Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-01-04
10" AT HOME
Life on an Indian Reservation is Not
What Many Suppose.

Life on an Indian Reservation is No,
What Many Suppose
To the average man or woman Of the
East the term Indian reservation con.
veys the idea of large, or small
fenced-in tract, where are confined the
once noble red men of the forest OF
plain.
Just why such an idea should prevail
1t is hard to explain, but that it does
prevail, even among people of other
wise undoubted intelligence, is a fact
often demonstrated.
During the summer and fall months
these reservations are visited by hun
dreds of tourists. who run up there
from Duluth on their tour of the great
lakes to "see the Indians in the gov
ernment pens,'' as a woman from New
York remarked this fall as she entered
the stage by which she intended to
reach the reservation.
These sightseers generally express
mild astonishment upon finding the
| Indians free to come and go as they
please, anywhere within the confines
of the reservation, which contains so
many square miles that an active pc
destrian might journey all day and vet
not come within so miles of one of the
boundary lines
The reservation is simply large and
fertile tract of land set aside by the
| government for the use of the Indians.
and the government then carefully ex-
cludes all white men from the terri
| tory.
The agent of the government, known
as the Indian agent, who, by the way,
| is always a white man, who has rem
dered the political party in power some
signal service, is clothed with great
power, and upon the reservation his
i word is law.
| Were this not SO the reservation
would be a hotbed of disorder and
probably crime, for the red men, espe-
cially when infiamed by liquor or by
| a desire for revenge for fancied insult
are utterly irresponsible. and enjoy
nothing better than engaging in mortal
! combat
| For the better government of the
| reservation the agent has ALWAYS at
| his command a small force of police
composed entirely of Indians noted for
their general good conduct and hon
esty, as well as for their personal
bravery.
The work of the policemen is, in the
main, the suppression of the trade in
whiskey, which is forbidden by the
law, and which, it must be stated, if
the facts are desired, is carried on ex
tensively by unscrupulous traders,
who, for eXorbitant sums, furnish the
Indians with liquor dignified by the
name of whiskey, but which in reality
is usually a decoCtion so vile that a
white man cannot drink it without be-
coming at once filled with an over
Whelming desire to seize rifle and
begin a campaign of riot and murder.
The men who furnish the whiskey TO
the Indians are, as rule. Squawmen-
that is, white men who have married
or who are living with Indian women.
and are, by reason of such connection,
privileged to live upon the reservation,
the law CHASING them as members of
the tribe.
Many of these squawmen become
members of the tribe in this way sim
ply for the purpose of obtaining pos
session of slice of the rich Indian
lands and engaging in the illicit liquor
business.
AS a rule, these men are shrewd. far
seeing. unscrupulous fellows, caring
only for their pockets, and naturally
they accumulate in the course OF a few
years a considerable fortune
Then their true nature asserts itself.
and their wives awake some morning
to find themselves deserted. with a
houseful of small children to care for. |
Several of the men now more or less
prominent in the various cities of the
Northwest laid the foundation of their |
fortunes while squawmen on one of the |
numerous reservations in this section |
of the country.
When it can be avoided the men who |
sell liquor to the Indians do not deal |
directly with their customers. The |
whiskey is usually furnished to some !
trusted member of the tribe, who in |
turn supplies it to his brother of the |
reservation.
Once in a while the liquor is fur
nished by man who makes money |
out of the business in way other than
by selling the stuff at a profit of sew
eral hundred per cent
In years gone by, when the United !
States marshals received handsome
fee for every case in which a man.
especially an Indian. was convicted
of selling liquor to the Indians. or even
of carrying liquor to the reservation.
unscrupulous under-oficials We're
known to provide certain men with
liquor to take on to the reserve, and
then arrest the offenders and take
them before the United States Court in
st. Paul or Duluth, where. even if a
conviction We're not secured. the
official was assured of securing a
pocketful of money for mileage. etc.
Nearly every crime that has been
committed upon the reservation can be
traced to liquor. When insane from
Whiskey the Indians drop the thin
veneer Of civilization which they have
assumed in late years. and for the
time being are once more the savage
children of the early days. knowing no
law but the law of force, and believing
fully in the theory of an eye for an
eye and tooth for tooth.
When these fits come on the Indians
are more or less dangerous. and then
is the time the Indian police come into
play. The police are, as a rule the
best educated men of the tribe, and
before using force upon their erring
brothers. endeavor by soft words and
mild threats to induce the rioters to
and 90 TO their raSDectiya