The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-11-23
THE GOVERNMENT WARDS.

~
At the last annual conference of tn,
Indian Rights association held a
Lake Mohonk, N. Y, among othe.
things recommended by the confer
ence for the government of the west
ern Indians was the following:
Rations should be issued only
when succor is Indispensable. When
allotments are made in arid districts
an ample supply of water for irriga.
ton and domestic requirements should
be permanently provided. Carefully
selected, well-trained farmers and
field matrons should be appointed to
furnish industrial education in al
lotted lands. Marriage should be regu-
lated and protected by law, with a
system Of registration securing prop
erty Of legal heirs. The expensive
machinery Of the agency should be
discontinued when Indians have be-
come. self-supporting citizens, and
several should be discontinued at
once.
The foregoing paragraph from the
proceedings of the men whose senti-
ments largely shape the affairs of In
dian legislation is quite at variance
with the system in vogue Oh Indian
reservations in Montana, and especial
ly SO relative to the government of the
Grow Indians in eastern Montana.
The "well-trained farmers recon-
mended by the Mohonk conference,
except in rare instances, are never en-
ployed on Indian reservations in Mon
tana, but instead the eastern states
supply the Farmers" for these reser-
v~ations according to the rules promul-
gated by the civil service commission,
or if not by that process then the
farmers for Indian reservations are
appointed solely through political in
f1uence and in utter disregard of prac-
tical ideas and fitness to advance the
Indian in the knowledge Of farming.
Both of these plans are expensive to
the Indian and the government rs
we'll. Many a competent Indian agent
has reported a failure of crops Oh
Montana Indian reservations due
solely to the incompetency of men the
agents have been obliged to employ
and place in charge of Indian farming
districts through the operation of the
law of civil service or the unwritten
law Of political influence.
AS long as this pernicious system is
i'll vogue the Indians OH Montana res
ervations or in any other part OF the
arid land belt will never become self
supporting. The mel who under the
present system are placed in charge of
these Indians as head farmers in the
arid region, except in rare instances,
have no knowledge Of the handling of
water for the successful raising of
crops. Furthermore the interest of
these men in the Indian lies princi-
pally in their drawing the regular
quarterly government salary with the
least possible exertion toward advanc-
ing the red man in knowledge of hus-
bandry.
The Crow Indian reservation adioin-
ing Yellowstone county to the east
comprises some 5000, 900 acres of fine
= Rzing and agricultural lands. Upon
Reservation there has been ex-
Upwards Of $500. 900 for the
a6eQf irrigation bitches and
sstip1ts y government through
j1kift1i1ns of some Of it's
an en yhe, field connect
cd WIZ acfspn is expend-
ing $soO.Soen1spsonths oasls reserva-
ton. With ~ Arsaas. ex-
pended on this oSes1stcnd fAe
appropriation avai1aSB i6e bessidlh
other irrigation ditcI1ss one KUnfas
naturally suppose that the GsQw@J4
are on the high road to praspMael
and civilization. But the contG111SsSf
state of affairs exist and the fault Les
with the government for permitting
to be installed in the Indian SER
vice under the head of s'farmers''
when in reality, except in very rare
instances as already stated, they are
leeches and a disgrace to the
occupation they profess to follow.
Ii the Indian Rights association
really desires to see the Indians of
and several other western
states advance in the line of husband
y and if they desire to raise several
rfbes of this class of people to a
plane of civilization they will