Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-02
stad Correspondents Of The Evening Star.

Went With Gen. Miles to Fort Sheridan.
Staf Correspondents OF The Evening Star.
PINE RIDGE, S. D., January q.
In the minds Of those who have interested
themselves in this awful mystery, the Indian
problem, there must always be doubt as to the
righteousness or Usefulness OF this practice of
sending delegations of Indians to Washington.
and no one who knows the situation will hesitate
for q moment to state that the manner in which
these representative chiefs or headmen are Sc
lected is all wrong. Yesterday a number of
Indians left Pine Ridge for Chicago and WASH
ington. OF the more than two score who were
thus honored not more than one or two are en-
titled to the slightest consideration at the hands
OF this or any other administration. For many
years the Indian bureau has been insisting that
the Indian should work; that he should follow
the pillow and reap the golden or any other col
ored harvest that rewarded his toll. Democrats
and republicans alike have agreed on the idea
that it would be good for the modern editions
OF Fenimore Cooper's phantasies to earn their
bread by the sweat of their respective brows,
aud yet can any one point to working Indian
thai ever got to Washington as representative
of his tribe?
There is great deal of mad Indian at Pine
Ridge today and l think 1 can make that so
plain that he who runs may read At this
agency the officials have done everything in
their power to encourage industry. Whatever
the hard-wOrking Indian wanted that was rea-
sonable was given him, and whenever there
were any little favors in circulation the toiler
had the Iirst chance thereat He has been
locally exalted and held up as a model SO long
as there were none of the larger honors in view.
But just as soon big commission put in an ao-
pearance and desired cour Gil or whenever it was
necessary that the inhabitants Of this reservation
be represented az the national capital by native
ambassadors the working Indian was pushed to
the rear and the entire front rank was recruited
from among the non-progressive and hostile
elements. This has been dore invariably and
it Ii nothing more than plain truth to state that
a continuation of this policy will result in de-
creaslng the working force ana correspond
ingly increasing the number of those who by
aggressive discomfort receive about all the con-
sideration the government has to give away.
Can anybody suggest a reason why the Interior
Department did not call for a delegation of
out the whole Of this trouble, who have lost
their homes, their horses and their cattle?
Somebody will say: There is no necessity for
placating Indians who are peaceablc and
satisfied That is true, but win the friendlies
Of today always continue peaceable and
satisfied? Lots Of people here think it would
have been much better policy to have left the
lawless ones right under the guns of the troops
| and to have taken to Washington dozen or SO
of those who stood by the government through
thick and thin and who suffered therefrom to
| such an extent that most Of them will have to
begin just where they were thirteen years ago.
These are the people who should be taken on
pleasure trips.
MAKING MUCH OF THE HosTILEs.
As things are the hostiles will be made much
of. The curious public is now fattening its
nose against car windows that it may the more
plainly see the men whose hands are red with
the responsibility for the blood of those SOL
diers who persisted at Wounded Knee, and in
little while officials Of prominence and even the
President himself will be greeting them with
more or less OF interest and enthusiasm. One
or two of these Indians have done little work,
but the great majority have not only disdained to
laboN but have been sarcastic and continuously
annoying in their references to those who were
trying to earn their own living by following the
dictates of the Indian bureau. Suits of cloth
ing will be provided for the dignified idlers
who will soon be in Washington. and they will
be well fed and well cared for while the loyal
and right-minded Indians whose allegiance to
the white mans government has never wa
vered will be shivering and hungry at Pine
Ridge. The situation has been turned upside
down. This reversal Of the proper state Of af-
fairs will certainly be regretted by the authori-
ties in the near future, for no reasonable being
can expect even friendly Indians to stand by a
government which officially discountenences
their importance and practically sneers at them
after they have been conscientious,y obedien.
to the behests of those who are in power at the
seat Of government. premium has been
placed upon savagery and misconduct, and the
results Of such policy must soon be evident.
DIsCoURAGING THE INDUSTRIOUS.
Can it be that the Indian bureau does not
want to make the Indian industrious and self
supporting9 Impossible. Yet that is Just how
the present system works. Again and again
during the past two or three weeks have heard
it said: ''Oh, the Indian bureau may say it
wants the Indian to become self-suppOrting,
but any rightly applied effort in that direction
would make that bureau self-destructive. Re-
marks of that nature have always regarded as
more or less slanderous, but it is undoubtedly
e.ident to the most casual observer that the
present plan works as though the slur had u
reasonable foundation. Pine Ridge reserva-
ton is divided up into farming districts and
the most progressive Of these subdivisions il
Porcupine district. There large number of
Indians struggle annually with perverse soil
and uncertain meteorological conditions. Some
of these Porcupine Indians have sold cattle and
purchased farm machinery with which to Sc
cure the greast possible return for their labor
Others have hauled freight for the agency and
| for traders and with the proceeds have i'm
proved their holdings very materially These
men are here, while representatives Of the lazy
and hostile maIaud inclined
tramps-are being clothed and Toasted and
treated with every consideration.
After awhile the delegation will return to
Pine Ridge, wearing the black clothes and
| white hats which any Indian would give al
most anything to possess. They will be intoxi-
Gated with their own imaginary greatness and
will very properly continue to despise those
who are foolish enough to do right. To be
| anything in the eyes of the authorities ut WASH
| ington an Indian must be actively bloodthirs.y
| and utterly worthless. The conclusion is ire
| sistible in the mind of any one convers:nt with
| the facts.
DIFFICULTIES IN THE SYSTEM.
Then there are other ways in which the
farmer may be discouraged the system is full
Of them. If every able-bodied male on this
reservation wanted to be farmer it would not
be possible as things are. There was q time
| in the history Of this agency when all the In
| dams clustered around Pine Ridge and so long
| as that WAS the case agriculture was almost i'm
possible. What little one man might raise
would speedily be eaten by those who did not
believe in raising anything but trouble and
| that discouraged even the most enthusiastic
| tiller of the soil. To make such evil work less
easy-for the vegetables or whatever else was
| grown were not stolen. but Hospitality surren-
| dered-the majority of the Indians were grad
| ually pushed back to the north and east and
located on the creek bottoms. Then came the
work of farm making, but see how slow it was
How could any sort OF crop be raised?
| Pine Ridge agency is in the southwest corner
| of the reservation and some of the Ogallalas
live, f.r