Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-25

ALL hED AEN WANT TO GIT SOM OF THE
MONEY APPROPRIATED BY THE LAST CONGRESS
EVERY CONCEIVABLE KIND OF CLAIM Has BEEN
PRESENTED FOB sErrLEMKS1.
stan Correspondence Of The Evening STAR
PINE RIDGE, 8. D., July IS, 1891
II the thousands Of white people who have
reasonable and just claims against the govern
ment Of the United States would only follow
the example set by that branch Of the North
American Indian family known as the Dakota
satisfactory settlement might speedily be
reached. Moldering away in the congressional
archives are documents that would If pub
lished, set the immovable and disgraceful seal
Of truth on the somewhat worn saying which
has it that republics are ungrateful. When the
Mississippi was the nations far western bound
airy, when the Missouri bore on its turbid food
forest and plain. when the vast northwest was
unknown to all but its savage residents and to
such daring explorers as Lewis and Clark or
the hardy voyageur employees Of the Hudson
Bay Company. there were valiant white men
who, with their wives and children, moved
northward and westward in numbers that in
creased until the human wave washed out the
traditional frontier line and swept it toward
those everlasting and ice-crowned hills-the
Rocky mountains.
sUFFER1NGs OF THE PIONEERS.
What these hardy pioneers suffered no one
can tell unless he or she shared in those awful
experiences-that succession of occurrences
which gave the nation opportunity to extend
Its borders until the uncomfortable ocean
stopped the march of wearied feet, until the
breezes of the Pacific kissed the blistered fea-
lures and cooled the bloodshot eyes of a home
| seeking multitude that had dared dangers in
their most repulsive forms in order that chill
dram iuht at,,,,t aIl 1iafn rfadlr
in crowded cities. To those who succeeded in
reaching the longed-for goal came perils such
as the city bred Of these latter days dream not.
Thousands OF homes were devastated by howl
ing and bloodthirsty demons-made SO by the
instinct Of seh-preservation-and from the
ashes OF these wrecked households, from the
flames that surrounded writhing victims, from
the sanguinary-spotted sod uncounted souls
assembled to that place of peace 'where the
wicked cease from troubling and the weary are
at rest" OF the property that was destroyed
no man can speak even approximately. and
yet how little has been done to rsmu-
nerate those who survived the strife and
have ever since been engaged in an unequal
struggle with q world that had all
the advantage in size and weight. No humani-
tartan has over championed the cause Of these
pioneers: no philanthropist went down into
his publicly exposed pocket to afford needed
relief, and no Congress ever heard the cry Of
those whose lives had been wrecked at the most
heartening circumstances. OF course the In
dian suffered also, but he could not expect the
consideration which should have been shown
the white man; such expectation, if it ever ex
listed, was without foundation. Now it is evil
dent that the white man was acting enormously
when he made piteous appeals to his govern
ment for financial aid to replace that which the
savage had taken away from him; he should
have taken pattern by the Indian and ought to
have gone on the war path. Instead OF doing
fha bal oTxa hao BIOL
petitioned Congress, endeavoring, in season
and out Of season, to interest persons Of influ-
ence In the cause near his heart. No one
can talk to Washington audience Of claim
ants; every resident Is acquainted with at least
two or three Of those people whose only mis-
fortune lies IN the fact that either they their
ancestors were creditors of the greatest govern
ment in the world. For years many OF these
persons have haunted the capital city without
accomplishing anything. They have tried
every method known to civilization and have
failed to secure that which is undoubtedly
theirs. Now let them move westward, drop
modern attire, clothe themselves a la Sioux
have few ghost dances, destroy trihe of such
property as they may be able to accumulate in
a month or two, have an imitation outbreak.
and then see II Congress does not do some
thing.
THAT s1OO. 900 APPROPRIATION.
The whole country knows that there was
trouble among the Ogalalla and Brule Sioux
last winter, and when the strife was over a
good deal OF thought was given the numerous
propositions that came up in the interest Of
peace. More favorably received than any other
idea was the one which advanced the theory
that peace could be secured by making more
Arm and true the loyalty Of those Ogalallas,
Brules and Cheyennes who were known as
'frisndlies, and before Congress adjourned
provision was enacted into a law that appro-
Priated 100000 to pay friendly Indians and
Lace
damages sustained during the winter Of 1890
u. That was good thing to do, because IL
created u financial bond which linked the great
majority Of the Sioux to the government, for q
time at least and gave assurance Of peace for
a season. No Indian will fight the white man
SO long as there is any immediate prospect OF
his getting money or rations out OF the white
man . treasury or storehouse.
TROUBLE OF THE SPECIAL AGENT.
OF all Indian claim Investigations conducted
by the United States none were ever Of such
magnitude as the one now in progress to the
end that the 800, coo be properly disbursed.
and any one who has watched Special Agent J.
A. Cooper as he wrestles with the multi
tentacled monster could not fail to sympathize
with him. For more than two months he has
been engaged in the gathering of claims and
the chances are that several moons will wax
and wane before he can see his way out of the
mass Of papero that have been piled around
and above MIN. At present his Office is in the
council room at Pine Ridge agency. but he has
visited and will have to visit Rosebud CHEYENNE
river, Standing Rock and Fort Keogh before
his task is anything like completed From
morning until night amateur and aboriginal
claimants crowd into the office, displaying the
iveliest interest in their own claims and the
claims Of everybody else. These Indians un-
derstand the claim business From the begin
ming they resolved to ask for everything in
sight and for few things not visible to the
naked eye, and from this resolution only few
have wavered. So grasping have they been
that it is now evident that 800 900 would but
begin to settle in full the demands of the al
legged sufferers, and the man who would accent
as facts the affidayits Of every claimant would
be forced to the conclusion that the Sioux, pre-
vious to the latest disturbance were among
the wealthy of earth's residents. These claims
If correct, have shown the Ogalallas to have
been the possessOrs OF more property than
would have made starvation an impossibility
even had the government shut of supplies for
six months, but then every one VINO knows
anything about the subject is aware of the
fictitious and exaggerated elements that en-
tered into the afidavits and the verbal testi-
mony.
ALL SAY THEY WE'RE HRIENDLIIs.
It will require great deal of time and no
small quantity Of investigatory talent before the
true condition Of affairs 10 approximately
reached, but that phase Of the investigation il
of but little moment when compared with the
separation Of the sheep aud the goats. The law
saws that reimbur sement in only to be made 70