| Show Uncle Sam Reports on His Real Estate Deals With His Red Children He Bought 2600 Square Miles at Average of 48 Cents an Acre 1 i By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ATSON V Released by Western Newspaper Union I RECENTLY DECENTLY the department 1 of the issued a new colored map the first of its kind which h shows how Uncle Sam since 1790 has acquired the na na- nations nation's nations nation's na- na nations nation's tion's public domain from 66 principal Indian tribes by some treaties and numerous acts of congress A study of this map shows that these cessions by the red man constitute about 95 I of the public domain or some some- somes' somes 1 s' s thing like square miles f t. t In so far as the aggregate cost of this land was approximately that that means a little littlemore littlemore littlemore more than a square mile or approximately 48 cents an acre it it would seem that Uncle Sam certainly got a bargain in these dealings with his red children In a statement issued at the time the map was released Secretary Harold Ickes of the department of the interior declared that while questions are still frequently raised I as to whether the Indians received fair prices for their land the rec rec- records records I show that except in a very few cases where military duress was present the prices were such as to satisfy the Indians Discussions of enhancement of land prices from original costs to the present esti- esti estimated estimated estimated mated value of nearly 40 billion dollars only lead to idle specula specula- tion There is no equitable basis of value comparison then and now f. f Some Black Pages While le the history of our dealings 1 with the Indians contains some black pages since the days of the early settlers there has been a fixed policy based upon the principle of free purchase and sale in dealings between the native inhabitants of the land and the white immigrants In no other continent has any seri- seri serif serit t l f ous attempt ever been made to deal with a weak aboriginal population I on these terms i 1 While the 15 million dollars that we paid to Napoleon in the Louisiana Purchase was merely in compensation tion for his rus cession of political au- au authority authority authority we proceeded to pay the In- In Indian Indian Indian dian tribes of the ceded territory f more than 20 times this sum for such lands as they were willing to sell Moreover the Indian tribes were wise enough to reserve from their cessions sufficient land to bring jy f them hem an income that each year ex- ex eeds seeds the amount of our payment to tov v Napoleon f r I It is true as Secretary Ickes says that that in the majority of cases the Indians probably received a fair t f price for their lands since there is no equitable basis of value compari compari- comparison son OD but it is doubtful if the Sioux the Nez Perces the and the to to name only a few would few would T r r. agree with Mr Ickes that the prin principle principle principle ciple of free purchase and sale had hadN N been observed in their dealings with the Great White Father Certainly t s they have reason to regard his treat treat- treatment treats ment meat of them as some of the black pages which the secretary men men- mentions mentions mentions l in which military duress was very definitely present Louisiana Territory r Since Mr Ickes mentions the Lou Lou- Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana I Purchase it might be well to examine briefly the record of our ouri i governments government's dealings with one of the aboriginal occupants of that re re- region region gion glon the Sioux For generations these Dakotas had occupied a vast empire expire along the Missouri river in in- including inI I eluding most of the present states of North and South Dakota and parts of Nebraska Wyoming and Mon Mon- tana Gradually their territory had been reduced by a series of treaties until they held only their choicest hunting grounds in the Black Hills the Powder river country and the Big fg Horn mountains That was guaranteed to them by bythe bythe bythe the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 as asa asa asa a permanent reservation and be be- besides besides besides sides they were granted for as long longas as there were buffalo on the plains the right to hunt on any land north of the Platte This reservation was to be considered Indian territory in which no white per per- person person person son or persons shall be permitted to settle or occupy any portion of the same or without the consent of the Indians first had and obtained to pass through the same Moreover it H was agreed that no subsequent treaty should be considered valid unless executed and signed by at al least three-fourths three of all the adult male Indians occupying and inter inter- interested interested interested ested in the same same The government kept its promise less than a year Four months after the President had proclaimed the Fort Laramie treaty General Sher Sher- Sherman Sherman Sherman man noted for his only Indian is-a-dead-Indian is philosophy issued an order that all Indians not actually on their reservations reserva were to be under the jurisdiction of the army and as a rule will be considered hostile Then came the announce announce- announcement announcement announcement ment that the Northern Pacific rail rail- railroad railroad railroad road was to be built across the north north- northern northern northern ern part of the Sioux hunting lands and soon afterwards the Great White Father sent surveyors protected by soldiers into this region without tak tak- taking taking taking ing the trouble to ask the Sioux for permission to pass through the same In 1874 Gen George A. A Custer and his Seventh cavalry were sent to ex ex- explore explore explore the Black Hills Hills again again without asking permission of the Sioux to ft CALICO IN PERPETUITY An important provision of the treaty of 1794 1791 whereby the United States ac acquired ac- ac acquired lands from the Iroquois Con Con- Confederacy was that there should be bean bean an annual distribution of calico among members of the Six Nations This provision is still car car- carried carried ried out each year with appropriate ceremonies in observance of perpetual ual peace and friendship with the Iroquois Shown here at a typical ceremony is Florence a descendant of old Iroquois chiefs who received the rolls of calico for distribution I whom the Black Hills sah Pah-sah-pah was almost sacred soil Then a newspaper man who accompanied Custer duster flashed to the world the elec elec- electrifying electrifying electrifying news that gold had been dis dis- discovered discovered dis- dis discovered covered in the Hills and Custers