Evening journal., 1892-07-29


and prayerful congregations away at
the Atlantic seaboard are deluging the
press with diatribes upon the wrongs Of
tho red man and the criminal neglect Of
the nation, and declaring that
Mans inhumhnity toIo
Makes countless Indians mourn,
in this last century of dishonor" Uncle
Sam has disbursed millions upon mil
lions in the desperately hopeless task Of
filing the aboriginal stomach, and in
striving by means Of honest census to re- /
duce the number Of the countless" so
pathetically referred to. Indians would
make splendid ward. politicians, and how
it is that the sachems Of Tammany have
not long since possessed themselves of
so available a means of swelling their
ranks passeth all understanding. After
the Indian had had himself. several
wives and his blooming olive branches,
"oksheelah, wicincha," boys and girls,
and, d,such-pappooses as his better halves
had at the back either of home produc-
tion or borrowed for the moment from
the tepee of Two -Bricks-in-his-H Hat, duly
enumerated, would he not swell the cen
sus Of his tribe by judicious distribution
of all his wives relations among those
tepees not already checked Off Oh, if
the truth could ever reach the ears Of
tho general public what tales of Indian
ragacity might not yet be in store for
thcml What annals might not be un-
Folded Dealing with his own, his white
children, who are nonvoters, Uncle Sam
serves ont one ration a day to each en-
listed soldier.
The wife and the lads and lasses that
tulnbled about the married mems quar-
ters in the queer old days We're all to be
fed from that one ration, unless, per-
chance, mamma was a laundress. But
when dealing with the wronged and in
jured red man he could not be too mag
unanimous Every head counted. The
mumbling old beldam, great-grand-
mother of countless thousands" braced
up from the edge Of the grave for the
occasion. The big bellied little four
year-olds, reyeling in the dirt about the
reeking shambles, the tiny hour-old
papoose. even many puppy, blanket
swathed and slung squaw back. passing
/ for wee baby, anything he could show
as possessing spark of Indian life was
duly credited to the warrior lord Of the
lodge for another ration, a full one
Cattle might and did shrink, but to the
Indian there is more meat in q lean COW
than III the stall fed OK to the white, for
the reason that Everything goes"
Horns and hooss are the only things the
l Indian doesn't eat.
Agents might and did cheat and steal,
, but so did the Indian and many a re-
ioicing old sinner has been credited with
q family Of twelve when his sole avail
able domestic assets consisted of two
squaws and three children, the papooses
having been borrowed or personated
by bundled up doggies, the grandmother
being public property passed around for
the OCCASION; the others, pickaninnies
painted so as to look entirely unlike the
grinning urchins counted in the flock of
brother Stab-in-the-Dark, whose people
had Just been enumerated. There were
agents who lent themselves to that sort
of thing because the more Indians they
could show as their especial wards, the
more barrels and boxes and bales were
invoiced to that agency and deftly
"raked off" en- route. There was time
when the man who wouldn't make hay
when such a sun shone was looked
upon as an unproiitable servant who
couldn't contribute to campaign funds
"What the devil do you suppose we had
you made agent way up at Gallatin
for?" asked an irate political "boss" Of a
deposed and crestfallen late incumbent
who came home superseded.
"Why, it was you and our congress-
man who exposed the stealings Of my
predecessor and had him fired. sup
posed you wouldn't stand that sort Of
thing. 1 supposed you wanted me to be
perfectly honest
"Of course we did; but, damn it, you
don't seem to understand; he was paying
to the other party"
But railways and telegraphs have
brought all this, or much Of it, within
range, so to speak. Things have
changed, except perhaps human nature,
white or Indian. There has been failure
to provide for carrying out the earnest
recommendations of the best friend the
lnuldn mas Known lOf NeuiS-tne man
whose word was his bond whom they
feared in war and loved and trusted in
peace. There has been shrinkage both
in the cattle and the count. No matter
how much beef might shrivel on the hooi
in the old days, the Sioux, if he were at
all sharp, got more than was his share
and most of the Sioux were as sharp as
their knives. Other tribes might have
starved and suffered, but not they. Witt
the new order Of things came full stom
achs for hosts of other aborigines, but
fault finding for these Dakotas NJ
more ''tepee counts;' on the contrary
heads of families paraded their entire
force, and while enumerators Will
book and pencil went along the from
of the line, Uncle Sans bluecoats on tn,
border keenly watched the rear and pu-
sudden stop to all sham and swapping
Now the shrinkage came TO be privation
and, turning in appeal to the genera
who headed the great commission anC
won their faith, appealing to Crook fo
the remedies congress had utterly faile,
to provide, their hearts were bowed witt
the tidings that the Great Spirit ha,
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