The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-07
THE INDIAN TROUBLE IN MINNESOTA

From time immemorial it has been the
custom in this country to characterize every
trouble with Indians as an Indian out
break" Washington dispatches call the
present trouble with the reservation In
dians in Minnesota IAN Indian uprising"
1t is neither an outbreak nor an uprising.
1t is simply an act of desperation by
small band of Indians who, after repeated
wrongs, acts of injustice, depredations and
robberies by INSCRIPTIONS white men.
against which the government has failed to
protect them, have at last taken matters
into their own hands and attempted to de-
fend their rights and property by force, of
arms. The Indians are not such fools as to
hope to gain anything by a war with the
United States. Those on the Minnesota res
ervation number only few hundred, and, as
the commissioner of Indian affairs says,
ARE most peaceably disposed as a luie."
They are remnant of the 'Chippewas, who
never were very warlike, and, as the COM
missioner further says. fare well advanced
in civilization, many of them wearing citi-
zens' clothes" To characterize the present
trouble with this handful of prosecuted
creatures as an Indian uprising is absurd.
1t is the old story of Indians moved from
one reservation to another, pushed to the
wall by whites, their lands invaded by
squatters, their forests destroyed by thiev-
ing lumbermen and their property stolen
under one legal pretext or another, finally
growing desperate enough not only to resist
arrest by civil officers but to fire on United
States troops sent to assist in the work of
despoiling them of their lands OF course,
the outbreak will be suppressed and the
Indians will be punished and finally re-
moved to some other reservation, but no one
can deny that there is an element of justice
in their position. The commissioner of In
dian affairs makes this statement regarding
the origin of the trouble:
OF late they have had grievance and
this has led up to the present outbreak. 1t
was determined to move the Indians from
their present quarters to lands inside the
White Earth reservation. The latter lands
are superior to those owned by the Indians,
but the traditions are strong with them, and
they hold with tenacity to their old lands
and associations. They insisted also, and
with some degree of reason, that they ought
to be paid for the improvements on their
lands. This was recognized as just, and a
bill apprOpriating $4,000 to pay for these
improvements was presented at the last
Congress and urged as an amendment T. an
appropriation bill. But it was ruled out and
defeated, so that the Indians have received
nothing for their improvements. Now, as
the removal is about to be carried out, some
of the old chiefs refused to leave their old
lands How far this has gone we do not
know from official reports, but we gather
from unofficial quarters that the local Of
fcers began arresting some of the old chiefs
who refused to move, and that brought on
the i'll feeling, threats and clash.
In addition to this, Minnesota papers have
stated that the Indian reservation had been
invaded and their pine forests burned and
plundered by disreputable class of whites.
The commissioner of Indian affairs admits
that they have a grievance and throws the
responsibility on Congress for failing to APP
propriate $4,000 to pay their just claims.
The striking out of that appropriation was
poor economy.
The most deplorabe feature of the trouble
is the loss of life among our brave SOL
diers. The so-caIled outbreak will be
easily suppressed and the offending Indians
ought to be punished, but the lost lives cam
not be restored. The regulars are always
ready to die in the discharge of duty, but
to be shot down by unruly Indians is not a
fit death for heroes of Santiago.