Custer's of- of official report not not only confirmed this but it was also an ecstatic de de- description description de- de description of the beauties of that re- re re gion The result was inevitable Justified Treaty Breach Prospectors and miners flocked to the new El EI Dorado For a time the government went through the mo- mo motions I lions of expelling the intruders then gave it up as a hopeless job Hav Hav- Having Having Having ing failed to keep the whites out of the Black Hills the governments government's next step was to find some way to justify this violation of the Laramie treaty A good excuse came when several bands of the Sioux notably Sitting Bulls Bull's and Crazy Horses Horse's who were hunting in the Powder river country as they I had a perfect right to do failed to toI return to their reservations within I the time limit set by the Indian bu bu- bu- bu reau January 31 1876 The fact that it was almost physically im im- impossible impossible im- im impossible possible for the Sioux to obey this order within the time allowed didn't make any difference to the Indian bureau On February 1 the Indian com com- commissioner commissioner commissioner missioner proclaimed all Sioux who were not on the reservation hos hostiles hostiles hostiles tiles and called on the army to round them up Then followed the campaigns of Generals Crook Ter Ter- Terry Terry Terry ry Gibbon and Miles against these hostile Sioux and in 77 1876 which either compelled the surrender of the Indians or drove them across the border into Canada Even before the campaign was over a commission was sent to treat with the Sioux and arrange for the ces ces- cession cession cession sion of lands which the Fort Lara Lara- Laramie Laramie Laramie mie treaty had guaranteed to them forever Concerning this commission which began its work in August 1876 Doane Robinson in his History of the Sioux Indians South Dakota Historical Collections writes The commission says While the Indians received us as os friends and listened with kind attention to our proposition we were pain painfully fully Impressed with their lack of con con- confidence confidence In the pledges of the tho government At times they told their story of wrongs with such Impressive earnestness that our cheeks checks crimsoned with shame In their speeches and recitals of wrongs which their people had suffered at the hands bands of the whites the arraignment for gross acts of Injustice and fraud the description of treaties made only to be broken the doubts and distrusts of our present profession of friendship and good will were portrayed In colors so vivid and language so terser that admiration and surprise would have l I pt ept us silent had not shame and humiliation done so That which made this arraignment arraJ ment mentmore more telling was that It often came from the Ups lips of men who arc are our friends and who had bad hoped against hope that the day might come when their wrongs would be redressed Sioux Had ad to Like It Since the Sioux didn't have much choice In the matter they signed the treaty offered them Heres Here's what another historian says about it not an Indian historian but a white his his- historian historian historian torian George E. E Hyde author of Red Clouds Cloud's Folk Folk Folk-A A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians writes But the object had been attained at last and under the cloud of war the government had taken the Black Hills the Powder River lands and the Bighorn country The pre pre- pretense pretense tense of formal agreement and fair pay payment ment which congress had devised to veil this act of robbery did not even deceive the Indians The chiefs knew that they were being b robbed and that they were forced to sign away their lands Here arc beef flour and blankets said the tho United States for your lands In Laramie Plains and between the forks of the Platte which we took from you before 1865 and here said the United States are the same beef flour and blan blan- blankets blankets for your lands In Nebraska which we took before 1870 and said the United States with an air of vast generosity here hero are the same beef beet flour and blankets for forthe forthe forthe the Black Blaek Hills lUlls the Powder River and the Bighorn lands Which we are now taking from you In all fairness that is very near the true meaning of the agreement of 1876 by means of which these last lands were taken from the Sioux So the Sioux were finally settled on ona ona ona a greatly reduced reservation with with- within within within in the present states of North and South Dakota But even then the Great White Father wasn't through with them In 1888 another commission com com- commission commission mission went to the Standing Rock reservation to swing the cession of 11 million acres of Sioux lands at a fixed price of 50 cents an acre an outrageous robbery Stanley Ves Ves- Vestal Vestal Vestal tal biographer of Sitting Bull calls it and break up the great Sioux reservation into smaller ones Sitting Sit Sit- Sitting Sitting ting Bull lined up the chiefs against it then went to Washington where he succeeded in getting the price raised to an acre The next year another commission came to Standing Rock to bargain with the Sioux at the new price but found themselves blocked at every evert turn by Sitting Bull Finally by making various promises many of which were never kept incident incident- incidentally incidentally incidentally ally they managed to get enough chiefs to agree to the sale So in inthe inthe inthe the words of Vestal the cession was signed the great Sioux Reser Reser- Reservation Reservation Reservation was only a memory It was the death of a nation Among the promises that were not kept was one about supplying rations to the Sioux penned up on their reduced reserva reserva- reservations reservations reservations and in the winter of 91 1890 that broken promise bore bitter fruit For the Sioux suffering from hunger and disillusionment became easy victims to the apostles of the Ghost Dance and before that excite excite- excitement excitement ment ent was over the shameful story of the massacre at Wounded Knee had been written on one of the black pages which Secretary Ickes mentions As indicated previously some of the other black pages bear the stories of our dealings with the Nez Perces the and the That is why it is likely that any member of those tribes as well as the Sioux who reads the secretary's statement about a fixed policy based upon the principle of free purchase and sale in dealings be be- between between between tween the native inhabitants of the theland theland theland land and the white immigrants will probably smile smile and and there wont won't be much humor in that smile I |
