St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-04
MIR. Voorhees, Insists That
Government Has Nal
treated the Indians.
Hot Debate on a Resolution
to Supply Settlers With
Arms.
Senator Turpie Deelaims Elo-
quently Against the Afro
ciouS Force Bill.
The Measure Would Wreck
and Destroy Inter-Racial
Adjustment.

Mr.. HawleY. from the committee on
military affairs, reported and asked to
have put upon its passage joint resO-
luton authorizing the secretary of war
TO issue arms and ammunition to the
states of North and South Dahota. Mr.
Manderson moved to amend it by also
including the state of Nebraska, and he
referred TO the threatened uprising of
the Sioux Indians on their reservation
there.
Mr.. Voorhees, said if the proposition
were one to ISSUE hundred thousand
ratiOns of food to the starving indians
it would be more consistent with Chris
tan civilization. Maj. Gen. Miles. he
said, had stated In public interviews
intO savagery by starvation, and it was,
in his judgment, an incapable crime on
the part of the government to stand
silently by and do nothing except fur
niSh arms to the whites. Gen. Miles
had stated to the public (as he had pre-
viOusly stated to HIM that the Indians
were being starved into hOstilities, and
that they preferred to die fighting rather
than be starved to death. He Mr..
Voorhees, looked upon the policy pur-
Sued in the administration of Indian
affairs as crime revolving to man and
to God. The Indians had no news
papers to make known their sufferingS
and priyatIons. They had been suffer
ing for years in silence. There was
blood guiltinesS somewhere in cOnnec-
ton with it. He hads Intended to intro
duce resolution aski ~ for an lnvestl-
CATION on the subject. He did not
know what the purpose of the Indian
administration was. 1t was doubtless
wise. But when he asked Gen. Miles
whether something could not he done to
prevent hOStilItieS, tile generals answer
was that he artd it was too late.
Whether it is too late or not, he was
glad that his skirts were clean of the
blood that would be shed. growing out
of policy of starvation, inlQuity and
crime toward the Indians. The policy
had been pursued to take the lands of
the Indians and not pay enough for
them to keep the Indians from starving
to death when dispossessed Of their
homes.
Mir. Hawley said that he did not know
that he had an objection to the remarks
of the senator from Indiana, except
that they were perhaps little forid
and exaggerated. He. too, had been
thinking, as he presumed that most
American citizens had been, that 1U0,-
GO0 rations of food would be worth more
than 100000 ball cartridges; and he had
been hoping that the time would ar
rive when an appropriation would be
made for that purpose.
Mr.. Dawes, chairman of the commit
tee on Indian affairs, expressed his de-
light (Satirically) that the senator from
Indiana had. discovered the real cause
of the present troubles among the liz
dians, because those who had lived
among them and who had had much 10
do with them Gen. Miles and others)
were very much perpleXed as to what
was the cause and what was the reuledy.
There was great diversity of opin-
ion on the subject. A good deal
of what the senator from Indiana had
stated was undoubtedly true. The. e
was large body of those Indians starv-
inc or at least short of food: and that
condition aggravated very much the
feeling prevalent among them. But he
very much doubted that that was the
origin of the evil, or that supply of
food would be the cure of it.
Mr.. Voorhees, repelled the feeble at
tempt at a sneer' on the part of Mr..
Dawes in saying that he was glad that
he (Mr. Voorhees, had found out what
was causing the outbreak of the In
dianS in the Northwest. But the SELL
at0r from Massachusetts knew it just as
well as he did, for Gen. Miles had told
him, and had told the public that the
Indians had been made hostile and pre-
ferred to die fighting rather than to die
of S arvatiOn.
Mr.. Dawes said that he had had no in
terviewS with Gen. Miles. and he had
heard to-day for the first time that the
Indians were on the warpath because
they were starving. They had been on
the warpath for three or four weeks.
They had been holding conventions and
camp meetings and had been giving
themselves up to the delusion that the
time had come to 90 back to barbariSm
and away from civilization, and they
were starving in consequence of that.
He was not disposed to deny that there
had been distress among the Indians,
as there had been among the white peO-
pie of that region.
MIR. Voorhees-Does not Gen. Miles
say that those Iniians have been hun
CRY for two years?
MIR. Dawes-iIe may have said it to
| the senator from Indiana.
Mr.. Pierce said that ne had sometimes
wondered that the white people in that
region did not themselves 20 on the
war path because they were hungry.
The Indian seemed to get hungrier as
well as nobler, the further people get
away from him. He (Mr. Pierce) lived
within a few miles of the great Sioux
| reservation.
Mr.. Voorhees-Does the senator sup
pose that Gen. Miles does not know
what he is talking about, or that he
| does not know better about Indian af-
tairs than a citizen of Dakota.
| Mr.. Pierce i am nearer to the Indi-
ans than Gen. Miles is. | have no
| doubt but that in some of the agencies
there are Indians who complain of in
sufficient food. But do question very
| much whether Gen. Miles made the
statement attributed to him in the news
papers. If the senator from Indiana
were starving and had a Win
! chester rifle, L 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 on the
bounty of the government, and tn =,
| therefore, as the old adage says, the
| devil ''tinds mischief still for idle hands
| TO do" l apprehend that you might
take the same number of white people
and put them Oh reservation and feed
and clothe them, and take care of them,
! and that in less than six months they
| aIso would go upon the war path hope
| that the joint resolution will pass.
Mr.. Voorhees, paid high compliment
to the soldierly and other good qualities
of Gen Miles and said that he world