Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-10-09

Indians with property ranging from
$4,000 to $4,000 each car haTe';rly -
( cents iay 20: fccd and nothing to-
ciotLIcs. 81. sEs coi.cJ CT tEa
yoTe,aE.sat 4, to Use e7s7:tL:ag for
the civilization Of the INDIAN" and SO
ne must not be allowed food for his
stomach.
| At Fort Berthold one may see Old
soldiers, scouts who suffered and
fought nobly with our own white
troopers. They are now old and tot
tering. They have no pension. II
one of these goes to the agent { a
we'll disposed young fellow who was
never half dead with hunger) for a
ration" as last resort. he Is made
! to realize that 1t is mighty disgrace.
full thing to beg, but if ne can't posi-.
bly, get anything any other way to put
into his stomach to keep from starva-
ton he can have ration"
buried an old lady named MANY
Tee in a rough board box. She has
property amounting to several thoua.
and dollars. I did not know Of any
way to get decent coffin out Of her
property. am willing to be buried in
a blanket, but like to see A lady Of
wealth buried in a decent coffin.
No charity whatever is needed for
these starving Indians. They need
justice and that only. They need the
opportunity to live out Of their own
property. r%
If a white guardian should use
ward" as something called govern.
ment" uses its ward, the Indian, and
a court did not restrai nhim, the hon
est. citizens would mob him.
| Nearly 100000 has come already
from the sale of Indian lands. to white
+! settlers at Fort Berthold. Not a cent
of this has been paid to any Indian.
however hungery. Meanwhile the old
ones are dying off, and so cannot share
in any payments which may possibly
| come sometime. The old must starve
in order that all may be used for the
| civilization Of, the Indian. The
government calling itself the Indians
guardian has mot been interested in
securing to an Indian the right to
have food out of his own property,
and so there is no law made for this.
Why not give an Indian what is
given to him in money, good gold
| standard? There can be no dispute
as to the quantity and the quality OF
good money. Aye yes. and that's just
the real reason why certain parties
wish to give a "ration" and not give
money. When I ask for this my an.
sWer is the stock one when anything
sensible is desired. viz. mo law foFl
| it,"
There was no trouble in finding a
law or assuming law for allowing
| ea"beef trust to make cattle range
out OF the Standing Rock reservation.
It seems to be rather easy to find
law or a. decision or a precedent or
an implied meaning in statute for
this and that when powerful white
men wish to continue that robbery Of
Indians which has reached from coast
to coast, and from the Puritans to the
beef trust.
! The whole trouble is that the In
dians guardian, something called
government is guardian and court and
the beneficiary of any profit which
may come by an advantageous bar
gain or by refusing a just living.
There is to be sure a supreme court.
But when ii comes to Indian matters
the road to it is long.
| These Indians on the Standing Rock
reservation were making good pro-
| gress before the "beef trust cattle
came. They had on the average 81
cattle to each family.
The Indians were beginning to raise
eatables fairly we'll in spite Of the
fact that the government did then
and does now incline to corral them
on the reservation thus precluding
them from seeing how white men
farm, and working with them as farm
hands. -.a
Then came these stranger cattle.
OF course big herds crowd out small
ones. The Beef trust cattle are a
privileged class. One dares not
shoot arrows at them or set the dog
on them. ! have seen 400 of this pri-
vileged class swooping over the re-
servation,g balowing for hay which
heir owners did not provide for them.
Then they must break through fences
and eat the hay stacked by Indians.
They also eat up the Indians planted
field: A small remuneration for dam
ages, if paid. does not pay for the
loss OF the hay when it is sorely need
ed for ones own stock, nor for the
crop which. would appear in tho
autumn, nor for the incalculable loss
in destroying Indian hope and indus
try.
| Security in the possession Of prop
ertv is as essential to Industry among
Indians as it is among white men.
Why are these Beef trust cattle on
the Standing Rock reservation at
all? Is it intended for the good of the
Indians, or for the benefit Of other
parties? Why do not the indians
drive them and their keepers off from
the reservation? Because there is no
law for doing so, and Indians are by
instinct and by nature law:abiding
people. They are patriotic today.
They still hope for some redress OF
their grivances But the answer,
"NO 1aw for II nnnnne raaaiIv uhnn