The Florence tribune., 1900-07-14
INDIANS STARVING.
Six Thousands Perishine on the Gila Reservation Because of Lack Of
 Water.
Washington Correspondence.

Chicago Tribune, the text of which is as follows: "Six thousand Indians are starving to death on the Gila Res ervation, according to S. NJ. McGowan, superintendent of the Indian Indus trial school of Phoenix. His statement paints most deplorable picture of conditions existing among tribes that have never been contaminated by white blood.
 Superintendent McGowan said he found twenty helpless adults in one miserable shack, that would, under ordinary circumstances, scarcely ac- commodate three persons. Congress has appropriated $30,OO0, but no meth od of distributing the money was stipulated, hence it is tied up, while the ward of the government are star rv- ing to death."
 Thisstatenent of the pitiable con- dition of the friendly and industri- ous Pimas is old news to western readers, and the case is one of the most shameful and outrageous in- stances of neglect and betrayal on the part of the United States of an ally, worthy and true.
 That 6,000 Pima Indians, always the consistent and active friends of the white man, should be reduced from condition of wealth and great prns- perity to actual starvation through the neglect of the federal government, while the adjacent Apaches, always the white mans foes and causing more trouble, pillage and loss of life than any western tribe, should be to-day sleek and well-fed at the hands of the same government, seems rewarding of enemies and killing of friends.
 For hundreds of years the Pimas lived in plenty, irrigating their fields from the waters of the Gila until the white man came and diverted it's waters onto other areas. At the time of the Gadsden Purchase, Lieutenant Michler of the Boundary Commission said of these Indians in his official report, dated way back in 1856:
 Besides being great warriors they are good husbandmeu and farmers and work laboriously in the field. They are owners of fine horses and mules, fat oxen and milk cows, pigs and poultry and are wealthy class of Indians. The Pimas consider them selves regular descendants of the Aztecs. As we journeyed along the valley we found lands fenced. and irrigated and rich fields of wheat ripening for the harvest, view differ ing from anything we had seen since leaving the Atlantic States. They grow cotton, sugar, peas, wheat and corn. As sat upon rock," con tinues Lieutenant Michler, "admiring the scene, an old gray-headed Pima took pleasure in, pointing out the ex- teut of their domain. They are anx- ious to know if their rights and titles to their lands would be respected by our government, upon learning. that their country had become part of the United States"
 The old mans anxiety was but too we'll founded, and could he contrast now the wealth and prosperity of his tribe before the westward sweep of civiliza- tion with it's present destitution and decay, he would have cause to rise in vengance and demand that this great government adopt g. course of com mon decency.
 There are many people in the east ern States who have cried out against the injustice meted out to the poor Indian. Their sympathy has usually been misplaced and wasted upon a savage, treacherous and relentless foe of the white man.. But here now is a worthy cause-none -worthier ever lived-to right wrong, to give good people that of which they have been wrongfully despoiled through ths criminal csrelessness- of the govern ment. And the solution of the prob lem is 30 easy, so simple. The waters of the Gila are ample to supply the needs of the starving Pimas-and many others, only they largely run to waste during flood times. The governmen reports and surveys, show that thu building of great dam on the Gila would store up enough. water to irri gate thousands of acres of as fertile land as the sun shines upon.
 Cannot some of our friends, whc have anon professed such interest il the poor red men come to his assist snce now and see that be- may be ac corded simple justice? The cause il worthy, the means are at hand; tn interest alone is lacking.
 Guy E. MITCHELL. I