The Evening critic., 1881-08-18
OUR RED BRETHREN,
Indian Delegations mt the White
Households with Secretary Kirk
wood and Commissioners Price
The WinnebagOs Decline to Sur
render their Land.

them and to the Omahas and Sioux, to part
with some of their land for the Poncas.
Senator Dawes, Mr.. VIM. Stickncy and
Commissioner of Indian Affairs Price par
ticipatcd in the pow-wow. ~
The Indians were represented by Captai n
Payer, u very intelligent, well-educated In
dian, who speaks English with perfect flu
cncy. He said that his people could not af-
ford to part with any Of their land.
But what will the Poncas do?" asked
Secretary Kirkwood. They are of your
race, and must be cared for"
"Thcy can get land from the Sioux" re-
piled Payer.
Are the Sioux better natured people
than the Winnebagos questioned the
Secretary.
YES, l reckon they are answered the
Indian, laughing Moreover, they have
millions more of acres of land than we"
The Sioux have 81 100000 acres of tor
ritory. The Winnebagos and Omahas com
bined have only 100000 acres.
The Indian chief then gave some very
interesting details of the condition of his
people.
They live principally in houses, many of
which arc brick; have first-class school
and Sunday school, over which Rev. Mr..
Martin presides The tribe is almost en-
tirely of the Presbyterian faith They are,
as rule, strictly tectotalers. All of their
mechanical work is done by full-blooded
Indians. They very rarely steal from each
other, and the old system of owning cattle
and horses in common has about died out,
each man being the individual owner of his
property, real and personal.
Commissioner Price then asked the chief
some very plain, direct questions
:" want to know one thing" he said (;
ARE your people willing to live like white
people to take care of yourselves; to be
sclf-sustaining and not to expect us to carry
to you the necessities of life ~
" l think that the majority of our people
are so disposed" was the answer.
"Wcll, I'm very glad Of it. That s the
only solution of the Indian problem" said
the Commissioner. "You must eventually
come to it, and the sooner the better. We
will give you al a couple of horses, wagon,
six or seven cattle, farming implements, and
even more, If you will turn in and act like
men. There are two million white people
in this country who would jump ut such
chance AS l have said you must do it
eventually. We will give you and the
other Indians the start, and then you can
be like us and lookout for yourselves"
Secretary Kirkwood, before the Indians
left, impressed upon them the absolute ne
cessity of learning the English language.
As !. -, p". iom .',m sp.aN :. ANU t'o
sonoi".,vu Wv ny v.'o ~ ,,I;aatod tta w
nam n.. ~, H., I,d;,n t,;has t. o~+;raI, dc
su"s . ha;,,a, oi,ia 20 co,, ,,a,.sa ,,,;tj, ~
other.
Thc Onlahas Don't Want the Pom
cas-.
Two Crows and E-Bi- HONDA (He-that-
is-known), with their interpreter, Harry
Fontinellc, called upon the Secretary of the
Interior and Commissioner Price i'm
mediately after the Winnebagos. E-Bi-
HONDA said that he wished to live like
white people, as did the rest of his tribe.
That they were doing well as farmers.
The reason that they preferred to have
their children educated away from home
and among the whites was that by so doing
they would advance more rapidly in civil.
ization. They don't want the Poncas
among them, however. They are willing to
sell fifty thousand acres OF their land, but
only to white settlers. They estimate its
value at from 20 toS7 per acre. They seem
to be rather suspicious OF the white people
and OF the Government, and are worried
ABOUT tne titic TO their property.
; mwo rows SAD
Mf ulsEAT FATHER AND oTHER GREAT
FATHERS AND OTHER FRIENDS: You have
spt ken 10 me on Two matters-aDout the
iana ana ABOUT WORK we are satlsfed TO do
us the white men do to till the soil. We
want TO Keep our land we love our land.
we want you 10 give us adeed Tor 1t. Then
we WIN NOT DC apprehensive that the Great
father WIN take IL away from us. we have
no patents Tor IL, merely certificates"
commissioner Price explained to them,
however, that they mad an inalienable
right 10 inc iand. he told them to call to-
morrow or next day, as they desire long
consultation WIN the interior department..
The Generous Sioux.
The largest delegation of Indians visiting
the Interior Department to-day was the
Sioux. The number present was twenty
five, headed by Red Cloud and White
Thunder, the successor of Spotted Tail.
They represented the following agencies
Pine Ridge, Spotted Tail, Standing Rock
aud Crow Creek. The Cheyenne agency
was not represented. Great interest was
taken in this interview, and the room was
crowded. Among those present was Secre-
tary Hunt, of the navy, and wife. Thun-
der Cloud was the spokesman He said:
Yesterday we heard what you said. We
have considered it. To-day you will hear
our decision All of the people whom YOU
call Sioux have grown up on these prairies
with the bow. We are all one tribe all
friends, one to the other, And now we who
are here are the representatives of this en-
tire Sioux tribe, and the decision that we