The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1906-10-26
FULTON VS.. INDIANS
"Umatilla Indian Agency a
fostering Sore"
IS DECLARATION OF SENATOR
Wards Of Government Should be Kick
ed Out and Forced to Work
for Living.

"The Umatilla Indian reservation
is fostering sore that is blot upon
the country" Thus spoke United
States Senator Charles W. Fulton at
the Imperial hotel Monday, says the
Portland Journal.
The volcanic expression from the
senator came after talk with T.. @.
Taylor, we'll known business man of
Penolaton, and several other Eastern
Oregon men, in which the humilia-
tions which citizens of the United
States suffered at the hands OF the In
dians and their agent, o. Q. Edwards,
were recited. Strong hints of graft
were made in reference to Agent Ed
wards, although his name was not
mentioned directly. The result of the
conference was promise on the part
of Senator Fulton to take up the mat
ter with President Roosevelt directly
upon his return to Washington in
November.
The indignities to which the whites
referred were briefly outlined as fol-
lows by Senator Fulton:
A man must pay 8 cents head to
drive sheep across the reservation; 10
cents to drive horses and cattle across,
and in addition he must give bond
that be will not commit damage while
traversing the territory, and hire an
escort of the lazy Indian soldiers.
The status of the white man COM
10 40 NFH kn
tilla county is nauseating, added the
senator in disgust. 1.-THE Indian is the
baby of the nation. Most of the
agents are from the east and are unfit
to handle the problem.
"The Indian race is one that must
die eventually. The Indians cannot
live in civilization any more than
some plants that grow rank and ram
pant in the forest can survive cultiva-
tion. The Indian must die out and
the government has taken them under
its protecting wing and feeds them as
if they were babies. They should be
turned out and made to hustle for a
living. They can do no wrong and
whatever their acts may be, they are
allowed to go unpunished. Let
white man commit anything that re-
sembles the least infraction of one of
the rules that have been laid down
for their protection and he is hauled
up and made to pay a fine or receive
penalLJ.
IA white man cannot drive across
the reservation without putting up
bonds paying tribute to Indians, and
kowtowing in general to the LATEST,
dirtiest tribe of men that ever lived.
"On the other hand, an Indian can
drive about the country with his
NANCY cayuses and do as he pleases.
II it suits his whim to tear down
fence and cross wheat field, he does
it and nothing is ever done to punish
him.
1.-The Indian is poor specimen of
humanity that is hoodwinking the
effete easterners and the people of the
west are paying for it. They form a
fostering sore in Umatilla county that
is blot upon the community"
Senator Fulton has succeeded In
! having bill passed for road through
the Umatilla reservation and supposed
that the question had been settled. He
was very indignant when he heard of
the methods to which the whites had
Gcen subjected and voluntarily offered
TO take the matter up with the presi-
dent. He hopes TO secure some better
administration OF affairs on the re-
servation than has been practiced in
the past.