The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-03-15
Southern utes.

To the Editor of the Press:
A matter of interest is soon to come before
the House In the shape of bill for the re-
moyal of the Southern Utes from Colorado.
The bill has already been favorably reported
by the Indian committee of the House. The
demand for the removal of these people
made by the Senators from Colorado is in
the interest of the white people of the town
of Durongo and vicinity adjoining the In
dian strip, who want thei lands. The land
in question is a strip in the southwestern
corner of the state, ITO miles in length, east
and west, by Is miles in width, being small
portion guaranteed by Congress in 1880, of
the original possessions of the Utes in Col
orado.
In the first article of the treaty of 1880 the
government binds itself ito cause the bonds
set apart to be properly surveyed, and to be
ty." Article provides "that they are fur
nished with horses. wagons, agricultural i'm
PIGMENTS and stock cattle sufficient for their
reasonable wants, and also such saw and
grlst mills as may be necessary to enable
them to commence farming operations" Ar
ticle agrees ito make all necessary pro-
vision for the education of their children"
This treaty also reaffirms former provision
that Except authorized agents and employees
OF the. government no persons shall ever be
iPCAmietOu w pdoo OfOls oCbtlo upOu, Vi I6SlC0
In the territory" Not one item
of this agreement has been fulfilled, and the
Indians were left to themselves until 1888,
when Senator Bowen of Colorado shrewdly
managed to get a bill through to create
commission to negotiate with the Indians for
the cession Of their lands and their removal
to new reservation. The Indians were at
first much opposed to removal. but after
spending five months in the effort and max
ing promises which they must have known 1t
q fnrt hn - Ase
the commission announced that they had Sc
cured the signatures of a majority of the In
dams, and bill has been prepared to ratify
this treaty and appropriate money to carry
out Its provisions. The scheme seems to be
In every sense, except perhaps the interest of
a few local land grabbers most unjust and
undesirable. Ii we may trust the newspa-
pers. good proportion of the people of Col
orado particularly those on the western Dor
DER are opposed to it while the governor and
Inhabitants OF Utah protest vehemently
The Utes are inclined to agriculture when
they have the means and are not trouble
q reservation may be an obstacle in in
the way ,s Of 49,, civilization and a
near, but the policy of the government of late
has been distinctly to break up reservations,
10 settle Indians on lands in Severalty en-
courage agriculture educate the children
and generally to put Indians on the footing
VI oeuoI ciliIouS VI tno UnlCeu StateS. why
not carry out this excellent policy in the
present case? There is land enough in this
reservation to settle every Indian on a good
farm and leave several thousands of acres
for the "landless whites" There are enough
Sioux In Dakota now fulfilling the duties of
good citizens to prove that by applying the
some methods the some good results will fol-
low In Colorado. There are about as many
Utes In Colorado as there are in both tribes
in Maine, and while we do not reckon them
among our leading citizens, do not believe
that any plan for getting rid of them by an
act OF injustice would meet with general
favor There is no reason why members of
Of the facts should not act justly by the In
dian anywhere in the United States, as we'll
as for the best interest of all concerned.
X