The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-07-12
SMALL TALK

tary Teller at the conference last Friday. Chief
Moses and Tomaskit were there, and had made
their various requests. Each wanted q school
house, a saw-nill, grist-mill, and some cows.
All these things the Secretary promised, con-
tingent of course, upon the appropriation being
made by Congress. The chief of the Spokanes
was finally, asked if he had anything to say.
He is q full-blooded savage, about the color Of
an old saddle He has thin whiskers, with
here and there gray hair struggling about
under his chin. His hands and feet are small
and delicate as those of a child. Heis between
fifty and sixty years Of age He has assumed
the dress of white men, and has laid aside the
fringed buckskin coat trimmed with otter and
beads, which his companions wore. In stature
he is about five feet eight and very slight in
FORM
remember well, when a schoolboy, the we'll
thumbed pages of the speakers where occurred
the speeches of Logan, Red jacket, and Black
Hawk. They were the fayorite declamations
of that day, when, upon alternate Saturdays,
the regular rhetorical exercises came off at 8
o'clock. Having this in mind, it occurred to
to take down the speech of Walking-in the
Reeds, just to see how it would compare with
the forensic efforts of the warriors I have
named. The old man said, in a loud and very
resonant tone, .Allmy life, up to six years ago,
/ was wild man. / travelled every day, back
and forth, like the sun. l awoke in the morn
ing at one side of the great mountain and went
to sleep at night far down its slope on the other
side | moved about with my band like herd
of deer from one feeding ground to another.
+J,n+, T
white man had come and put his foot in my
place. l found that I could not stop there
again. thought to myself that some day the
white men viii have all the places, while l am
moving about, and then l shall die, because l
viii have nothing to eat / viii have no soil
TO grow up on. l saw that the white mems ways
were better than mine, and l thought it was
foolish to be wild man. put on white mems
clothes, and took an ak and chopped the trees.
1t made blisters on both my hands, but built
house that would not move, and lived there.
/ Since then | have been farmer.
81 have sent my children below Portland,
| Oregon, to the school, because l want them to
| have the same tongue as the white man. The
reason the white man is better off than the
| Indian is because he is smart and knows every
! thing. | am getting old. | cannot learn these
! things. I may be dead in two days and then
| am gone. My children and my people will live,
| and | want them to see and speak and read
| like the white children. with the same tongue
! and the same eye. Then the white men can
/ not take their lands from them. / wish you
would l~lild for US a school-house and a praying
| house, where rhe young children can learn to
| read and hear the truth. That is my heard"
/ Upon inquiry, learned that Walking-in -the-
Reeds was deyout Presbyterian, having been
converted by d travelling missionary many
years ago, and is In every way man of ex-
efnplary character. ] was sorry TO hear Secre-
| tary Teller say in response to his request that
he had no authority TO build churches and
could not give him the praying house he
wanted. Captain Baldwin, the army officer III
| whose charge the party came, said that all the
| Indians wanted was a log building that would
not cost over $3.50 or 500, and there is no doubt
that the wealthy and numerous denomination
OF Christians to which Walking-in-t Reeds
belongs viii help him to secure his praying
house.
Joe Blackburn of Kentucky, passed through
the capital Saturday. / asked him if he
were candidate for the Speakership in dead
earnest. He said: " II any one thinks l am
net in to stay he is mistaken. shall not with
! draw in favor of Mr. Carlisle or any other can
didate. l shall hold my friends together until
some one is elected, and bear in mind it won't
be Sam Randall"
1t is understood that the Hon. J. O. s. Black
burn has not the Speakership in view by his
candidacy much as the United States SEN
ate, for which position he and Carlisle are
| rivals Carlisle is looming up as the leader OF
the Kentucky Democracy, much to Blackburn's
chagrin. The latter fears that should the Gov
ington statesman secure the Speakership, he
/ would have waik-oyer for "Cerro Gordo
Williams place in the Senate.
asa
| The distillers are very much disturbed about
the opinion of the Acknowledgement relative to
the legality of the export of whisky, simply to
eyade the internal revenue tax. 1t Is worthy
of notice that the question was decided against
them simply upon their admission of their in.
tention in the matter, which they might as
we'll have withheld, had they been content to
| buster less about the advantage they possessed
over the Government after Congress refused tC
extend the period for which the liquor might
remain in the bonded warehouse. The law has
always permitted whisky TO be exported with
out the payment of the internal revenue tax
and should it be broGg ht back again for any
reason, being an American product, it was as
sessed no duty, except the regular 80 per cent
tax collected as internal revenue upon the arti'
Gle, when it passes into consumption in this
country. 1t had the privilege, like any other
| import, OF staying in the custon-house fol
three years. When Congress refused TO extend
the bonded period TO five years to the whisky
men they were very mad, and said they would
gain the same object by simply taking theil
goods to Bermuda, bringing it right back again
and putting it in the customs warehouse. They
sent out seven thousand barrels and were about
to bring it back. The Attorney General how.
ever, has ruined their game by declaring that
the intention is an essential part of the act
and that their sending it to Bermuda, with the
declaration beforehand that they intended tt
return it an once in order simply to evade the
tax, was not an expectation at all. The result
viii be that should they attempt to re-import
the whisky it would probably DO seized and
eonfscated for having been illegally withdraw
from the warehouse without payment of thl
tax.
The action of the distillers in this matter
was one OF those foolish things which intelli
gent business men sometimes do, to the surprise
OF people not half so smart 1t was like the
action of McGeoch, of Chicago, who precipitated
a $6,000000 failure upon himself by declar
ing that the prime steam lard" the majority
of which he owned himself. was an adultera
ton composed largely of tallow and linseed oil
He had only to prove it beyond a reasonable
doubt, and the next day he was worth 5000,
000 less than nothing.
rl,n ga,v Vort ScIdsaros xIn,,e M.-s~a,,.ux