Evening star., 1923-05-10
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

If there is anything which anybody
wants to know, just ask Uncle Sam
ueI. He has opened a new bureau of
information about all the manifold
activities Of all departments Of the
government, and this question bureau
is ready either to give, directly, the
detailed information wanted along
all lines of knowledge, from science
to political economy-or, as it has
been put. from accidents to zoology
or 1t will tell where the information
can be obtained. Address inquiries
Of the United States bureau of eff
cheney. 1t might even help make out
an income tax statement, or explain
the rise in sugar prices.
X X =
The largest suit ever fled in any
American court is that of the Sioux
Indian tribe. brought against the
United States in the Court of Claims.
which suit was entered last week.
The claim is for $750.000.000, with
interest on part of the claim.
1t is the amount alleged to be due
the Indians for Minnesota and Dakota
land. including the Black Hills gold
land in western South Dakota which,
il is alleged the tribe owned and the
government took without accepted
treaty.
The history of the Sioux in their
relation with the whites is perhaps
the bloodest of any tribal relations
since the coming of the whites into
the great west. They were allies of
the British in the war Of 1912. They
warred on the whites in 1876, and
when they imagined the north was
defenseless in 1862, they suddenly
made war and committed massacre
at New Ulm, Mimi. threatening all OF
southern Minnesota. They were chas-
ed by our troops through what is ne"
North Dakota. and they crossed the
Canadian boundary, completely routed
X X
Some years after that massacre
there was a tribe of Indians encamp-
ed near Prince Albert. Saskatchewan
(250 miles north of the United States
boundary. whose language was un-
known to the whites about there. The
origin of the tribe was d mystery,
which was finally solved by an Amer
lean woman missionary. who had
long been teaching a I or near Prince
Albert She made friends with the
Indians. and by prolonged efforts.
became able 10 understand their dia-
lect In spite of their efforts to con-
ceal their identity she identified them
as part of the renegade Sioux. Some
inv
present writer visited Prince Albert
and was taken by that missionary
across the Saskatchewan river to
visit the Indian camp, but was warn
ed not TO betray the fact that ne was
an American. for the Indians were
still afraid of identification.
!:
Upon the military chase across the
Dakotas, Maj. W. D. Bracket OF MIN
neapolis was in charge of herd Of
cattle accompanying the Army for
meat supplies, and while they We're
near Devils lake, in the extreme
northern part OF the state, several
of the cattle stampeded and Were
lost in the night upon the bound
less prairie. That was in the fall.
In the following spring, 1869, Maj
Bracket chanceu to be at Fort Sisse
ton. in South Dakota, when he and
some other officers saw upon the
distant horizon L bunch of what they
thought were buffalo. The officers
rode after them for the sport, and
discovered that they were the lost
cattle of the previous fall. The
cattle had wcathered the winter
upon the open prairie, and had grown
lat upon the wild buffalo grass"
which for many years after was
found sufficiently nutritious to fatten
vast herds Of cattle shelterless upon
the blizlard-sw prairies. That
was the original discovery of the
value of the prairies of Dakota for
cattle raising-an industry which en-
riched many cattle raiser in later
years. The incident of the stampeded
cattle and their subsequent recovery
by Maj. Bracket was related to the
writer by Maj. Bracket himself.
The significance of the cattle story
in connection with the enormous
claim today of the Sioux lies in
the fact that up to the time when
the Sioux committed their massacre.
in 1862, that Dakota prairie was con-
ceived by all to be a part of the