The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-10

Gn0 lne Qu6SGlOn on IhG Hac1nc
slope, and the Mormon question in
Utah. Wherever any of these, ques-
tiOns are considered in Congress, the
debates are almost invariably charac-
terized by violent ~partisanship on the
part of legislators whose sectional in
terests are at stake; and frequently by
an opposition based upon absolute
ignorance. But in these cases, local
pride or commercial interest lends to
the advocates who plead the cause a
fxity of purpose and a determination
to succeed that ultimately arouse the
apathetic and change ignorance to en-
Lghtenment.
In Indian affairs this is not so. Nc
n pleads the Indians cause, or cares
what hisrcOndition OF grievance may
be. The only men who fully under
stand and appreciate the situation, r
impelled by a pressure they dare not
resist to keep silence. No interest, pa
triOtic or humane, inspires the repre-
sentatives of the West at Washington
to ask for justice to the red man. Such
representatives are elected by the
whites, whose interests are opposed to
those of their red brothers.
For instance in 1877, the Sioux were
allotted a reserve in the Yellowstone
Valley, under military control, and in
four years had large herds of cattle and
horses and we're cultivatingthe soil and
rapidly becOmings elf-sustaining. Then,
Notwithstanding their protests and
prayers to the authorities at Washing
ton, they were loaded on steamboats,,
shipped down the river, and turned
over to the Indian Department at
Standing Rock, where they were placed
upon land on which even their rock
nOurished wild turnip could not thrive.
The white man wanted the Yellowstone
Valley and the Indian had to go.
Nor is this an isolated case. Treaty
after treaty has been made only to be
broken, and always by the white man.
The discovery of gold in the Black
Hills, in 1874, caused a mad rush of
thousands into and through the Indian
domain, in utter defiance of treaty OBJ
legations, law, and common courtesy.
It is scarcely surprising that this viola
ton of territory was resented by the
Sioux, and that war followed in 1855,
resulting in the Custer massacre. In
revenge for this Congress voted to
withhold the usual appropriation for
the Sioux, unless they would give up
their claim to the Black Hills, all their
outside hunting-ground and unceded
lands, grant a right of way through
the reservation, and promise to become
self-suppOrting. In 1877, they agreed
by treaty to all these demands in return
! for ~ratiOns, schools, agricultural tools,
ETC., and lands suitable for cultivation.
This last clause seems irOnical, mas
much as the lands left them are not
suitable for cultivation; and the only
| 7so0cOn Rhnu NxrOTSo OITTO70 tO tho IndIonC
was because no white man could pos
sibly use them. This agreement is
| still in force, but has not been strictly
lived up to by either party.
In 1889, Congress passed an Act to
| divide the Sioux reservation into
smaller reservations, by which the
arated and isolated, and a treaty was
ratified by which the Sioux again coded
nearly one. half of their land lover H.
600, 900 acres). In making this treaty,
the Indians were led to believe that
they would receive from the govern
ment increased ratiOns, and cOmpensa-
! ton for certain ponies and other prop
erty taken from them in 1875. This
promise has not been carried out, and
it is to this almost criminal delay that
much of the recent trouble is attribUt-
able.
It is not to be denied that the Messiah
craze, with it's attendant dances and
fanaticism, had it's effect. But it is
not improbable that poverty, hunger,
cold and oppression did much to en-
courage the hope, that a strong de-
fender would arise to lift them from
their misery.
Such, then, has been the record of
the government in dealing with the In
dams; and even granting to the savage
all that his most bitter detractOrs can
urge against him, we cannot avoid our
shamefuIs share of responsibility. What
is the remedy?
Experience and theory agree, that it
is to remove the Indian from the con-
troll of the Department of the Interior,
with it's horde of p~lace-seekers, clrcum-
locutiOn, and proven incompetence,
and place him under the discipline of
the officers of the army, who, alone of
all the officials of the government, are
u~niniuenced by political deals or par,
tisan necessities. The Indian does not
respect an, agent, but regards the sol
der with both respect and confidence.
Lieut.. E. W, Casey, who was muir
dered during the recent outbreak, took
fifty or sixty young braves from the
Cheyennes and transformed them from
poor, lazy, aimless loafers into one of
the finest, if not the finest, troop of
cavalry in our service. He taught
them discipline, and that to perform
manual labor was not a disgrace; prov
ing that they could thus be induced to
form industrious habits and acquire
orderly and methodical ways of living.
| Gucb education of the vO1n0 men will
result in their rapid advancement and
adoption of white mans ways. This
plan has the approval of General Miles.
Moreover, we are the only nation that
has not used native soldiers to control
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