New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-16
THE FUTURE OF RESERVATIONS.


The problem of the great Sioux Reservation
shows some of the intricaces of the Indian
question. BY the last official estimates the
Indian reservations in the United States mcllue
1875 .1O1 acres of landau area, i'll the
aggregate, of 212,497 square miles. The
number of Indians in the United States, eXclu-
sive of those in Alaska, is 265,565. In other
words, each Indian has on the average nearly
square mile of territory. Perhaps it will convey
the idea little more clearly to say that an area
as large as that of all the New-England and
Middle States combined, with Maryland and
three fourths of Ohio added, is held under
existing treaties and acts of Congress, for the
maintenance and use of a population not so
large as that of the city of Cincinnati at the
census of 1880. Nearly Onc-fifth of this area Is
contained in the Indian Territory, where the
Indians h9ve been organized into condition OF
society resembling that of white civilization.
OF the rest it is not 10 be forgotten that large
proportion is unfit for cultivation, and that IT
would be obviously unfair to compare acre by
acre. land which can be used only Tor hunting
and here and there for pasturage, with land
capable of cultivation.
While the Indian domain, when expressed in
figures, seems greater and more valuable than
it really is, the fact remains that vast territory
for greater than the needs of the people to
whom it is devoted is locked up by treaty and
statute, and the time is not far distant when
some systematic and just policy should be
devised of dealing with this troublesome ducs-
ton. 1t is absurd and unreasonable to suppose
that. as the tide of immigration crosses the con-
tinent the white races can be kept out OF
favored regions simply because when they were
of no value to us they were decided by the
Government to some petty tribe. The logic OF
progress is against any such idea Our states
men must see to it that the rights of Indian
owners are respected that they get an equivalent
for their property. \ Government like ours
cannot do injustice to any one, least of all to
the Indians, who are completely mt It's mercy.
But it is no more reasonable to suppose that in
the future the great Indian reservations, dispro-
portioned to the wants of their tribes, can be
kept intact than to suppose that single
obstinate property-hoder can prevent the
building Of a railroad.
The great Sioux Reservation is good case in
point According to The Commissioners OF Indian
Affairs, this contains $4,000 square miles-an
area larger than the State Of Newly ork-wlth
population of about $4,000 inhabitants, or
about one to every two square miles. The total
number of acres cultivated on the reservation IS
only 3,1S4, and most of these can hardly be SAID
to be cultivated. Lying between the Missouri
River and the Black Hills in Western Dakota,
the bulk of the reservation stands as barrier,
isolating the Black Hills and preventing the
Dakota Central and Milwaukee and st. Paul
railroads from building to the west and the
Northern Pacific from building southwark.
Senate committee proposes that lOOOO,OOo
acres, making a strip more than 100 miles wide
westward from the Missouri to the Black liillsand
another northWard to the Northern Pacific, be
thrown open for settlement, the money received
for its sale to be held perpetually by the
Government as a fund for the benefit of the
Sioux. who are also to receive cattle and farm
ing utensils.
There can be no question that measure like
this is in the interest of civilization. But it is
satisfactory to see that the committee has been
especially careful of the rights of the Sioux.
The provision of the treaty of 1865, disre-
garded in the Black Hills treaty of 1876, that
all treaties must be ratified by three-fouths Of
the adults of the tribe, was disregarded also in
the agreement of last year for the ccssion OF
this territory. That agreement having been set
aside, the Senate bill now provides for the as
sent of three fOurths Of the adults. This ought
to prevent a repetition Of the frauds charged
against the former agreement. But the Indians
are troublesome persons to bargain with. They
are apt to deny having made a bargain if they
think they can get better terms by doing so,
and can raise their prices as fast as white men.
This adds to the difficulties of the reservation
question-which bid fair to increase as time
goes on.