Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-12-05
Voorhees, Says the Government Had
Better Send More RatiOns to
the Indians,
And Then it Will Not he Neces-
sary to Send Guns to the
Settlers.
He Thinks General Miles Knows More
About the Cause of the Trouble
Than Pierce.
Discussing Poor LO.

WASHINGTON, Dec. Sin the senate to-
day, Hawley, from the committee on mill
tary affairs reported and asked to have put
upon its passage joint resolution author
izing the secretary OF war to issue arms
and ammunition TO the states of North and
South Dakota.
Manderson moved to amend it by also
including Nebraska and referred
to the threatened uprising of Sioux In
dians on their reservation there.
Voorhees, said that if the proposition was
one to issue 100000 rations of food to the
starving Indians it would be more consist
ent with christian civilization. Major
general Miles, he said, had stated in
public interviews that the Indians were
driven to revolt or into savagery by starva-
tion and it was, in his judgment an inexpi-
able crime on the part of the government
to stand silently by and do nothing except
to furnish arms to the whites. He criti-
cized severely the management of the In
dian bureau.
After some remarks by Hawley and
Dawes, Pierce said that he mad sometimes
wondered that the white people in that re-
gion did not themselves go on the war
path because they were hungry. An In
dian seems to get hungry as well as noble,
the further people get away from him,
(laughter). He (Pierce) lived within
few miles of the great Sioux reservation.
Voorhees-Does the senator suppose that
Gen. Miles does not know what he is talk
ing about, or that he does not know better
about Indian affairs than citizen OF
Dakota?
Pierce-l am nearer to the Indians than
Gen. Miles is. have no doubt that in some
of the agencies there are Indians who com
plain Of insufficient food. But | do ques-
ton very much whether Gen. Miles made
the statement attributed to him in the news
papers. If the senator from Indiana were
starving and had Winchester rifle.
venture to say that he could get a barrel
of flour without any trouble. The trouble
with the Indians is that they are fed and
clothed and allowed to live OH the bounty
of the government, and that, therefore, as
an old adage says, "the devil finds mischief
still for idle hands to do.' l apprehend
that you might take the same number of
white people, and put them on reserya-
ton and feed and clOthe them and take
care OF them, and that in less than six
months they also would go upon the war
path. hope that the joint resolution will
pass.
voorhees, paid high compliment to
the soldierly and other good gu alities of
General Miles and said he would take his
statement far sooner than that of the sena-
tor who lived near the Sioux reservation
and who with his people) wanted to get
the Indian lands as soon as possible. One
was a reliable officer, the other was fox
lying in wait around where geese were,
waiting to get some of them Qaughter).
The discussion had not closed when (the
hour of O'Clock having arrived) the vice
president laid before the senate as ''unfin-
ished business" the election bill, and Sena-
tor Turpie took the floor in opposition to
it. At the conclusion of his speech the
senate adjourned.