The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-09-08
THE INDIANS FUTURE.
To CiviIize Him His Territory Must be Opened
tn settlers.
PHILADELPHIA Times.

To Civilize Him His Territory Must be Opeheu
to settlers.
Philadelphia Times.
Major John III. Bnrke, Bnffalo Bills
right bower, who Is known in the west as
Arizona Jack, sat in the Girard house last
night, putting cigar and telling a group
of listeners a lot of Indian stories, when
he suddenly switched off en- the future of
the Indian. He talked straight ahead and
had figures aud names az his fingers end.
He said:
I know the Indian Territory well, hav-
ing ridden over agregt part OF it, and
had occasion to know many of its legiti-
mate inhabitants, md speak edvisedly
when say, that no policy moro sntagon-
istic TO the spread of civilization and IN
iuriCus 10 the best interests of the Indian
could possibly be adopted-short of
general merciless massacre OF the red
men-than that which excludes white
settlers from that part of the country,
which is uuoccupied by the Indians aud
is of no use TO them, and TO which they
have no legal or moral right. The terri
tory is too vast for the Indians alone TO
occupy with any good result. They rat
tie around it like grain of shot iu bass
drum. Even if they we're restricted to
their reservations, they would still have
far more land than they could make any
good use of. The latest and closest
census of the Indians in the territory that
we have, shows that there was only 10,
334 Of them, all count3d, 20 occupy reser-
vations amounting 10 ll,6S5,035 acres,
and their numbers are decreasing all the
time. Why, this ia ample of how they
are scattered: The last time | was out
there, / went with Brave Bear TO cali upon
White Eagle, both Pawnee chiefs. We
had supper with White Eagle, and after
wards Brave Bear told me he expected ns
both to take breakfast with him, next
door, as he expressed ii. l accepted the
invitation, innoceptly supposIng that it
meant to go half lnile or so, and st day
break we saddled up and started for his
house. Imagine If you can my disgust
and hunger, when you learn a. then did,
that Is was eighteen or tw nty miles from
White Eagles to Brave Bears. They
thought nothing OF ii, but l did. And
when We got TO Brave Bears his children
fled ut sight of my white face, as if had
been a ghost. | don't thing they had
ever seen white man before, and not
many red ones either. How can you ex.
pect that children crossing up in such
isolation, but that they will be savages
THE ALLOTMENT OF THE TRIBES.
Yet the Pawnees have smaller allot.
ment OF land in their reservation than
most of the other tribes, which seems to
me, by the way, an injustice, since they
have long been the staunch, reliable
friends of the whites and were brave sol
diers of our government on the frontier
fighting the Sioux during the Rebellion
when so many other Indians were enlisted
by the Southern Confederacy against us
They have but 207s5 acres per capita,
while the Sacs and Foxes have 1,O49l%
the Pottawotamies and Tonkawas 1,047
and 1857, respectively, the Cheyeanes and
Arapahoes 1,193ss, the Iovas 2,556h aud
the Wichitaws no less than $500. That is
per capita, mind you buck, squaw and
papoose. Give them 160 acres for each
family of four all arouLd, which would be
IA much as they would ever make any
good use Of, and 465,94O acres would set
settle them ali comfortably. Mind You, /
am not in favor of robbing them of an
acre that now belongs to them. | sim ply
believe that ii would be for their highest
good for the government to condemn
their surplus land for the purpose of
planting upon it actnai white settlers,
paying them a reasonable price for it.
The bill now before Congress proposes to
allow them not more than $1.25 per acre
for all the land TO which they have even .
disputable claim. That means $l.25-of
course, less what they have already re-
ceiyed for it-and the mot more than
goes for nothing in ell such matters. 1t
looks like liberal price and it is; but orr
nation can afford to- be liberal. We have
done well in land transactions. We only
paid g. cents per acre in Mexico for
100000 GOO acres OF land, out OF which we
have made three thousand million dollars.
And the Sl.25 per acre for this land the
government will readily get back from
actual settlers.
THE INDIAN BOYS AT CARLISLE.
The talk of Impractical theorists, rank
hypocrites and interested, designing
schemers that it il ''for the good of the
Indian" that they want civilization kept
out OF the Territory is the most arrant,
impudent nonsence. Ii is precisely for
his good that | went to see the example
of thrifty agriculture set him upon all
sides; towns, school houses and churches
established about him; railroads extend
ed through his lands to enhance .hier
value; commerce and manufactures
flourishing in his vincinity. Then his
land will become of great value TO him
he will have learned the white mans
lessons of industry, economy and self
help, and he wall be in time contented,
happy, law-abiding citizen aud-with the
start he will have from tho sale of his
surplus land-a very well-to-do one,
much better off than the average white
agricnlturist. But keep him in his
present isolated condition, and you com
pei him TO become savage, or rather to
remain one. Even the bright Indian
boys You are educating in Carlisle and
teaching various hapdicrafts 10, when
you send them back to the Indian Terri
tory, are compelled To lapse back into
sGvagory for lack of demand upon them
for exercise of their several callings,
owing to the sparseness of the population
and the limited wants of its savage mode
of existence. Indeed, they are apt, by
reason of their hopeless plight, the ad
vance they have made in civilization and
the degrading retrogression forced upon
| them, to sink even lower than the primi-
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