CONCLUSION. 433 



tions of land which they regard as theirs ; to restrict 

 themselves thereafter within certain limits, carefully 

 defined and described, and to abstain from war, raids, 

 thefts, and depredations of any kind. This treaty goes 

 to Congress, is approved and enacted into a law. 



And with what result ? 



The Government does not pay the annuities agreed 

 upon, but by its negligence connives at the constant 

 robbery perpetrated by its agents. The amount of money 

 appropriated by Congress is ample for the support and 

 comfort of the Indians, provided they get it or its 

 equivalent. 



But they do not get it. Cheated in quantity and 

 quality of rations and of goods, cheated in transportation, 

 the appropriation burdened by expenses of numerous 

 commissions, of deputations of a favoured few Indians 

 to Washington and the eastern cities, it is doubtful if the 

 Indians derive any benefit from more than 20 per cent, 

 of the vast sum appropriated. 



Again. After the treaty is made, some speculator 

 finds out that there is a valuable tract of arable or tim- 

 bered lands within the lines of the reservation. A few 

 chiefs are bribed or coaxed into agreement. A ' ring ' is 

 formed. The ' lobby ' gets to work upon it, and a re- 

 cession of a goodly slice of the reservation is the result. 

 The Government takes no steps to prevent the encroach- 

 ment of whites upon Indian territory. 



The greed of the individual Indian will cause him to 

 sell his daughter to a white man. That man, while 

 claiming protection from Government and all his rights 

 as a white, yet becomes a part of the tribe. He draws 

 rations for himself and children, as Indians. He builds 

 himself a house on Indian ground, from which Govern- 

 ment has promised by treaty that he shall be excluded. 

 He takes advantage of the improvidence of the Indians 

 to buy up their surplus rations in the day of plenty, to 

 sell them back at enormous profits in their day of want. 



F F 



