Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-06
REPLY TO VOORHEES,.
The Rowing Indians Are the Bane of
the Entire West, and The
REGULARS NOT MUCH BETTER
The Reds Sometimes Used to Scare Settlers
for Purpose.
TACTICS OF THE BIG LAND GRABBERS

To the Editor of The Dispatch:
Please allow me sufficient space in your
popular paper to testify what actual observa-
tion has taught me in nearly IL years of
travel all over the Western region once
known as the "Great American Desert"
most of which has been redeemed and is in
a high state of cultivation and improve
ment at the hands of our American fellow
citizens, native born or naturalized. relative
to the treatment Of the Indians by our Gov
ernment.
Having noticed in THE DISPATCH of
this date the press dispatches from Washing
ton, D. c., bearing upon the controversy in
the Senate over Mr.. Hawlev's joint resolu-
ton Eau thorizing the Secretary of War to
issue arms and ammunition to the States of
North and South Dakota, which said dis
patches also report the highly grotesque and
ridiculous position of Senator voorhees,, of
Indiana, in attempting to "table' Cor
perhaps ''foor) Mr.. Hawley's reso-
luton, desire to protest, in my humble
way, against tine gross injustice almost sure
to result to our already Impoverished and
neutrality-suspicious. American settlers in
the Dakotas, should the Senator from In
diana (Voorhees) gain his point. am not
blind to Mr.. Voorhees, ability as states
man, but personal knowledge of the ques-
tions involved in the present contest lead
me to believe that the great Democratic
Senator is poorly posted. or possibly he has
depended for his information upon General
Miles (the great General now taking in the
situation with power ul field glass from
the top of some high building in Chicago).
IN ACCORD WITH THE FACTS.
The united testimony of Chairman Dawes,
of the Indian Committee, and Mr.. Pierce,
of Dakota, is in strict accord with the facts
as have found them-not only in the Dako-
tas, but in most parts of our prairie country,
from the Missouri river to the Rocky Noun
tains and from British America to the south
ern line OF Indian Territory Commonly
called, in Western parlance, the "Indian
natiou").
The whole system, as practiced in the
past, has amounted to palpable discrim-
iuation against honest and long.suffering
the poor (?) Indian (and his brother blood
curdler, the big land grabber), and, it seems
to me, our representatives at Washington
should either personally inspect the afflicted
sections of our country at the expense of the
Government before earring" their views, or
appoint trustworthy committee com posed OF
Senators and Representatives, jointly. to
"lake in" the situation as it truly exists
paying greater regard to the evidence given
BY the respectable American $50 quatter" and
less to the average disreputable Indian
supply shark"
1t is we'll known by those who have lived
in the States west of the Mississippi, that for
years, since the settlement of that section,
Al hoe
cally unprotected, all the while producing
wealth with which to line the pockets of
our common country, while the foe of this
same pioneer, the common foe OF our fore
fathers (and, for that matter. of all civiliza-
tIon) the big Indian, has. been kept like
petted. spoiled child, wrapped happily Cor
unhappily) in the brawny, benevolent arms
of Uncle Sam.
FAULTS OF THE REDS.
Indians are not alone treacherous-they
are extravagant and avaricious. They have
all along insisted. in their dealings with
our Government. that great tracts of land be
set apart and reserved as pleasure grounds
for them. They use but little of this land
for any purpose, but still it is theirs and
must therefore remain untouched by the
"pale-face.
And not only has the Indian these many
wears been battling Dack the column OF CIV
ilization to the Westward, but the honest
settlement of that section under the home
stead, pre-emption and timber culture laws
has been greatly retarded by class of land
grabbing monopolIsts, whose avarice is on a
par with that of the Indian, and one OF
whose pet schemes is to stir up mischief
among the redskins to accomplish their
hearts desire, namely, to drive out the poor,
oppressed settler in order that these ''lords
OF creation" may place some hireling in pos
session whose bounden duty is, under pen
atty of discharge, TO convey the lands to his
lord.
Few Fasteners, 1 feel safe in saying,
have a correct conception as to the plans
adopted by this latter class of opponents of
the true American pioneer. They have ac-
quired thousands upon thousands OF acres
of the choice lands by tricks Ito which our
servants at Washington seem blind), such
as employing 'hirelings" or shiitless fel-
lows to make pretense at settling upon u
quarter section or more of land under the
several laws above referred 10, said hirellng
being required to perfect his false and
fraudulent title (even by perjury, if need be)
and almost Immediately, or at such time as
all suspicion shall have died away, to con-
vev the same in its entirety to my lord
duke who furnished the camping outfit and
"a little change to defray expenses. That