m oney] CAUSES OF THE OUTBREAK 837 



The other class, comprising a large majority of Indians of the reservation, have 

 accepted the situation forced upon them, and have been for years bravely struggling 

 in the effort to reconcile themselves to the ways of civilization and moral progress, 

 with a gratifying degree of success. It is this class whose complaints and griev- 

 ances demand considerate attention. They complain in true Indian style that they 

 only have kept faith in all treaties made with them, and that somehow the treaties 

 when they appeared in print were not in many respects the treaties which they signed. 



Tiny complain principally — 



(1) That tlie boundaries of the reservat ion in the treaty of 1*77 are not what they 

 agreed to and thought they were signing on the paper, and they especially empha- 

 size the point that the line of the western boundary should be a straight lint at the 

 Black Hills, instead of as it appears on the maps. 



(2) That they have never received full recompense for the ponies taken from them 

 in 1876. 



(3) That the game has been destroyed and driven out of the country by tie white 

 people. 



(4) That their children are taken from them to eastern schools and kept tor years, 

 instead id' being educated among them. 



(5) That when these eastern graduates return to them with civilized habits, edu- 

 cation, and trades, there is no provision made on the reservation for their employ- 

 ment and improvement to the benefit of themselves and their people. 



(6) That the agents and employees sent out to them have not all been --good men" 

 and considerate of their (the Indians') interests and welfare. 



(7 That the issue of their annuity goods is delayed so late in the winter as to 

 cause them much suffering. 



(8) That they are expected to plow the land and raise grain when the climate will 

 not permit them to reap a crop. They think cattle should be issued to them for 

 breeding purposes instead of farming implements for useless labor. 



(9) That the rations issued to them are insufficient in quantity and frequently 

 (beef and Hour) very poor in quality. 



Complaints 2. 3, 1, 5, 7, 8, and tl are all well founded and justified by the facts in 

 each case, No. 9 especially so, and this through no fault or negligence of the agent. 

 The agent makes his annual estimate for sustenance in kind for the number of people 

 borne on his rolls, based on the stipulated ration in treaty of 1877. This estimate is 

 modified or cut down in the Indian Commissioner's office to meet the requirements 

 of a limited or reduced Congressional appropriation, and when it returns to the 

 agent's hands approved, he finds that he has just so many pounds of beef and Hour, 

 etc, placed to his credit for the year, without regard to whether they constitute the 

 full number of treaty rations or not. There is no allowance given him for loss by 

 shrinkage, wastage, or other unavoidable loss, and with the very best efforts and 

 care in the distribution throughout the year of this usually reduced allowance there 

 cannot he issued to each Indian his treaty ration nor enough to properly sustain 

 life. As a general thing the Indians of this reservation have been compelled to pur- 

 chase food according to their means, between ration issues. Those having no means 

 of purchase have suffered. 



The half pound of flour called for by the treaty ration could not be issued in full, 

 and the half pound of corn required has never been issued nor anything in lieu of it. 

 In the item of beef but 1 pound was issued instead of the pound and a half called for 

 in the treaty, and during the early spring months, when the cattle on the range are 

 thin and poor, the pound of beet issued to the Indian is but a fraction of the pound 

 issued to him on the agent's returns, and, under the system of purchase in practice 

 until the present fiscal year, must necessarily be so. The agent's purchase of the 

 beef supply on the hoof for the year, tinder contract, is closed in the month of No- 

 vi ihIm i . from which time he has to herd them the balance of the year as best he can. 

 He is responsible for the weight they show on the scales when fat and in prime con- 

 dition, so that a steer weighing 1,200 pounds in the fall must represent 1,200 pounds 



