The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1926-02-25
HELP THE INDIANS.

w non tne lnOlan uprising nlb
Minnesota in 1852, the Chippewas
remained orderly and friendly
while the Sioux, rebelling against
the injustice of toe Indian Bureau,
took the war path and massacred
the whites. = 49,
What is the reward of these In.
dians todaya ..
The Sioux were exiled from
Minnesota but their condition to-
day in North Dakota is considered
good. A treaty made with them
later was kept by the government
-one of the few, if not the only,
Indian treaty so kept. II
The Chippewas, pauperized,
downtrodden, rendered worse tnan
poems, are starving to death in
Minnesota ridden by the age old
diseases attendant on maluntrition.
A treaty made with them in 1889
was broken in 1890 and since that
time every provision of it has been
smashed. ....-
Among the ,Chippewas there are
more than 10000 competent In.
dians. And yet they are worse
than slaves because, though they
must obey orders and remain with.
in prescribed limits, they are not
even fed the slumgullion that
slave would receive.
Such rations as are distributed
are far from sufficient and those
who need them most, the sick and
the aged and the children, cannot
travel the distance necessary to go.
to get them.
Families are huddled withit rot
ten shacks, sleeping ou rags with
out such a thing as a mattress in
the place, with not enough cloth
ing to enable more than one to go
out of doors at q time.
If q rabbit can be caught and
killed it is boiled for food. One
meal day is the rule, when there
is such good fortune, and tuber.
culosis and trachoma are rampant.
When a horse died of starvation
and the carcass froze there was a
feast for seme of the Indians. This
terrible thing finally awakened
Minnesota to the situation.
Governor Christianson promised
to name a committee to lnvesti
gate. And this was the first
official investigation of condi-
tions in the winter time.
Minneapolis business men, rely
ing on an Investigation made in
the summer, turned cold should
er to the Indian situation.
But an organization of volun-
teers, which sent the only un-
official investigators who ever
visited the Indians at Cass Lake
and vicinity in the winter time, is
trying tt, do what it can for the
relief of the Chippewas. It is
sending..what food and clothes it
can get to them. But the attitude
of business organizations has pre-
vented them from receiving she
whole. hearted support that the
project deserves.
There should have been an i'm
mediate response to the call for
help. Every man, woman and
child in the country who has
enough food for his own use should
have contributed something to the
aid of the Indians. Every bit of
clothing or bedding that could be
spared should have been turned
over to this organization for the
relief of the Indians.
This is the first step necessary.
Halt the suffering. Then let the
matter of the liberating of the
10000 or more competent Indians
be taken up SO that they may
begin to help in the care of tie
remaining incompetents.
If Minnesota has any sympathy
in its heart for the tribe that
stuck by the whites during the
Sioux massacres, let them re.
member the plight of the Chippe.
was when they are again called
upon for aid for these Indians in
tho winter time