Evening star., 1916-05-28

HNO learn that 1856 Sioux Indians
may now claim the rights of
American citizenship. may vote
and fight and pay taxes for their coun-
try's sake and do other things equally
prideful or necessary sets the average
man to thinking rather gravely-
The rights of the red men is a subject
of peculiar interest to the Secretary Of
the Interior, Mr.. Lane. who represented
the government In the ceremony ad-
mitting these Indians into citizenship
Upon his return from the reservation
recently he seemed to take pleasure in
discussing his policies in the matter
and relating the unique ceremony in
detail.
The Yankton reservation in South
Dakota is the home of about 1000
Sioux, who have been living there for
fifty years. on the edge of the Missouri
river. Though coming from the more
warlike tribes, these natives never give
any trouble. In fact, the fiber of the
race has been breaking down on &C
count of our orphan asylum attitude
toward nearly all our Indians.
Thrown upon their own resources,
they would become economically lnde-
pendent. Those that are competent
should be free from supervision And
in accordance with this idea l created
a competency commission and told the
members to go through the 1ankton
reservation and see who could look
after their own affairs.
about 100 who were found to be COM
petent did not want to make applica-
tion to share in all rights of the pale
he nd
they preferred to have the United
States look after their business. as II did
this very we'll Many who held this
view were men of substance.
Several farms l visited showed
number Of fine horses. one or two
farmers had autos. Still. they did not
pay taxes TO either county or state On
the other hand, many On the reserva-
lion had already made application for
citizenship Altogether. the commits
sion found about $50 who were capable.
whether desirous or no, OF joining the
ranks and rights of their white broth
ers-
These two classes of men and wom-
en- were notitied that they would be
given full citizenship-that is, patents
IN fee-so they would have to look
after their own loans. Before this pol
icy was inaugurated in any large way
/ thought IL best to 20 out there. |
went directly to the agency. which Is
down on the bank OF the missouri
river and Saturday morning, which
was the 18th of May. the Indians be-
gan coming in. There were all kinds
of conveyances. There must have been
thirty or forty automobiles and be-
tween two and three hundred car
r!ages. Some red men came on foot.
Every horse there was a good one. The
land lies thirty miles from the near
est railroad. and 1t was a typical gath
ering of Indians. The hnest-iooking
were ful. -bloods.
"On mound facing the river there
was a tepee, md near that a tent and
platform. The commiss toner's of the
county and other officials were upon
the platform. while the Indians were
grouped around in front in a half
circle. some standing. others sitting
about on the grass. There were sew
ersi hundred of them"
Here Secretary Lane called his sec
retary for what he termed the ritual
on admission of Indians to full Ameri-
can citizenship. and said that he began
the ceremony with these opening words
of the ritual:
The President of the United States
has sent me to speak solemn and Sc
rious word to you. word that means