The morning call., 1891-01-13
INDIAN PROBLEMS.
Will The Present Sioux Outbreak
Last Six MOnthsa
A Veteran Army Officer Tells OF the Wrongs
of the Red Men and of Plan for
Their Civilization.

1here is diversity OF opinion among The
army officers stationed at the Preside in
reference to the probable duration of the
present Sioux outbreak. Some assert thai
under the vigorous policy of General Mile:
the trouble will be quickly quelled, while
those who have been longest in the service
predict the war will yet last six months
Various solutions of the Indian problem
were advanced by officers to a CALL re.
porter yesterday while the question was be-
ing discussed, but that outlined by ColOne
Arson Mills, who is in command at the Pre-
sidio, appears to be the most feasible. He
has been in the service fer thirty years
and during the last twenty years has taken
an active part in subduing Indian out
breaks, particularly while serving undel
Generals Crock and Custer.
Yes" he said, while speaking of the
present troubles with the Sioux tribes, u
spent eight years among the Sioux while in
the Department of the Platte. 1t was in
'69 or 20 that l was last stationed among
the Sioux. and / remained there until rs
My headquarters were at the Spotted Tai
Agency, the largest reservation. l was
then IN the infantry and my regiment, the
Eighteenth was in the field during the
Phil kearny and Custer massacres. Have
participated in many battles with the red.
skins? Well. | should say l had, but
would rather some one else would tell of
them.
A MARROW ESCAPE.
"While in command of battalion-I was
a captain then-I had pretty tough battle
on the outskirts of the village on the Lit
tie Big Horn, where the gallant Custer was
killed week later. We were reconnoiter-
ing when the Indians attacked us. General
Crook ordered me into the village and l was
greatly disappointed when he quickly coun-
fernandez the order, but l soon learned
that had led such a charge l should have
met Clusters fate"
What are your views on the Indian
question: was asked.
My idea on the question is that neither
Congress nor the people understand the
Indian. lie has rights as well as the white
man. Because we are all powerful we
assert our ways OF living are right and his
are wrong. The Indians are here, and have
been living for generations in a certain way
that IS, they are nomadic and have never been
taught 10 labor, and If they are taughtltmust
be In some of the simple methods. ! con-
slider the idea of teaching them to become
farmers all wrong, for to be farmer one
must be something Of philosopher; that is,
know how to lay stores by for the winter
anu NotCuIdLt ilOHlllS dutdu. mere are lew
OF the most clylllZtd " no can do this, most
preieIiing to have daily occupation where
they can have daily returns. The general
public sentiment, and that of those who
don't understand the Indian, is, in short,
that he must be made to work or starye, aud
the most difficult vocation. that Of farming,
Is selected for him, and as ii rule the most
1orsaken lands TO cultivate.
AN BIPOssBuITY.
% II ie uffarl1 iD,,,OseiJ,Ia for tl,o T,5;oa :
make himself selI-suslaiulng under such
conditions. 1t would be no less impossible
for the TehHed people of this city to be taken
by more powerful race, stripped Of their
clothing and bedding and placed in tents
without chimneys or hnors clad in smock-
clouds or skins and required to earn their
subsistence III the same manner as the In
dian has done heretofore or starve. The In
dian, as he is now situated on the reserYa-
ton, is surrounded by the worst elements of
our society. He is given the precept CT no
example. His children are taken North
ana educated and five or ten returned to
villages Of thousands, where they are
dressed in our style OF clothes, with our
books IN their hands, some Of them having
been taught TO be shOemakerS and carpen-
tiers, with the task before them of turning
all these thousands Of sayages to our WAYS,
teach Them TO build houses, make shoes
(Which they have no use for and to read
books. Within ten days after their arrival
they are ridiculed and degraded into the
breech-cloth, and become worse than they
would have been had they remained with
their tribe. l think that people not ac-
quainted with the ways OF the red man
would best understand the utter impractical
bility of the present method of civillZing the
Indians by an Illustration Of this kind:
AN ILLUSTRATION.
For twenty years the James and Younger
boys held Clay County, Mo, in state OF
terror as outlaws. Hundreds of people
were killed and many of Pinkerton's best
capture them. 1t would have been just as
feasible twenty years ago to have taken ten
nice young men from Boston Of superior ed
ucatlon and good moral standing and com
missiOned them to go to Clay County and
reform by precept and example the outlaws
there"
In my judgment the true method of
civiliZing these Indians would be to take
them forcibly from all their wild haunts in
the West, break up entirely the tribal re-
lations and the evil influence of the medi-
cine men and carry them in families of
twenty-five and fifty to the best-ordered
manufacturing towns III the East. / would
then place them under Federal supervision
and support for time They would be sur
rounded by better influences, where all
even the young children, could procure daily
employment, with sufficient compensation
attending and feeding the many small auto
matte machines for making such metallic
articles as cartridge shells, spoons, knives
forks and the millions Of small pressed
articles that are in daily use in manufactures
they would find interesting employment
There the Indian would not be allowed to
carry arms and the policeman on every
street corner would give him the same pro-
lection as all others.
WOULD FORGET.
They would soon forget the supersti.
tons that are now instillrd into them by
the medicine man, and learn to take an in
tereSt in our civilization and blend their
customs with ours. They would be useful,
too, although it is probable that such move
would receive some opposition from those
who cry out against cheap labor; but some
thing of this kind ought to be done for the
general good Of the country and for both
races"
'What do you think CT the present out
break at Pine Ridge Agency"
1T will probably require six months hard
work to subdue the revolt and when it is
done, if the Indians are left in the same
places and under the same conditions, with
in ten years we will have another war, with
great suffering and loss of life. 1t will also
occasion great expense and greatly retard
Western progress. | have been stationed
among nearly all tribes of North American
Indians, and have made careful study OF
LntlI customs. lDeY are all human ana dress
alike, all are afflicted with the same
superstitions and all conscious of the bitter
wrongs, which any one who knows anything
about their history will frankly admit. In
stead of cursing the Indian, as we do for his
supposed wicKedness, we should rather adj
mlre him for his brave resistance OF what he
knows is utter determination. Look which
way he will, under the present management
be sees nothing but determination in ore
Tor his race. 1t Is true that civilization
cannot stop for this, but it is also true that
1t should halt at least long enough to pro-
vide some more humane method OF remov-
ing the Indian out OF the path of progress. u
INDIANS DEFRAUDED.
During your stay at different reserva-
tions has it come under your observa-
ton that the Indians were ever defrauded
out of what is allowed them by the Govern
ment?"
Eyes, frequently. / will cite an instance
at the Spotted Tail Agency in the winter OF
1876. One Howard, who has since cropped
up somewhere down South as very rich
man, was the agent there. l was very
friendly with old SpOtted Tail and bn fra.