The McCook tribune., 1890-12-12
The Indian Question in the Senate

ate Mr.. HaWley, from the committee
on military affairs, reported and asked
to have put upon passage joint reso-
luton authorizing the secretary of war
to issue arms and ammunition to the
states of North and South Dakota.
Mr.. MandersOn moved TO include
the state of Nebraska.
Mr.. Voorhees, said that if the pre- D.
tiOns of food to the starving Indians it
would be more consistent with Chris
tian civilization. He referred to the
statement of General Miles in pub
lished interview that the Indians were
driven to revolt by starvation and
said 1t was crime on the part OF the
government to stand by and do moth
ing but furnish arms to the whites.
The Indians had been suffering for
years in silence. There was blood
guiltiuess somewhere in connection
! with it. The hOstilities into which
| the Indians in the northwest are being
starved would result not merely in the
| lives OF many Indians but the lives of
| thousand American citizens and hun
| dred American soldiers being lost.
That condition of things had been
brought about by a niggardly, parsi-
monious or dishonest policy-he knew
not which. A policy had been pur-
| sued to take the lands of the Indians
and not to pay enough for them to
keep the Indians from starving when
depOssessed of their homes.
Mr. Hawley spoke briefly, saying he
had no objection to the remarks of the
senator from Indiana except that they
were perhaps a little exaggerated.
Mr.. Dawes chairman of the commit
tee on Indian affairs, very much
doubted if shortness of food was the
origin OF the trouble or that a good
supply Of food would be cure for it.
The difficulty with the Indian service
all along had been q constant change
of policy. Heretofore for years it had
been impressed upon congress that the
best way to treat the Indian was to
starve him into self-support. Root
hog or die" had been the phrase put
over the door of those who admins
tered the affairs of the Indians and the
policy had been to cut down year by
year the rations required by treaties
and give notice to the Indians that next
year they were only to have so much.
the difference to be supplied by the
labor of their own hands. He thought
it well to hold out every inducement to
| the Indians to turn from dependence
! on government rations and supply their
own support and that it was we'll to re-
sort to all the devices within the limits
of justice and reason to induce them to
do it. As to the suggestion in the pub
| lie press that the government had
| failed to keep its promises made to the
Indians by the Sioux commission, etc,
| he said the commission had made two
sorts of stipulations with the Indians.
| One of them was written out in plan
language and enacted into law by con-
gress, and that stipulation the commits
sion had taken out to the Indians and
asked them to accept it. The Indians
had just cause of complaint because of
| non-fulfllment of other agreements
and the commission told them it had
no authority as to those matters, but
that it would use its influence with the
| government in this case. When the
| Indian representatives came to Wash
| ington with the commission Il full dis
cussiOn was had and an agreement en-
| bodied in q bill, which was submitted
to congress by the president. The
bill thus framed to the complete
satisfaction of the Indians passed
the house, but where it was now he
did not know. He knew, however,
that the skirts Of the executive and
the senate were clean OF any attempt
to depart one iota from the assurances
given to the Indians by the commits
sion. He (Dawes) saw the Indian
; troubles with a full appreciation of the
danger and Of the necessity of some
present relief to bring around compo-
sure among the Indians and extricate
them from the lead of such bad Indi-
ans as Sitting Bull and Red Cloud.
! who were the bane and the curse of
| the tribes.
; MIR. Pierce Of North Dakota said he
had sometimes wondered that the
white people in that region did not
themselves GO on the warpath because
/! they were hungry. The Indians seemed
to get noble as well as hungry, the
! further people got away from them.
! He (Pierce) lived within few miles
of the Sioux reservation. He had been
there for the last two months and this
was the first time he had heard il as
serted that the Indians We're on the
warpath because they were hungry
He saw Indians every DAY in town
where he lived and they were sleeker
and better fed, apparently. than the
senator from Indiana. TLaugnter I
He had no doubt that in some OF the
agencies there are Indians who COM
plain of insufficient food, but he cues
toned very much whether General
Miles made the statement attributed to
him in the newspapers. The trouble
with the Indians is that they are fed
and clothed and allowed to live on the
bounty of the government, and the
devil finds mischief still for idle hands
| to do"