Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-22

Ex-Agent McGilllcuddy Gives His Views Of
the Indian Trouble.

How TEE BHEr RATIoSs HAVE BEEN CUT DowS
BIZ THE ACTION OF CONGRESS AND THE Gil.
NArE-EFPEcrs OF BAD MANAGEMENT AND BAr
suDaMKST-rHE OLD WARRIORS.
Star Corrsspondencsof The Evening star. 10
PINE RrDeE, Sd, January 10.
II there IL . man ON the face Of this mum
dane sphere who understands the Sioux Indian
that man 10 DR.. v. T. McGillicuddy. A good
many people are not admirers Of DR.. McGilli-
cuddy, but the lack Of admiration is probably
reciprocal. The doctor is pretty wen known in
the northwest, and especially is he known
to the people Of South Dakota and northwest
ern Nebraska From 1876 to 1879 he was sur
geon in the United States army, those three
years being spent on the frontier, and from
1879 to 1886 he was Indian agent at Pine Ridge.
Every phase of this trouble has been as an open
book to him, and II was only natural should
look TO him for information as TO the causes
which brought about bloodshed and distrust
and an enormous expenditure of public funds
mo one cause is responsible" said he. THE
situation was brought about by o combination
Of causes. II has been our experience that
periodically We have these disturbances in all
the large tribes. The last time was in 1876
when Custer and his command were massacred
fighting age. They necessarily have never met
the whites in battle but, sitting around camp
fires and in tepees. they have heard of heroic
deeds-stories that have stirred them
to emulate the bloody doings of their
fathers. They do not know the power
of the white man; their fathers do, but
they never mention little matter like that
sitting around the camp fire at night
the old men tell how when they were
young men they were never satisfied to haunt
hArU lsx.l<v 49,.
killed white men and wore scalps such as are
never captured in these degenerate days. The
old brave stops and a withered squaw gets up
and sings of a boy she had when she was young.
How brave was he. how he fought the white
man and gained great renown and how he died
a warrior without peer; there were no such
boys now. These stories are probably but not
necessarily true The ancient Indian is Just
like the old white men We have met, who talk
OF the time when they we're boys: when they
were In the habit of saving cord Of wood be-
fore breakfast and thought nothing Of 1t.
THE TREATY TROUBLES.
"Another and a very serious trouble is the
not only broken but misunderstood treaties.
question very much if the Indians ever under
stood any of their treaties. In olden times the
confederated bands of Sioux, Cheyennes and
Arapahoes controlled or roamed over a region
of country extending from the Yellowstone
river on the north to the Arkansas river On the
south and from the Missouri river on the east
to the Rocky mountains on the west This
away from them by treaties and by force; the
game has disappeared. The situation of the
red man is most discouraging. And now Of
these treaties Let it be understood that a
large per cent Of the Indians interested never
signed them nor agreed to them; hence these
Indians large minority-feel that they
have been unjustly deprived Of these
lands. This is especially true Of
the treaty or agreement Of 1876, by which they
lost the Black Hills-the garden spot of their
reseryation-and the agreement of 1889, by
which they gave up or lost one-half Of what
half amounting to 5000 square miles. That
latter agreement was signed bya bare majority,
and no other man in the world could have
secured a sufficient number OF signatures but
men who led in this present trouble-Big Foot.
Sitting Bull and a number of Brules and
Ogallalas-were opposed to the treaty. These
Indians formed what is known at the various
agencies as the nOn-progressive element; a
strong and vicious faction.
THE BEEF QUESTION.
"Acting as fuel to the fire which these agree
ment disagreements started has been a very
much to be deprecated diminution of rations,
noticeably in the beef. the -four and the corn,
but especially so as to the beef. 1t must be un-
pie and they can stand the cutting down Of any
other ration than that of beef. The beef ration
at Pine Ridge has been cut down to less than
two-fifths of the treaty allowance and the quail
ity OF the article has been poor. Let me ex-
plain. When was appointed agent i'm 1879 the
government insisted, on account OF the favor
able reduction il could get from beef con-
tractors. that should receive in the fall of the
year-in November-what was known as a win
ter supply of beef; this to last until the follow
agency herd, the herd to be issued from every
ten days, the contractors claiming that the gov
eminent would have better facilities for caring
for beef on the reservation than they possibly
could have. This scheme strongly opposed,
and only agreed to it when it was thoroughly
understood that the cattle should be what is
known as wintered beeves; in other words,
beeves that have been at least one winter on
the conference.-the ranges-nOrth Of the thirty
seventh parallel. That barred out all beef from
Kansas. Texas, Indian territory and southern
Colorado. 1t must be understood that beef is
only raised to quite limited extent on north
ern ranges, the beeves being driven through
from Texas when they are yearlings and turned
loose on our higher ATTITUDES to grow up and
fatten. Here they attain greater weight than
II kept on the southern ranges 1t is
but natural that there should be heavy loss
during the first winter on beef brought from
the warm south to the chilly north, not only by
death, but through n heavy shrinkage in the
weight OF surviving animals. Northern stock
men never think of butchering or disposing of
these cattle in winter, because they are then
little more than skin and bone. 1t was to guard
against this loss by shrinkage and death that
established this wintering line; in succeeding
winters the animals become acclimated and the
loss is naturally much reduced. The contract
also required that the beeves should be not less
than three nor more than six years old, an ar
rangement which virtually gave us guarantee
Of double-wintered beeves Now. even with
these precautions our loss was generally or
per cent and the shrinkage in weight was such
that an animal weighing 1000 pounds in De-
tober would in the March following be reduced
to from $50 to 800 pounds. This loss in weight
is ON the edible portion Of the beef; the horns,
hoofs, hides and bones do not shrink Hence
u ], 00O-pound animal that in October would net
500 pounds will not in March net more than $50
pounds. In severe winter the loss by shrink
age would be greater still. The Indian has to
stand the shrinkage, because the animal is
issued at the receiving weight.
SHIFTING THE LINE.
when was removed from the service in
1886 for characterization" continued the doc
tor, ''this wintering line was immediately
shifted south from the thirty-seventh to the
thirty-fourth parallels line which passes be-
low Fort Worth, Texas. This, of course, was
practical wiping out Of the wintering line.
That Let in through Texas the southern beeyes
for winter delivery and saved the Indian the
trouble of chewing good deal Of beef he