Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1885-08-29
PRESS OPINIONS.

4
views Of a gentleman from the Indiar
Territory who predicts that the orde,
relative to cattlemen will result il
serious trouble among the Indians
who will now find themselves deprived
Of the SI2 annual income that eacl
received under the so-called leases
Possibly this may all be true, but that
does not prove that it would have been
better to permit the cattlemen tc
monopollze the territory.-Pioneel
Press.
Gov. Hubbard Of Minnesota has is
sued call to the States and Terri
tories on the upper waters Of the Mis-
sissippi and Missouri for a River Con
vention, to be held in st. Paul on
September 3. The Independent says
in regard to the matter: No portion
Of the country is more vitally inter
ested in cheap freight and the i'm
provement Of the Missouri and It's
tributaries, than Montana; and we
should have in that convention a full
and able delegation. Montana, with
its thousand miles Of navigable rivers,
which need Improvement, should have
a potent voice on all questions per
tanning to the improvement Of west
ern wafer courses. The Missouri and
The Yellowstone flow through the very
best agricultural portions Of Eastern
Montana. These valleys have a eli
mate and soil better adapted to the
production Of certain bulky crops
than any other portion Of the country.
With these rivers nayigable in the
autumn our farmers could realize
large profits in supplying the South
ern markets Let Us have a good dele
cation at st. Paul on the Sd Of Sep
tenber
Commenting upon the Indian COM
mission which recently visited the
Territory to enquire into our Indian
affairs, The Herald hits the nail square
" On the head, which is as follows:
It IS to be regretted that the Indian
commission Of the House could not
have improved the opportunity to
have acquainted themselves more fully
with the situation in Montana. It
may be true that the situation in
other Territories is worse and requires
their personal investigation. Wewant
our Congressman to know few In
dians possess nearly a third Of Mon
tana. We want them to know how
utterly worthless this country is to
the Indians since the buffalo have
gone. With proper efforts we believe
all the Indians in Montana could be
induced to remove to the Indian Ter
ritory, where they could more success
fully practice agriculture, on which
they must depend for their future
subsistence. The cattlemen have been
required to drive their stock out of
the Indian Territory and they are no
more allowed to so upon other reser-
vations. These ranges are needed for
our cattle and they are Of no use in
the world to- the Indians. The Mon
tana reservations are out Of all pro-
portion to the number of Indians
And again it is poor place to have
the Blackfoot reservation along the
boundary line, where the Canadian
Indians are going back and forth all
the time, necessarily interrupting any
attempts to civilize them. Before any
attempts to settle them in severalty
permanent location is necessary Even
the conditions necessary to begin the
work Of civilization are as yet want
ing. The situation as it is at present
is bad for the Indian and it is bad for
the white men. Finding no buffalo
on their reservation the Indians go
where they can kill the white mems
cattle. It leads to reprisals or blood
shed. 1t keeps US on the ragged edge
Of war all the time.
THE IERRIIARY