Year: 1875

THE DETECTIVE PRESS AND THE SIOUX


DELEGATION.


The efforts of the Opposition to defame
the Administration, and detract from the
good name which the President is earning
by his labors in behalf of the Government,
are as indefatigable as they are unscruPu-
lous. His manner of treating the Sioux
delegation now here is among the most re-
cent subjects of Misrepresentation. No
man of common sense who understands the
questions involved will hesitate to indorse
our statement that the best interests of the
country require the removal of these In
dians from the Black Hills region. That
region is, in fact, incapable of supporting
them even if they were willing to work for
their own support, which they are not. Fur
ther, wild game is not sufficiently abundant
there to provide for their wants, and they
are, consequently, compelled at certain
seasons of the year annual hunts to
seek buffalo and antelope elsewhere with
which to provide themselves with dried or
jerked beef The Government has, con-
sequently, been called upon to defray the
entire expense of their support, and in
doing so has, in effect, nurtured them in
idleness until they have grown impudent
and arrogant with the belief that they
are, by right Of ancestral occupancy, the
rulers of the entire continent. OF course
this belief is not original with them. 1t is
the result of the teachings of white men
who have lived and married-God save the
mark among them, and whose sordid in
terests require that they shall not be dis
turbed by Christianizing or civilizing in
fluences. Fat, lazy, cruel, icentious, self
conceited and puffed up with ignorant
pride, the only object sought by these
noble % red men is an easy and SEN
suous method of living at the public
expense. When Red Cloud asked yester-
day to be clad in good clothes" such as
those worn by Secretary Delano and Com
missioner Smith, he betrayed the ignorant
agrarian spirit which could only have been
bred of naughty selflove and belief that
Congress is in duty bound to pay him for
imaginary services, as it is to pay the
officials mentioned for real services. In
short, there has been nothing In his de-
meanor or in his remarks since his arrival
that does not plainly indicate his self-suf-
fcient reliance in the theory that he is a
terrible man, whose power and assumed
rights the pale-faces fear and respect.
What we have said of Red Cloud may be
truthfully said of the balance. Relying
on these assumptions, they have attempted
to dictate their own terms, and when the
President successfully began to antagonize
this dictation, he should have received,
and did receive, the support of every man
in the country who cares farthing for the
benefits to be derived from fan impartial
settlement of the questions involved. But
the disreputables in journalism like Chas.
A Dana, Whitelaw Reid and Theodore
Tilton-if the latter were not engaged in
traducing his wife he would join the
Dana Reid gang-immediately raised a
howl that the Administration has prosti-
tuted itself to advance the interests of
some imaginary Indian ''ring," and that
its treatment of the delegation is
unjust. They use the word
''ring" with as reckless disregard of
its application as their fellow saVages, suit
lers, traders and 'squaw.men," use the
word How" They know they do not
tell the truth; but for that they do not
trouble themelves. Apt as they are to
quote musty reports from Indian Commis
sioners, and the statements of observing
travellers, they do not use their knowledge
of the true condition of affairs to enlighten
their readers, but to mislead them. In the
same way they conceal other statistics,
while they give currency to every breath
of suspicion, and exaggerate each ground
less rumor, or distort wel-estsblished facts,
to serve their purpose of malignant SANDER.
But the people are beginning to understand
the subject. 1t is acknowledged that gold
and other valuable minerals abound in the
Black Hills to greater or less extent and
that the Indians are both incapable and
unwilling either to seek them or utilize
them when found. At the same time they
iHterpose serious objection to the intrusion
of white gold-seekers within the limits of
their reservation. In brief, they insist that
while the citizens of the United States pay
taxes for their support, they maintain that
those citizens shall not be allowed to de-
velop the resources Of the country. Ac-
cepting the situation as it thus stands, and
designing to accomplish prsiseworthy bit
of economy, the Administration has gener-
ously rendered another reservation to
these imperious miscreants, in exchange
for their bleak, though valuable hills.
That reservation is located in the Indian
Territory, a section which will furnish
to them an abundance of game and encour-
aging opportunities to learn the art of self
support. Should they accept the offer they
will forthwith enter upon a new mode of
life, because they will become at once &C
cessible to the influences of civilization and
at the same time will lessen the expense Of
their support by the Government. Instead
of being dependent upon the Government
for everything, they will have chance to
become independent of it in every respect.
The Government will also be benefited by
the development of the mineral wealth and
q corresponding increase Of its resources.


This is the whole case in nutshell. On
the one hand are large bands of worthless
savages, inspired by the Detective press
and the shreWd manipulations of white
men who "have Indian wives" attempt
ing to stem the tide of civilization and in
dustrY; while on the other is the Admins
tration, attempting to open the way for the
| Advancement of new interests and the COM
plete development of the mineral wealth of
the continent The United States, it must
be remembered, is not ;alone interested in
this matter, and when the Detective press
attempts to throw obstacles in the way of
the officials who are seeking basis for its
impartial settlement, it simply places itself
in defiance of the desires of the entire civil
lied world.