Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-23
The Southern Ute Question.

To the Editor Of Tie Evening Star;
Perhaps no subject has been before Con-
gress Of late years in regard TO which there
las been more misrepresentation 1t has
been supposed that the Utes are now on a
reservation well adapted to their wants
and that they have strong desire to stay
there; and that. Il removed, It will be an
act OF great injustice and cruelty. 1t has
been. stated repeatedly that the land to
which it is proposed 10 send them is a
barren" "desolate," Inaccessible" region.
wholly unfit for them, and that to send
Them there is to send them to ruin The
press has been constantly supplied with
these statements, until the general opinion
among those who have no personal knowl-
edge Of the facts is that the removal would
be q great and ineXcGsable wrong.
In justice to the Indians. as we'll as to
their friends. VINO believe they should be al
lowed to remove, as they wish 10 do a few
Iacts may be stated: a. The present res
erNauon is 4 most unfortunate one for
them They never should have been sent
TO Ii, IS they We're some twelve or fifteen
years ago. 1t Is d narrow strip of land, 10
miles wide by 10 or l2O long. 1t lies at an
altitude of from G.OOO to S,OUO feet above the
level of the sea. For several months in the
year ii is covered with snow from two to
four feet deep. causing great suffering 10
the people and destruction to their flOckS
In the summer. as IgnaciO. the head chief
who was recently in Washington to plead
for the exchange, has said: The white
mans cattle came up to the middle of the
reservation from one side, ana they came
up to the middle from the other side, and
what is there left for the Indlan?'
No one will question ex-senator Dawes
interest in these Indians. As chairman Of
the Senate committee on Indian Affairs, he
said in a speech before the Senate, March
80, 1872: Il appreciate and the committee
appreciates, the necessity of change Of
that Ute reservation. The impress
sion before the committee. if ! mo- be al
lowed 10 give the general impression of it,
is that there should be a removal Of these
Indians sJmeW here
60 The Indians themselves are urgent for
the change.
(3D The proposed reservation is adjacent
to the present one on the west. 1t has d
present agricultural capacity far larger
than the Indians now use 1t has possible
one, according to the careful estimate of
Competent officers of the United States
army. OF 40 acres to every member OF the
tribe.
The only occupation, however. to which
they incline is grazing. For this the pro-
posed reservation is almost unequaled. For
years, in summer and winter, from $1,000
to 10000 head Of cattle and sheep have
lived upon it. Here is one Of the strong OBJ
jectpns made TO the removal The cattle
companies, who have occupied the lands
free Of cost, are naturally reluctant to give
them up. But for these companies there is
little doubt the exchange would have been
made long ago.
a. The alternative now urged, to settle
them on lands in severity, where they are,
Is both madness and cruelty. 1t means
their destruction.
Again ex-senator Dawes views may have
some weight with those who are not SO
committed to a theory as TO be willing 10
sacrifice an entire tribe TO ii.
Speaking OF the subject of land in sever
atty. ne said:
ITO take the Indian promiscuously. and
put him on leo acres Of land and bid him to
be a civilized farmer, and then go of and
leave him after you have separated him
from everything that is Indian but himself,
from all the policy. all the law. all the
privileges of an Indian; to clOthe him with
citizenship and command him to obey your
laws and seek his redress in your courts,
and no others, and then leave him-if this
Is what you are going to do you would bet
ter leave him where he is.
1T the severalty law) strips the Indian
of all his privileges and all that is done for
him by the United States government.
My good friend calls it the emancipation
OF the Indani There is no word, as ] un-
derstand it, so little applicable to the In
dian that is taken up and put upon land
in severalty as the word emancipation. The
poor fellow is as helpless as an infant"
To no tribe of Indians is the peril indi-
Gated by Mr.. Dawes greater than to the
southern Utes. In addition to these dangers
is the one already proving SO terribly fatal
among other tribes where the SeVeralty eX-
pertinent has been tried. the right to the
free use of intoxicating drink. This, one of
the chiefs of the tribe has said, would end
the Ttes in three years.
The writer is not concerned for Colorado.
That state will prosper whether the CteS
are allowed to remove or compelled to re-
main. II her people We're unscrupuiously
selfish in this matter as they have been
represented to be, they might very well fall
in with the land in severalty scheme. They
would get large part Of the present reser-
yatfJn The Indians would soon be gone
from the rest. victims of the combination
of interested cattlemen and mistaken phil
anthropists. Z.