The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-25
JONES is CRITICISED
EXPERIENCED INDIAN AGENTS SAY
HIS PLAN WON'T
WORK
SIOUX ARE OPPOSED TO IT
Lands in Their Reservations Would
Not Give the Most Expert
enced White Farmers
u Living.
Special to The Globe.

its bounda rieS than any other state In
the Union, it is perhaps natural that the
people, especially those living in the
towns bordering on the Indian reserva-
tions, should take a lively interest in
| the new policy of the Indian bureau
| whereby it is proposed to cut off the ra-
| tons of the red wards Of the government
and compel them to become self-support-
ing.
These who have lived in proximity to
| the Indians for twenty years or more.
and are therefore fully competent to dis
| cuss the subject, do not exactly agree
| as to the justice and wisdom Of the new
policy. They point out that it will be
| impossible for the Indians of South Da-
kota, especially the wilder Sioux who live
! on reservations west of the Missouri riV
| er, to adapt themselves to the new order
| of things
| These Indians, because of the opening
| TO VIII tie settlement of the best and grclt-
| er portion of their reservations, which
! twelve years ago included practica ly all
of the vast area west of the Missouri
river and the Black Hills. are now locat-
ed upon land which is not at all adapted
to farming 1t is safe to say that if the
most experienced white farmers were
placed upon any portion of the area at
present embraced within the reservations
belonging to the Sioux Indians, efforts to
successfully cultivate the land would re-
suit in failure.
Probably TO man in the United States
is more competent to discuss this phase
of the Indian question than Dr.. " L.
McGillicuddy, who from 1879 to 1886 had
charge of the thousands of the then tur,
bulent Sioux, living on the Pine Ridge
reservation During his incumbency OF
the office of United States Indian agent
at Pine Ridge he exercised authority
throughout region covering 4,0o0 square
miles. with no soldiers within sixty miles
Of him, and with no -orce except fifty
native policemen to maintain order
among the 5000 warlike Sioux under his
charge.
81 see,'' said he, Commissioner Jones
is taking steps in cutting down the ra-
tons of agency Indians, which indicates
that the crisis in the reservation methoo
OF handling them by the government is
approaching. His recent order is abso-
lutely necessary in order to accomplish
anything. \ the direction for which the
system is devised, which was to make
the Indians ultimately self-supporting;
but before this result can be achieved
7 am afraid there will be trouble again
in the West.
commissioner Jones has ordered that
rations will not be issued for half-breeds
nor for white men who may be married
to Indian women nor for children who
NAV have attended the national schools
at Carlisle nor for Indians who may own
a. certain number Of cattle. 1t is es-
timated this will reduce by about IL
per cent the cost of the rations supplied
by the government.
Among the difficulties which will con-
front Commissioner Jones and his sue
cessors is the fact that the area which
is practicable to retain for the Indians
cannot possibly furnish them with sliS-
tenance. Not much of it is adapted to
agriculture, and there is not enough lana
to be secured to give them room for
the amount of cattle they must turn out
in order to have an adequate income.
The result of this quite certainly will be
that the pinching down of the ratlonS
will many times bring actual hunger.
Then, too, there will be resistance and
it is not improbable that another out
break or two will be experienced before
the great problem Of making the In
dian self-supporting is solved.
at will not do to hope that because
the Indians are now quiet they will a.
WAYS remain So When I left Pine Ridge
in 1886 l would have bet anything that
no such disaster as the battle of Wound
| ed Knee could ever be brought about;
but in a little over four years there were
scores killed in fighting. That battle
came about fourteen years after the
slaughter of Custer on the Little Big
Horn. 1t is now nearly eleven years
since the battle of Wounded Knee, which
occurred in December, 1890.
ga PHILOSOPHICAL old Indian once said
to me that there would be fighting with
the white men every IL or Is years
because the new generation Wouidn
believe what the old men said about the
strength of the white soldiers, and that
they would be bound to try it for them
selves. Around the camp fires and at
every gathering there is talk, said he.
abou: the exploits of their forefathers,
and even the squaws sing of the BRAY i,
warriors and these experiences inspire
dreams Of the glory of fighting the race
which has taken the hunting grounds of
the red man and which impriSons him on
the reservation"
That the new policy will meet with
strenuous opposition on the part OF the
large majority of Sioux Indians there is
little, if any. doubt The adoption Of the
policy proves the far-seeing qualities OF
Red Cloud, the venerable old-time war
chief of the Sioux nation, who Is now
passing the declining days Of his long
and eventful life at his home near the
Pine Ridge agency.
Years ago, when the government inau-
gurated the policy of giving allotments
Cloud at once saw that the ultimate re-
| suit would be the withdrawal of ratioNs
| from his people by the government. He
| therefore advised his BRETHREN on the
| Pine Ridge reservation not to take the
| allotments, and from that time to the
| present, in Difference to the wishes OF
| the aged chieftain, his people who live
! on that reservation have steadily declined
to make application for their allotments.
| No fa5
| to take allotments, and as the new policy
| provides for giving all the Indians al
| lotments of land and opening the sur
| plus to white settlement, serious trouble
/ might easily result should the govern
| ment carry to the end the policy decided
| upon 1t would be another case of lead
| ing a horse to water without being able
to make him drink. Only the other day
| an aged Sioux who lives on the Chey-
| enne River reservation was publicly be-
wailing the fate of his people, and adj
! vising that they take the Warpath ana
/ die fighting rather than submit to being
1 starved to death.
Those we'll posted declare that the most
feasible plan to place these Indians on
seE-supporting basis would be to make
| an issue of stock cattle to those who
| have none, have them put UP hay, and
| also raise a little corn and potatoes. In
| eight or ten years, those faVorlng THIS
| idea declare, there would be surplus cat
| tie enough to keep the Indians in com,
| paratfve luxury The incorrigible ones
| who would not try to do anything, would
| have to be left to their own resources
| although public sentiment throughout the
/ country would not sustain the govern
] ment if 1t permitted them to starve
| Narrow Escape.
| Special to The Globe.
LA CROSSE. Wis, Nov 2-Yester-
day evening John Dumstrach, a braker