Morning journal and courier., 1882-06-30
Friday Morning, June 30. 1882.
HOW TO DIsARM THE INDIANS.

HOW TO DIsARM THE INDIANS.
 The troublesome Indians are always well i supplied with good firearms and ammuni-
 tion, and the general impression has been 1 that these were furnished them by the gov ! ernment; but the New York Evening Post, whose head has been Secretary of the Inter | for, and therefore knows something about l Indian affairs says that for many years the government has not furnished any firearms | or ammunition to the Indians, except to the | enlisted scouts and police force, and that even the licensed Indian traders on the reser- vations are strictly prohibited from selling | the Indians any arms. In "only exceptionar I instances traders have been permitted to sell | to Indians ammunition for hunting, and then ] only in very small quantities and to men Of good character" The question as to where l the Indians procure their arms is, however, easily answered. They buy them of the white settlers living near their reservations l and of rowing fellows who abound in those l regions, paying for them in valuable furs. If l after an Indian war the government takes the
 Indians arms away from them, they imme-
 diately begin to obtain new supply
 Concerning the possibility of disarming the
 Indians the Post says: ''If an attempt were
 made to disarm all the Indian tribes by sim ply ordering them to surrender their guns ! and by sending a military force to compel the l surrender in case of non compliance with the 1 mere order, it is quite certain that even if an Indian war on large scale were avoided the 1 surrender would be very incomplete, as the ! Indians are very expert in the art of conceal ment; and little bands of young men, un- willing to give up their arms, would slip of and begin 8 career of marauding and bri gandage." But the Post thinks there is 8 way of disarming the Indians, and points to
 the case of the Sioux in Dakota in support of it's opinion. Five years ago the Sioux in Dakota were still considered not only the
 most powerful, but also the most warlike and
 unmanageable of Indian tribes. Some mill tary officers, even of humane way of think
 ing, used to say that no good could be ex pected of the Sioux until they had received
 another thorough whipping" One of the
 largest bands of the Sioux tribe. that of which the celebrated Spotted Tail was chief,
 some time ago came to their agent and offer ed voluntarily to surrender their arms be- cause they had no further use for them in
 fact the guns were rather in their way. Says
 the Post:
 How was this result brought about ? Not
 by an order and an army of soldiers to en-
 force 1t. Five years ago these Sioux were,
 indeed, almost as 'twild as they were repre- scented to be. Then they were permitted to
 select on their large reservation the places on
 which they would settle down. Then they
 were given something profitable to do
 Agricultural work and cattle raising on
 small scale as we'll as the building of houses
 were encouraged, and the young men were enlisted to undertake their own transporta tion as teamsters This experiment. was at first yociferously ri1ieuled by the frontiers men, bat It proved complete success. The Indians become the most efficient and faith ful teamsters the government ever had l
 They grew fond and proud of the business and made money ont of it. It wrought l sort of social revolution among them. Pres ently they would rather spend their money for fine whip than for a gun. And now I they have arrived at the wise conclusion that, since they have found something better to do than hunting and prowling. guns are no longer desirable things for them to have. l
 Nothing can be said against this method of disarming Indians. It would be well both ! for the Indians and the whites if it could be l speedily applied to all the Indians who are ! not yet dsarmed