The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-05-02
A COMPLAINT FROM 10.

Uncle Sam may learn in time that he
is no longer dealing with an untutored
son OF the forest when he transacts bus
mess with the red man Of to-day. The OFT
repeated theory that the torches ofcsvtll-
cation will not burn within the tepee is
played out, and hereafter your Uncle
Samuel must "play ball' with Lo with
the same conscientious regard for right
and wrong e~mployedin his dealings with
foreign governments. For instance, the
other day several thousand dollars were
sent to the Grow Creek agency for dis
tribution among the natives. h chief,
! White Ghost, and his council refused to
touch one dollar. The chief explained
his side Of tho case in q letter to the
commissioners of Indian affairs in which
he said:
The Indian agent at the Grow Creek
agency is making a cash payment OF about
| So per capita. Myself, seven other chiefs
and u majority of the Indians have hest
tated to receive this money and if we refuse
to accept this money we are threatened by
the agent that we will be deprived of seeds
for this seasons planting. can get no salts
faction from the agent as to where the
money now being distributed III from.
Nor do I know what rights we may be sur
rendering when We receipt for this money.
So I write to you for information and ask
you for an immediate reply to mo in person
ana not through the agent. When the
Sioux Indians signed the recent treaty by
which they coded a large part of their res
s~ryation to tho government there was
an unwritten contract, but i'll honor
just as binding, to the effect that the
Indians Of the Grow Creek agency were to
receive about S1S7. 600 in consideration of
the fact that their diminished reservation
left them less land per capita than the In
dams Of the other Sioux reservations.
| What has become Of hat money, and has
the appropriation been made by congress-.
or has the promise Of it been already neg
lected and forgotten like SO many other
sacred promises made the Indians BY this
great and supposed just government?
Again, we. the Sioux. when the treaty re
ferred to above was signed, we're promised
in addition to cattle, horses. ETC., $50 per
capita to assist in building houses. That
promise, too, seems to have been forgotten.
and many Of my PEOPLE are living IN de-
cayed log houses and tepees, exposed to the
inclemency of the weather, that is bringing
on disease and sickness. 4$9 49,
Why will the government be SO unjust to
to us? Why will it not give what is due
and promised US instead of dealing out
small payments like that now being made?
Does the government wish more blood shed
.-1 IN - .>f,ao 1o ;rot;oo ,,rIoee - sc an
manded at the muzzle of the gun? Is not
the blood shed at Wounded Knee a sutfi
cient remind of the wrongs praotieed upon
us and the desperate attitude into which
we have bsen driven. I beg of you, MIR.
Commissioner, to lay these facts before the
nations legislators and demand justice for
US at their hands,.
This is a business like letter and
deserves very prompt attention. The
governments disgraceful treatment OF
the Indian has been satisfactorily shown
in many instances. The red man has
been robbed, lied to and cheated by In
dian agents and others higher in official
rank. Investigations and protests have
resulted in stopping the ranker abuses
and the faults now complained of result
from neglect rather than studied design
to defraud. The many demands, per
sonal and otherwise, on the attention O
congress result in placing the considera
ton of Indian affairs last on the list
Without further knowledge of the mat
ter referred to by White Ghost in hi
letter we suspect his complaints are no
without cause. In any event the threa
) conveyed should be a sufficient reasol
, for the governments prompt attentio!
to the subject.