The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-08
Notes From the Indian Territory
DARLINGTON, INDIAN TERRITORY,
November 18th, 1886.
Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribe Of Indians.]

/ EDIToR CLARION: Unquestionably
the Indian is the biggest elephant OF
the hands of the Government. and wha'
to do with him and how to dispose 0!
| his vast domain, is q matter no two
persons seem to agree upon.
One quarter of a million OF this race
number among the wards of the nation
clothed, fed, educated and cared fol
without much regard TO the expense
incurred; while they own millions upon
millions of fertile acres, cultivated only
to the extent of a few truck patches
nere aud there.
Take for instance tire two tribes
Cheyennes and Arapahoes occupying
this eryation-eonsisting of over Jfoll
millions of acres Of as productive soil as
is to be found in the great Northwest
which if allotted to them in seyeralty
would give each Indian about eleven
hundred acres! / do not mean each
family, but each individual. And yet,
they are supported in comfortable style,
their children given a primary course
in the schools on the reservation, and
then sent TO Carlisle, Pa, aud other
agricultural and mechanical schools, al
United States.
The finish of some of the graduates OF
these schools is ludicrous in the extreme,
Recently a young Cheyenne buck re-
turned here, after having completed a
course at Carlisle. The agent here as
is his custom-desired to put him at
work at his trade. After learning from
him that he had been taught the trade
of timer, sent him to his-the agent 5
wife, who, TO test his skill, requested
him to make her cake pan, describing
pan with the conical shaped spout in
the centre. To her amusement, he
brought her the pan, with the spout
s0ldered on the bottom, and pointing
down, instead of up.
Another case. A buck came back,
stating he had learned the trade of
tailor. SO the agent furnished the gov
ernment tailor here sufficient cloth out
of which to cut a coat, and directed
him, after cutting it, to give it to the
Indian to make up. In a few days he
brought in his specimen, which was
properly put together, except the sleeves.
Instead Of sewing them in at the shoul-
der, he put nice binding around the
arm holes, sewed one sleeve to the back
of the coat, near the bottom, returning
the other sleeve, explaining that coat
only needed one tail. He supposed the
sleeves were intended to be attached as
tails.
| mention these to show your readers
the proficiency ~ Of A. & NJ Indian
Schools, and the aptness of the red
skin" to learn.
No,,- 4I,a o,,a,,i,,ce mn ,f +L-.e ~, II; o,,,
of acres of rich land is opposed by the
New Englanders merely on a sentimen-
tai idea of violating the treaty with the
Indian. The South seems to know-and
care less-as TO what is done in the
matter, and the only people who clamor
for it are the Western States. who are
familiar with the soil, and the habits
and character of the Indian, and who
know the most practicable way to civil
lie these savages, is to locate whites in
their midst.
A prominent Western politician and
Blaine Republican-saidt to the writer
quite recently, that 'the surest way to
make Democratic States of Kansas,
Iowa, and in fact all the Northwestern
States, even Illinois, is for the Southern
Representatives in Congress to vote to
open Oklahoma and the Indian Terri
tory to settlers, paying the Indian not
$1.25 per acre, but fair and just valua-
ton for his landsp'
| am not prepared to concur in this
idea, but am prepared to say that it is
matter our Representatives of the
South in Congress will do well to give it
proper thought and investigation.
MONA.