Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-10-17

as III O'Clock the corridor leading TO the room was
tniongeo with persons anxious to obtain admission
W tne pow-wow. Among those In waiting were
twenty or thirty ladies, but q barricade OF desks
poyes and reporters When the Indians were
seated the ladies' were next admitted and then the
uen. All the Indians wore Cleveland campaign
Rev. Mr.. Cleveland, Secretary Villas, who was sur
rSrnaeS Dy Officers Of the Department, arose, and
snhougn an interpreter said:
SECRETARY Villas REMARKS.
MY friends, / have been very much pleased
py the opportunity to see and talk with you about
THIS business. think better OF you from having
SD YOU ana talked with you. You have talked
theaSonaoiy, ike sensible men. And have laid
uSioIe tne PRESIDENT what you have said, and
wnaI your wishes are. Ihave CONSULTED fully with
Ine PRESIDENT about IL, and bring you this morn
my tne answer which the President has directed
me 10 give you after consultation. This Govern
mene wants your rights and your real interests
PrsselVeo ana taken care Of 1t wants you to have
IA Inls business what is best for you. The Gov
eminent spends many millions OF dollars every
year lor the Indians; and 1t does this because It
t Ins iI Ton TO the
appeal which you make to him as a man.
I Hau men occasionally do wrong TO the
Indian service. But bad men who do wrong DO
not represent the Government nor the President.
Innr are many men, also, who think they know
iIseu. Iney would, perhaps, mislead you; but
wnat you hear from the Congress ana from the
AiocAocue you Can rely upon as tn6 expression OI
tne wishes and judgment Of this Government and
the country. Big Name said well the other day
mat ne wanted no man TO sit down beside him
anu leao MIN away. l am going TO make you a
proposal to-day in respect to this act, and want
70 say In the beginning that the Government
Say Sssees 70 dns act your
ing 10 your own Judgment as to what is best for
you. don't want you to be led to any decision
from rear or from misunderstanding. II there be
anything that is unjust 10 you in what has been
proposed or what shall be proposed 1t is better
Ihat IL should be changed now, and want you to
understand 1t just as II Is so that there shall be
no mistake about it hereafter, and no man shall
say ne was told something different from what
was put In the act. / want to say few words to
you ABOUT the way in which the act Is passed by
congress In our Government"
EXPLAINING THE LAW.
Inc secretary then explained that Congress
makes the laws for all the country and had passed
Ine law under consideration. He said some of the
lnulans had declared truthfully that they were
not properly consulted beforehand. They were
not, and the President had decided as To what he
thought could and should be changed. The Sec
Ietary then proceeded to say: "The first and most
HHnporIant question for you to consider and for
10 opening the reservation. What Won have said
SHOWS you are willing to open the reservation If
nne sers ana arrangements are satisfactory, and
~ oeens 70 me mat Is wise that 1t should be done
~ Is PROBABLE that whatever might be done the
opening OF the reservation cannot long be post
ponea In any event. see you are men OF under.
standing, and you know how the white neonie
nave increased In numbers and pressed around
your reservation on every side. Railroads have
oeen out up 10 IL, Eorth OF IL and south OF it. and
they are building railroads west OF it. The coun-
Try Is being taken up by settlers and cultivated in
every direction The buffalo Is gone and all other
game Is pretty much gone, too. You don't get
much now from this reservation to help you to
I'VE Wnat you get from the reservation now is
chiefly in the way OF farming or raising cattle
You have seen that the white people are able to
get great deal more from the land than you have
poen uOng. On the same number OF acres that
OF white people II they had time first to Improve
ana cultivate the land. You see right here In this
city Ten Times as many people as there are Indians
knowledge which enable white people to get so
much more out OF the land than you have been doing
yourselves You have seen in this city these
ple puil0lngs mere; you have seen the railroads
on which you travelled you have seen the houses
NAV ~ MaE n white people I've and you now know
what you have not Gone. II you men had been
educated from boyhood like the whites
you, too, would have big houses and live
your speeches., and am sure If you had been edu-
cateo you could speak and do business with white
men men; Il Is plain 70 every thinking man that you
thing to which you have been accustomed mas
changed II seems plain that 1t is better you be-
ehange the ior .ne you Degn tns
10 the new life they must follow"
THE TERMS OF THE TRANSFER
The Secretary continued in this strain endeayor.
ing to impress upon the Indians the great import
ance Of training their children in civilized ways
come for opening their reservation and making 1t
OF the best possible use to their children.
In regard TO the terms and agreement for OPEN
Ing the reservation Secretary Villas said the
Indians had been fairly reasonable In their re-
quests He explained that law OF Congress
es asa
mend changes to Congress, but could not
make them. He added: 1--WE are
benefit II you are ready TO accept the law when SO
changed" He then explained the proposed changes
saying. In the first place In regard TO the price,
that was the most important thing. "You ask :" he
continued. 'Sl.2o an acre, because The Government
has been selling its land for that price, Now there
are many differences between you selling your
10 point them out The Indians" he said, "could
not sell In small tracts, but must sell in large
bodies, and could sell only To the Government.
The Indians could not 90 out and survey their
land for sale In small tracts as the Government
did" He also Informed the Indians that In selling
same price. but the Government permits pur-
chasers to make their own selection OF
1 msD, lands Besides a he said, tn. the Govern:
but gives them to the hoInesteaders. Secretary
Villas said the proposition was that the Govern
Indians whatever it brought. He said that a
record OF every land sale Is kept, and that every
collar derived from sale OF the reservation would
the Indians; that the latter would not incur any
expense for surveying and selling. but would get
the benefit OF every dollar. Some Of the land is
very bad and some very good, while other portions
are but medium; that when the reservation Is
opened TO market, the best land will be taken
nrst oy men who settle there; then the next best
and the poorest would naturally be left to the last
THE PRESIDENTS PLAN.
Having this In view," he said, "the President
mas authorized me to say that II you will consent
to 1t he WIN recommend TO Congress to so change
the act as 10 prescribe that all the land taken dur
Ing the nrst three years shall be paid for at the
rate OF 81 per acre. all taken IN the next two years
after that shall be PAID for at the rate OF as
per acre. and the land taken after I'VE years TO be
pa1o for at % cents per acre. That would nix the
price OF the best 10 be naturally sold FIRST at ST. Of
the next best at rs cents and OF the poorest al so
cents per acre, all the proceeds TO 20 TO the In
dams"
The Secretary reminded the Indians of how
rapidly the Crow Creek reservation was taken up
when opened In 1885, and he believed that all the
best land OF the Sioux reservation suitable for
farming would be taken up within three years
The two railroads to be constructed he sai0 must
be completed within three years and that would
ha land k,aG