Year: 1878

Every honorable, we'll informed anC fair man must admit that they have 6 . just claim upon the government and people for soil and water wherewith to produce their own living or 10 be given some help in the way of provi sions. They have soil enough on their present reserve but not sufficient water and these two facts have always been facts

 A mischieYous error is being put forth in this regard, and 1t has been propsgated by all grades of people from the humblest private to the high est official. In a telegraphic abstract of Gen. McDowell's report published last week in THE CITIZEN. we find the following:

 They are now suffering and are like fly to suffer from no act of their own, but by reason of settlements of whites on the Gila river above their farms, and the diversion of the water which they have heretofore been depending upon to lrrigate their ground.

 IL is a well known fact observed by old settlers both American and Mexican, that the water used by the settlers above the reservation, does not diminish the flow or supply upon the reserve. We are informed, and we believe credibly, that there was lack of water upon this reservation in years before citizens made settlements at any point above it, and that in such years the Indians cultivated lands on both the Gila and Salt rivers off the reserve. If this be true, and we are quite sure it is, the settlement of citizens above their reservation, deprived them of no water but did exclude them from cul- tivating land to which they had no better right, to say the least, than the settlers; and as soon as permanently settled upon by Americans or Mex jeans, the superior right belonged to the settlers. In thIs settlement, the Pima and MarIcopa Indians did not lose any legal right nor any water in connection with their own lands or reserve.

 We favor not only complete justice to these Indians, but all needful pro- visions for their support; yet we have no sympathy with the persistent effort to charge any of their wants 10 the greed of the settlers or to any of their acts. Admit that citizen settlements on Salt river and the Gila have limited the area of country formerly open to these Indians for cultivation when they saw fit or their necessities demanded 8 growing of crops off the reserve, such settlement was lawful and encouraged by the United States laws, and as we have shown it did not deprive the h. dians of any water they could depend upon on their reserve, and was not the cause of the present insufficient sup ply. The settlers did what they had a lawful right to do. Can Gen. McDow- ell or any other officer or man fairly object to their lawful conduct? If not, then why always give the impression in reports, that the Indian is unjusily deprived of his rights and means of a livelihood by the settlers-either of whom should be as firmly maintained in his lawful rights and acts, as Gen. McDOwell or any other man:

 Whenever the poor Indians, and in many respects he is poor indeed and entitled to practical sympathy, is in trouble or suffering, demagogues, flip pant officers and even others, take up the hsckneyed and usually false charge, that struggling and hard work ing settlers are at fault. They talk as f it were crime for a poor man to go upon the public lands in strict ac- cordance with law, and there produce the necessities of life for himself and family. And 10 close this branch of the subject, we must say that such talk nearly always comes from officers, many of whom owe their education, daily food and clothes and standing among men to drafts on the United States Treasury, and who have never produced pound of food nor a stitch of clothes in their lives. They are a precious lot 10 create prejudice and barriers to the struggling citizen, whose only means of support is his honest tillage of the soil.

 Now as to the Plmas and Maricopas' needs: They are frequently short of water on their reserve and hence m need. They are clearly entitled to soil and water with which to produce a living, or have direct help from gov ernment the same as Gen. Mcdowell gets. It is demonstrated that all these Indians cannot every year subsist on what they can produce on their re- serve. The government should st once and without injury or injustice to set tiers, provide them with land and water enough. IL is far better to do this than to feed and cloihe them to- any extent. Every healthy person should be compelled to earn his or her own living, and these Indians are wll- ling to earn theirs.

 Let us have 8 rest from official raids on settlers. and have an earnest effort to provide land snd water together for these Indians. Let all side and false issues he sci at real and inc naoasaar,,