The Portland daily press., 1890-12-03
INDIAN ASSOCIATION.
Bishop hare's Account of the Pre-
sent Troubles.

sent Troubles.
Yesterday afternoon the regular monthlv
monthly meeting was held at Pine street
church, Mrs. Myra E. Frye, the president in
tne CHAIR. Brief reports were given by Miss
Crie' Mrs. Coffin and the president about the
recent annual meeting Of the Women,s Ma
tional Indian Association held in Boston and
the work the association is doino.
This letter was read:
INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION,
loVo ARCH ST., PHILADELPHIA,
November %. 1890.
III view Oh the present disturbances among
tne Indians Of the great Sioux reservation,
recently wrote t. Bishop Hare, and subse.
quently telegraphed him, as to the opinion of
the situation. / also made inquiry as to
whether personally could be of any service
in improving the condition of affairs. / in
close you, herewith. copy OK the newspaper
article sent me by Bishop Hare In answer to
my letter, also copy of telegram from the
Bishop, which has just reached me.
Inc suggestion made in Bishop Hare's let
ter deem OF great Importance: Its but the
confirmation of thought which has strongly
agtated my mind during the present Indian
difficulties. The great need Of the Indian is
/ a non partisan service, where merit and fidel-
ity will be rewarded, and from which the
ever meddllng hand Of the politician will be
removed. IL was only last July that an expe-
rienced and thoroughly competent agent. DR..
Charles K McChesney, was removed from
the cheyenne river reservation against the
most earnest and careful pr test Of Bisnop
hare ana myself: We pointed out to the
secretary OF the Interior the fact that DR.,
McChesney's services were peculiarly neces-
sary at TIT, juncture. when land troubles in
cloent TO opening part of the reservation to
white settlement demanded for their AMIGA
nie adjustment experience and skill. 1
likewise wrote to the President upon the
were unheeded.
At he Pine Ridge Reservation there was
especi need of a capable and experienced
agent, as 1t Is the largest agency In the coun-
try, and one requiring very careful handling
hut here, too, removal took place, and a
young, inexperienced man was appointed
The oply way to make any advance toward
better things Is by continued appeal to
public sentiment ON the basis of facts. and
arm but steady pressure upon the executive
for the adoption of a sound principle In the
management of Indian affairs.
IL should be noted that no blame is to be-
attached to General Morgan, the Commits
sioner of Indian Affairs, in relation to re-
movals and appointment of Indian agents.
The responsibility for this rests wholly with
the President and Secretary of the Interior.
IL has been the policy Of the present admin
l'tratlon to remove and appoint Indian
agents at the dictation of politicians resid-
various reservations are located.
Yours truly,
HERBERT WELSH.
A very interesting letter followed from
Charles N. Kirk, missionary in Shawnee
town, Indian Territory.
The following telegram was read from
Bishop Hare:
Telegram
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota.
November 18th, 1890.
Ag g., Herbert Welsh, 1905 Arch street, PhiEa.
Reports greatly exaggerated. All churches
w. 81. HARE.
The following newspaper clipping accom-
panied the above letter and telegram:
[From the Sioux Falls Press, Thursday morning.
November goth, 1901
Bishop Hare returned yesterday from a
protracted stay on the Sioux reservation.
While there he had an excellent opportunity
to view the condition Of the Indians, and ex-
anime into what Is termed the Messiah craze.
He has visited nearly all the agencies during
the year, and about October LIST was at Stand
ing Rock. His last visit was at Rosebud. He
has been in constant correspondence with
the Indian missionaries of the Episcopal
church. and is probably as able to give as
correct an opinion upon the situation as any
one living BE furnished the folio wing for
the Press:
Educational and missionary work has
been advancing rapidly among the Indians
of South Dakota. and the whole Indian coun.
try Is dotted over with chapels and school
houses. The Indians have been SO well dis
posed that even women teachers have been
living without fear of moleststion at remote
and isolated points In the Indian country
with no neighbors but Indians.
The spread OF civilization has alarmed the
heatDen party. Pressed on the one hand by
the advance of the whites and on the other
by the civilized and progressive patty among
the Indians, the wilder Indians find them
selves cornered and are like wild animals at
bay, state which is apt to give rise to delu-
sions and desperate measures. Hence has
arisen, think, the present delusion, which.
promising as 1t does the confusion of all civil
lied people, and the survival of the advocates
Of the old Indian lie. comes to the wild In
dians very opportunity, and has to an alarm
Ing degree taken possession of their minds.
They gather together at points removed as
much as possible from observation and in
reference, and there, by harangues and
songs and dances, york themselves into
frenzy of excitement, destroying the imple-
ments and symbols of civilization, and sup-
planting them by relics of b rbarism. The
excitement Is, however, confined to particu-
lar locations, and In many parts of the H.
Dian country one hears less Of it than he
does In Sioux Falls. Any attack of the In.
dams upon our forts and settlements seems
10 tne utterly Improbable.
$50 far as am able to Judge the move
ment Is not gaining, but rather the reverse.
l should fear the results Of forcible interior
ence with them In their present excitemt MT.
Time will reveal the deception practiced by
the iDgleaders, for the promised crisis will
not come, and, meanwhile, the Indians will
have danced themselves out. Their proph-
cts have said that the quaking of the earth
and the coming of the Messiah would occur
at the next new moon, and when their pre-.
orr mt f,1lf No.
be allayed.
"All have doubtless read more or less In |
the newspapers of the delusiOn which has |
taken possession of the minds of the wilder |
element among the Indians. The leaders in |
the movement have invigorated old heather |
ideas with snatches of Christian truth and |
have managed to excite an amount of en-
thusiasm which is amazing. They |
teach that the Son of God |
" " i i, present., appear as the avenger
will SILVER; great wave of new earth will |
overspread the present face of the world and |
bury all the whites and all Indians who i'm |
itate their way s; while the real Indians will |
hnd themselves ON the surface of the earth
basking In the light. The old ways will ali |
be restored in primitive vigor and glory, and |
the buffalo, antelope and deer will return.
Il look upon the movement as the effort of |
neatnenism grown desperate to recover its |
vigor and reinstate itself. Many of the mis-
struggle.
"Of course this strange craze revives many |
dear memories and appeals strongly to the |
race feeling even in the civilized Indians. In |
these old ideas the being of many of them |
moves with the ease of old habit, like ma |
chinery well oiled. In Christian thought |
and their natures, not yet thoroughly hab- |
ltuated by them, move like machinery when |
dry. Many of the indians look upon the |
whole movement. however, with disdain, and |
unless some unfortunate move should pre- |
clpitate organized resistance on the part of |
the deluded Indians he craze, like many an
other, will run its course and pass away"