The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1904-08-17
INDIANS MUST WORK.
WARDS OF NATION ORDERED TO
BE sELF-sUPPoRTTEG.
Those Who Are Able to Earn Liv-
ing VIII Receive No More Ra-
tions-Some Worthless
Red Men.


father. But back Of HIS father AMI
his grandfather is the great father al
Washington, who says that If mar
will not work neither shall he eat.
The rations have been cut of from
those who are able to work. So the
Indian has cast aside his blanket and
with it the leisure Of more centuries
than the white man can count He has
accepted the new order of things as he
accepts everything else. with a philos
ophy which looks like Indifference.
THE white man offers you work
now" said old Chief Red Cloud, when
the young men came to him for coun-
sci, "and they take away the rations
that we're promised under the Black
Hills treaty. They Will give you work
J for a little while, then you must find
it for yourselves. They will give you
nothing. They will do nothing for
you"
But the time has gone by when the
word Of the chief was final law. The
young men went to work. On the Pine
Ridge reservation ABOUT one-fourth OF
the Indians are self-supporting They
work on the roads, grading and driv-
ing teams, for which they get $3.50
day. Several of them have been
employed building dams and reser-
voirs over the reservation. A few do
O little farming and raise cattle.
Ii is difficult to make farmers or
them while they own land from which
white man could not make a living
They have not worked long enough
yet TO demonstrate positively what
they can do, but their possibilities
seem limited. Most of them are irr.
sponsible and immature They lack
the cleverness of the old Indians and
seem to have gained nothing in its
place.
you have seen one generation OF
Indians grow up and take its place in
the world" some one said to an old
clergyman who has devoted his life to
the Sioux What do you think edu-
cation has done for them?"
The clergyman shook his head II
don't know" he said. 'In some re-
than their fathers. They have learned
many vices of which the old Indians
knew nothing. Perhaps in some ways
they are better, but don't know"
The prosecuting attorney Of Wyo-
ming, while at Pine Ridge last fall In.
vestigating the causes of the incipient
war between the Indians and the sher-
If, made a speech to pupils of the
Ogallala boarding school in which he
made suggestion as to how the Sioux
nation might become wealthy. He
suggested that the old tendency toward
tribal relations be used to form huge
corporation for raising cattle on the
Pine Ridge reservation Most OF the
reservation land is good for grazing,
and with the amount they have and
what cattle they have to begin with
they could organize a company, hire
an experienced cattleman as manager
and in ten years be independently
rich.
In the meantime, however, there is
sufering among the Sioux. The ra-
tions are inadequate and most of the
Indians incompetent.
The Indian women are being encour-
aged to take up their beadwork again,
which for long time was discouraged.
Indian women teach it to their daugh-
tiers and girls in the boarding schools
offer it for, sale. No one but an Indian
women can do the genuine beadwork,
which is on buckskin. but the woven
work, which has become a fad among
white women, is, the traders say, ruin
ing the sale Of the genuine article |
Girls on the Pine Ridge reservation |
are also being taught basketry, an art |
which the Sioux never knew, and the |
state agricultural college has been |
asked TO furnish sweet grass seed, to |
be sown along the creeks and used /
for making baskets
Among the Indians who under the |
new regime are trying hard to make |
a living is old Mrs Sitting Bull. widow |
OF the last Of the hostile Sioux. She |
is peaceable old squaw and sits in
her little cabin out on the reservation |
making gorgeous beaded moccasins,
All MHiSh lHSie 10 imiteu safe.
When the announcement was made /
last spring that the Indian must go
to work the Northwestern Railroad
company came forward with an offer
to help solve the problem.
During the summer the company |
employed about 100 Sioux from the
Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations.
They were employed as section hands
and coal shovelers and made s150 a
day. Coal-shoveling was most popu-
lar with them. They we're not in the
sun and the work was not continuous
They could shovel awhile and then sit
around in the shade and smoke cigar
cites.