opposed tn,
idea of a reservation on the james, even a
much as 1 desired to serve those deserving
people, for ] saw in such a step a few ia
contracts and the ''feathering Of the nests
of a favored few, and then in the end tn,
"lndian must go" But 1 thought l saw i,
the other plan of allowing the Indians t,
settle like others, a p%ermanency in .thei
making their homes, self.suataining, indie
pendent, ~law-abiding citizens, in a very icy
years. Do not be to hasty, now, in takin,
me up on this point, and reiterating TIL
popular, distorted idea that an Indian i
not capable Of arriving at this desirabl
condition, in the face of evidence to tn
contrary in the case Of the settlement G
Flaudreau, and the many other cases we hav
in this state. With the same assistance, o
no m9ge than the treaty referred to provide
for, and with some good and true men t
assist them, like the good Rev. John Wi
Hanson. who started the F%landreau In
dams, they would have become ~self.sus
tanning almost before we realized i
and o they would be bette
protection, to that frontier than all the so,
dicrs at Fort Sisseton. Still more 500
would all the other bands of the Sioux
with whom the government has made th
same treaty, word for word-as with til
Yanktonais have fallen into the same pla