The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-10
SIOUX WANT TO RAISE CATTLE.

l
 They Wish the Government to Aid ] Them and Chief Inspector Me | Laughlin Favors the Project.
 l Major James Mclaughlin of Wash 1 ington, D. C., Chief Inspector of the United States Indian service, has mail- ed to the Indian Department a petition from the Lower Brule band of the Sioux tribe, which he said was one of the most curious in his experience of more than forty years in dealing with 1 Indians, inasmuch as it asks the Gov ernment to assist them in going into the cattle business.
 The chiefs of the band have made a proposition to Major Mclaughlin to ex- change two sections of their best land for cattle for breeding purposes. They do not ask for any money for the land, but that they be allowed to cede it for sale and that the proceeds of the sale be converted into cattle. Their request has the indorsement of Major Me Laughlin.
 The meeting between Major Me Loughln and the chiefs of the Lower Brule band at which this petition was submitted was as novel in character as the petition itself. Major McLough- | lin said that if a few city writers of l Indian stories who could not disting uish between moccasin and wampum bag were to have looked in upon the consultation at the we'll kept agency building they would have suffered a bitter disillusionment
 In discussing the matter while in Sioux City the Major said
 ''It might have been the meeting of a Board of Directors of almost any kind of company, so ordinary was its appearance. Instead of gaudy blankets and feathers paint and neck faces of bear teeth, and long hair, were civilian garments covering men whose hair was of respectable length. There was no sitting on the floor with legs crossed and passing the pipe but, like other civilized men, those stalwart fellows sat around table and discuss | ed their business in businesslike man. ner.
 'In fact, if Indian had not been spok- ] en the meeting would have been prosy to stranger anticipating anything out of the ordinary. But, inasmuch as | speak the tongue as well as a Sioux, and for the further reason that I have known the boys nearly all their lives, | we used their native tongue and ad- | dressed one another by our Indian | names. Among the Indians am re- ferred to as the White Father, but in | speaking to me they address me as Wa bde1za Wi-cas-ta, which means Man | -Travels-Lo Looking -Into-Things.
 "The Indians in the council were Big Mane, the head chief of the band, Bull Tead. Black Elk, Fire Thunder, and Swift Hawk, Big Mane, who is six feet two, magnifcently built, and hand some fellow of fifty-five, did the talk ing for his band It think 1t is largely his influence that has caused the men of his band to discard their blankets and finery and effect the styles of the pale faces. He tells his men that they must live like white men if they are to make money and be thought we'll of in this world. He Is knocking silly lot of old Indian superstitions.
 Well, by the way of explanation, 1t may be well-enough to say that in 1870 the Government made clothing an nuity treaty with the Sioux tribe, by
 
 ing for the men, women, and children of the tribe for period of thirty years. This treaty will expire June 30 next.
 Big Mane opened the conversation at our meeting by referring to this treaty and early date of its expiration, and said he and his brothers had talk ed the matter all over for months and that they had decided to ask me to as- sist them in starting in the cattle busi- ness. He said he realized that the time had come when he and his brothers must provide for themselves those things which the Government had been giving them. His plan. he said was to cede two of the best sections of their reservation for sale and then take the cattle apportioned among the two hundred or more families of the band according to the age and condition of the members of the family. If an In- dian and his squaw were too old to look after cattle, he said, there would be no sense In giving cattle to them. Then, again, if man had five more than the man who had daughters. He suggested that the Government adopt an agency brand, so that all the cat tie could be branded. He would dis tinguish between the cattle of one h. dian and those of another by number. There would be something like 200 own CTS and tho numbers would run from one upward. By the side of the agency brand would be branded the individual number, showing the Indian to whom the cattle belonged.
 T praised Big Mane for the common sense of his plan. and as we sat there we figured across the table about the l of cattle which could be se- | cured for the two sections. He said | he and his brothers were willing to cede l two very fine sections on the west side of the Missouri River about fifteen | miles distant from Chamberlain This | Is in a strip of the finest grazing land | Tn the world. Big Mane thought this | land ought to be worth $125 an acre, | and I said 1t would be cheap at this | price. He was anxious to secure all | the information he could, and he ask ed many questions about the cattle l business, how to ship, &c After a careful discussion of the proposition we agreed that the band could start very nicely with 1000 heifers and eighty graded bulls. Boundaries of the reser- yation, I thought, should be fenced, and Big Mane incorporated this in his peti- ton. l recommend that the prayer of