mookev] CAUSES OF THE OUTBREAK 835 



(5) Failure of the government to issue to sncli Indians the lull number of rows 

 anil oxen provided in article 10. treaty of 1876. 



(7) Failure of the government to issue to the Indians the full ration stipulated in 

 article 5, treaty of 1870. (For the fiscal year beginning .Inly 1, 1890, the following 

 shortages in the rations were found to exist : 485,275 pounds of beef [gross], 761,212 

 pounds of corn, 11,037 pounds of coffee, 281,712 pounds of Hour, 26,234 pounds of 

 sugar, and 30,852 pounds of beans. Although the obligations of the government 

 extend no further than furnishing so much of the ration prescribed in article 5 as 

 may be necessary for the support of the Indians, it would seem that, owing to the 

 almost total failure of crops upon the Standing Rock reservation for the past four 

 years, and the absence of game, the necessity for the issue of the full ration to the 

 Indians here was never greater than at the present timi — l'ecember, 1800.) 



(8) Failure of the government to issue to the Indians the full amount of annuity 

 supplies to which they were entitled under the provisions of article 10, treaty of 

 1868. 



(0) Failure of the government to have the clothing and other annuity supplies 

 ready for issue on the first day of August of each year. Such supplies have not been 

 ready for issue to the Indians, as a rule, until the winter season is well advanced. 

 (After careful examination at this agency, the commanding officer is convinced that 

 not more than two-thirds of the supplies provided in article 10 have been issued 

 there, and the government has never complied with that provision of article 10 

 which requires the supplies enumerated in paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 of said article to 

 ho delivered on or before the first day of August of each year. Such supplies for 

 the present fiscal year, beginning duly 1, 1890, had trot yet reached (December. 1890) 

 the nearest railway station, about 60 miles distant, from which point they must, at 

 this season of the year, be freighted to this agency in wagons. It is now certain 

 that the winter will be well advanced before the Indians at this agency receive their 

 annual allowance of clothing and other annuity supplies. I 



(10) Failure of the government to appropriate money for the payment of the 

 Indians for the ponies taken from them, by the authority of the government, in 

 1876. 



In conclusion, the commanding officer says: "It, however, appears from the fore- 

 going, that the government has failed to fulfill its obligations, and in order to render 

 the Indians law-abiding, peaceful, contented, and prosperous it is strongly recom- 

 mended that the treaties be promptly and fully carried out, and that the promises 

 made by the commission in 1880 be faithfully kept." 



[The reports from Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Cheyenne River, and Yankton agencies ore of similar tenor. 

 Following are two telegrams sent front the tield by General Miles at the beginning of the trouble.'] 



Rapid City, South Dakota, December 19. 1S90. 

 Senator Dawes, 



Washington. District of Columbia: 



You may be assured of the following facts that can not be gainsaid: 



First. The forcing process of attempting to make large bodies of Indians self-sus- 

 taining when the government was cutting down their rations and their crops almost 

 a failure, is one cause of the difficulty. 



Second. While the Indians were urged and almost forced to sign a treaty presented 

 to them by the commission authorized by Congress, in which they gave up a valua- 

 ble portion of their reservation which is now occupied by white people, the govern- 

 ment has failed to fulfill its part of the compact, and instead of an increase or even 

 a reasonable supply for their support, they have been compelled to live on half and 

 two- thirds rations, and received nothing for the surrender of their lands, neither has 

 the government given any positive assurance that they intend to do any differently 

 with them in the future. 



Congress has been in session several weeks and could, if it were disposed, in a few 

 hours confirm the treaties that its commissioners have made with these Indians and 



