Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1884-08-07
Arr IMPORTANT MATTER


/ III. \
vour PEPPER You tell u Of the vast imror-
tanee # elrcting the ficht man as Dele
sats to Congrr-7 aul NJ doubt you very
Justly present tn claims 81 Mr.. Sioeisar
fur hi efFlrts in securing our annrxali n.
Thi, Is al well enough 50 FIR as it coc~.
b 1t the fact is the annrxaii question Is
one of quite minor importance when com
pared with the question Of opcnin. tn
Nez Perez Reservation Aunexa,i n
might give Us some political advantages
that we do not now have but po itical ai-
1 irs are Only instituted FIR the purro e
Of protecting and maturing Commercial
and agricultural interests. So it seems
10 me that in urging the annexation mat
ter with such zeal we have lost sight o.
the most vital question bearing upon our
prosperity as a community, or in other
words, we are making preparation FOR
building without due regard to the foun
dation upon which cur structure Is tn
be established. Let the thousands OF
broad fertile acres belonging to this res
ervation be thrown open to settlement and
then there will soon BE- foundation upon
which to erect political organizations with
soidity, permancncy and independence.
Ii therefore must be admitted that the
next Delegate, who presents himself for
our votes should be well pledged upon
this matter If Mr. Singiser can show
that he has done anything in this drec-
ton, so much the better showing would
it make towards establishing his faithful
ness to our most vital interests No doubt
our Delegate could do more toward bring
ing about such desideratum than could
any one else if he only had a determined
will to bring to operate in the proper d.
rection and his efforts should be reinforc-
cd by the steady and persistent exertion
Of every citizen in the whole North Idaho
and South Idaho too, for that matter
As the opening Of this reservation would
give this Territory greater boom than
the transient excitement of any mining
spcculations. 1t is claimed by many who
should know something about the matter
that most Of the Indians are in favor OF
taking land in sevcralty and that they ex-
press desire to have homes that they
can call their own. The Indian seems
to at last accept the fiat of fate that oman
shall earn his bread by the sweat of his
brow and they see that the sooner they
adopt the civilized customs so closely sur
rounding them the greater will be their
comfort and prosperity. The Govern
ment too, which is proverbially behind
the spirit of the age, has begun to admit
that the Indian can and will learn or i'm
bibe civilization by observing the ways
and manners of his white neighbor more
rapidly than by any other process. In
dealing with the Indian this Government
has always acted in spirit directly con
trary to that expressed in the Declaration
Of Independence viz, that all men are
created free and equal. 1t has heretofore
acted upon the principle that the Indian
was superior to the white man or at least
it has always given the Indian more rights
than 1t has ever accorded to any of its
white citizens who have held their lives
ready to sacrifice in its defence while the
Indian was never ready to come forward
with anything. This may be DEPRESSING
little but if it be not true how is it that
under the existing reservation system an
Indian has from 200 to | 500 acres Of
land and the white man can only have
l60? 1t may take fifty or sixty years
Tor this Government to see and recognize
these facts, but that they are facts who
will pretend to deny. Now, Mr.. Editor,
cannot something be done to bring about
this inevitable result without so much
unnecessary and senseloss delay.
Yours, CITIZEN.