The Irish standard., 1893-10-28
MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL. SATURDAY. OCTOBER 2s 1893

lanQ gradually drove DaCk tho Indian Z
remote western wilds. Before the shrew,
and often inscriptions pioneer the In
dian had to retreat or become completed,
4 helpless.
i rhs general government was gradu
| ally forced to exercise unlimited contro
over the aborigines and their property
They became wards Of the nation to bt
Iedverned and directed in all their affairs
until they could be formed into civilized
mon. Prisoners in their own homes they
are strictly kept within lines called res.
CREATIONS. There they are forced to re.
maiu and cannot leave but by special
permission and with q pass on which lis
marked the number OF days they are al.
lowed to be absent. The agent has full
power over these people and, if he be ty-
rannical, can govern more absolutely
than the Gar Of Russia.
| CATHOLICS IGNORED.
The number of these reservations and
agencies increased up to 1870, when
General Grant inaugurated the Indian
peace policy. Or the seventy agencies
| under this system eight were assigned
to the Catholic Church. In other agencies
| where the large number of the Indians
were Catholics their demands for Cath
olic priest vera ignored and they were
handed over body and soul to those who
| were in many cases hostile to Catho-
lioity.
At this period, twenty-three years
age, more than forty mission houses with
over 300 stations, at which 100000 In
dians received instruction and the sac
raments, were built up, but under this
new system complaints grew ever louder,
showing that the government agents
were using all their powers to counter
act the labors of Catholic missionaries,
TO prevent their mission work and de-
stroy their control of the Indians. In
many places the Catholic missionaries
were driven out of the reservations, and,
assArchbishop Bailey declared, "this ac-
tion::was taken under a government pol
ICY Of itself wise and humane.
Under this policy, non-Catholic mis-.
sions and schools were erected and ss.
tablished among the Indians already
Catholic, and AMONGST pagans who for
years had been petitioning for schools
~ lo in4 Hf
Catholic missionaries.
The sad story which can only be
limited at, of the gross immortality of
white men and Indians in many Of the
reservations: the dissolute white man
and the savage in league to destroy
every remnant of purity in the poor In
dian girl; the parents themselves, the
natural guardians of the children for
whom they have such warm love, en-
gagged in forcing their daughters TO lives
OF shame-a]ae! how often has all this
been rehearsed as the common tale of
the reservations!
WORK OF TIE GOOD SISTERS.
But what change when the good Sis.
ters came amongst the children of these
wretched people! La the midst of priva
tions and trials, these brave women fight
ing the good fight against superstition
and darkest temptation, preserved the
children entrusted to them pure and
holy; gave the Indian mother new life
of freedom before unknown, and invest
ing them with christian purity made
the Indian family a tit subject of rejoic-t
ing both to angels and to men.
''Giye u.s." said the chief Of the Gull
Lake band of Chippewas, Minnesota,
speaking in July, 1892, to the bishop of
Duluth, "give us black gown to teach
ourselves and our children"
II have been twenty years on the res
ervation here" said an old chief, "and
the promises made to Us I never saw full
filled; give us apriest and school for
our children and we will be satisfied"
Many Of these were pagans, but they
had conferred their hopes for their chill
dren in the Sisters school.
The act of congress February 8th, 1887,
giving the Indians an individual title to
certain lands, and thus bringing them
under the ordinary laws Of regular citi
zens of the country is the last, and it
would seem final attempt to settle the
Indian question.
The amount of land given to each In
dian varies with the locality; the Modooe
received forty acres each, the Senecas
100 acres, and the Quapaws 200 acres
each.
From February, 1887, to November 80,
1892, there were made 1882 allotmeDts
on reservations under the general allot
ment act; 1850 allotments by special act
OF congress, 1922 allotments on pubic
domain outside reservation.
. As the Indians mode of life and tradi
tions are altogether opposed to this set
So II