Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-08-04
SIOUX ARE WORKING.
HAVE CAST ASIDE LEISURE OF
CENTURIES AND HUSTLE.
Not at All in Keeping with Racial
Traditions, But as a Matter
Of Necessity They Get
en- the Move.

The Sioux Indian has gone to work.
He has done it reluctantly and under
protest. He has done it contrary TO
the advice Of his father and grandfath-
er. But back of his father and his
grandfather is the Great Father at
Washington, who says that If man
will not work neither shall he eat, says
a Yankton Is. d. report to the Chica-
go Inter Ocean.
The rations have been cut off 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
be accepts everything else. with phil
osophy 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, land they take away the rations
that were promised under the Black
Hills treaty. They will give you work
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 the final law.
The young men went to work. On the
Pine Ridge reservation about one
tourtA Of the IAd4ens are self-support-
ing. They voSk "a the roads. grading
and aFivtng tsS6fsI for which they get
;1.5a a DAY. gAEeaia of them have been
employees brEatg. Cams and reservoirs
oveTEthe Esssr p&1sA. A few do lit
tie fHxrning Ga2 96se cattle.
It Is difficult = make farmers Of
them while they gym land from which
white man could not make a living.
They have not worked long enough
yet to demonstrate positively what
they can de, but their possibilities
seem limited. Most of them are ire
sponsible and immature. They lack
the cleverness, OF the old Indians, and
seemed to have gained nothing in its
place.
You have seen one generation OF
Indians grow up aad take its place in
the world" some enc said to an old
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 I'm some re-
Spscts the young men are much worse
than their fathers They have learned
many Of the vices Of which the old In
dams knew nothing. Perhaps in some
ways they are better, but I don't
know"
The prosecuting attorney Of Wyo-
ming while at Pine Ridge last fall in
VestiEating the causes of the incipisnt
war between the Indians and the sher-
If, made a speech to pupils Of the
Ogallala boarding school, in which he
made q suggestion as to how the Sioux |
nation might become wealthy. He sug-
yested that the old tendency toward |
-ribal relations be used to form huge |
for raising cattle on the |
Pine Ridge reservation. Most of the
is good for grazing, and,
with the amount they have and what
attic they have to begin with, they
Gould organize a company, hire an ex-
3erienced cattle man as manager, and !
n ten years be independently rich.
In the meantime, however, there is
among the Sioux The ra-
ions are inadequate; and most Of the
indians are incompetent.
When the announcement was made
asst spring that the Indian must go to
work the Northwestern Railroad COM
,any came forward with an offer to
lelp solve the problem.
During the summer the company en-
)loyed about 100 Sioux from the Pine
Ridge and Rosebud reservations. They
we're employed as section hands and
,oal shovelers and made $3.50 a day.
Joal shoveling was most popular with
hem. They were not in the sun. and
he work was not continuous. They
would shovel awhile and then sit
Iround In the shade and smoke cigar
ties