Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-01-13
THE FREE PRESS
RESER RT1TION M4TTERS.

Elsewhere in this Issue will be fopn,
extracts from the report of the honora
bic commissioner of Indian affairs
showing that the Nez Perce reservation
has been placed On the list for trial o
the severalty system among the Indians
1t is about time. This reservation ha,
been blot upon the Clearwater coun.
try long enough. 1t has hindered the
development of this region more than i
it were a desert. The demand for the
opening of the reserve comes not less
from those who want the land than
from those who, living adjacent, wish tc
see the land occupied hy whites. Prob
ably not dozen men in Idaho county
expect to acquire an acre of it. They
are looking to The incidental bene It's
which will follow its occupation by
white men, and it is easy to see that
hey are many. A large addition would
be made at once to the taxable property
of Nez Perce, Idaho and Snoshone
counties, with the effect of relieving the
present taxpayers by considerable
per cent And a thousand business and
social benefits to the whites would
grow out of the increased population
and greater production. The Indians
themselves would be materially bene-
hied, because the reservation system is
demoralizing, and would degrade even
our own race, and while it continues we
may expect the Indians to remain in Il
moral, mental and social degradation.
1t is a nillstore around their necks.
The only way in which the spirit and
tastes of civilization can be eprrafe,d
upon the Indians is to break mp the res
ervation, to make them alotments OF
land IN severalty, and to sell the residue
at fair figures to he devoted to the edu-
cation and civilization of the Indians
No Indian should hold more than he
could cultivate. The balance should,
for proper compensation, be opened to
the settlement and tillage of white men.
The funds derived from the sales of
surplus lands would be sufficient to fur
nlsh the means for the education and
civilization of the Indians, rather than
the extensive appropriations now annu-
II ly made from the federal treasury. In
other words, by the sale of their lands,
the Indians can be made self-support-
ing, and the Indian problem will cease
10 further occupy the attention of the
We gave The figures in re-
cent article: 100000 Indians occupy
and hold to the exclusion of everybody
else, 100000 square miles, or l2S, 900, 900
acres of land. If every Indian in the
country, young and old, were to have
allotted to him 100 acres, which would
average 400 pcres to each family, there
would still be surplus of 100000 600
acres. which wonld provide fund am
ply sufficient to forever maintain them in
peace and comfort.
Our Nez Perce Indians are a good
ribe upon which to make the severalty
experiment a success. They have already
oeen taught to regard the severaltv sys-
em as inevitable, and to improve, cuni-
'ate and raise crops ON the land, and |
low to depend upon their own expr-
ions for their m sintenance and sup
1ort, instead of looking to the govern
neht. This is the most important step |
oward civilizny them. The rest is
mere routine, which only requires time
or its easy accomplishment. The re-
suit may be summed up in the state.
nent that whenever the Indian be |
comes self-supporting farmer and land
,wner, then lie will cease to be an In-
iian and begin to be an American citi-
zen, and have love for his lan, as if i,
we're his daughter. his pipes in peace
md his tomahawks in war;"