608 



INDIAN POINT INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION 



[b. a. k. 



erty by bringing to them governmental 

 and private aid. The league strives to 

 aid the Indians in any way that offers 

 even temporary self-support, like that 

 derived from their aboriginal industries. 

 It believes in the assimilation of the In- 

 dians into the national life, in the al)ol- 

 ishment of reservations, and in the free- 

 dom of the Indians to live and work 

 where they please. ( f. c. s. ) 



Indian Point. A village on the site of 

 Lisbon, N. Y., occupied after the Revo- 

 lution by Catholic Iroquois removed 

 thither by the English Government until 

 they were dispersed in 1806, when they 

 retired to Onondaga and' St Regis. — Shea, 

 Cath. Miss., 342, 1855. 



Indian Rights Association. A nonpolit- 

 ical, nonsectarian body organized in Phil- 

 adelphia, Dec. 15, 1882, by gentlemen 

 who met in respon.se to an invitation of 

 Mr John Welsh to consider the best 

 method of producing such public feeling 

 and Congressional action as should secure 

 civil rights and education to the Indians, 

 and in time bring about their civilization 

 and admission to citizenship. When the 

 association began its work much of the 

 country over which the Indians roamed 

 was sparsely settled; outbreaks had been 

 frequent; comparatively little attention 

 was paid to the Indians' rights and 

 wrongs, and ignorance concerning Indian 

 affairs was widespread. When the tide 

 of emigration swept westward, and set- 

 tlers, good and bad, began crowding the 

 Indians more and more, it was evident 

 that measures should be adopted whereby 

 the Indian could be adapted to his new 

 artificial environment. The work con- 

 fronting the association was one of mag- 

 nitude. It was necessary to procure 

 accurate knowledge of actual conditions, 

 which could be done only by frequent 

 visits to the Indian country. The infor- 

 mation thus obtained had to be brought 

 to the attention of the public in order 

 that sufficient pressure might be exerted 

 on Congress and the Executive. This 

 was done by dissemination of information 

 in pamphlets and leaflets, by public ad- 

 dresses, and by announcements through 

 the public press. The association gradu- 

 ally won the respect and confidence of 

 the public. The accuracy of its state- 

 ments is rarely questioned now, and an 

 appeal to the press on any matter recjuir- 

 ing attention from Congress or the public 

 usually meets with ready response. In 

 the beginning the association was re- 

 garded by a few as maintaining visionary 

 theories, and was viewed by some Gov- 

 ernment officials as a meddlesome and 

 irresponsible body; but the Office of In- 

 dian Affairs came to regard it as a friendly 

 critic and welcomed its aid. The asso- 

 ciation has a representative in Washing- 



ton to cooperate with the Office of Indian 

 Affairs, to bring to the attention of the 

 Commissioner matters requiring adjust- 

 ment, to scrutinize legislation relating to 

 Indian affairs, and to inform members of 

 Congress regarding the merits or demer- 

 its of 1 tending bills. Vicious legislation, 

 when it can not be defeated in committee, 

 is vigorously fought in Congress through 

 personal presentation and by letters and 

 pamphlets, with frequent appeals to the 

 Executive. 



Many of the laws enacted by Congress 

 with a view of improving the condition 

 of the Indian have been prompted by the 

 association. Among those of a general 

 nature is the statute of Feb. 8, 1887, 

 known as the "general severalty act," 

 which authorizes allotments. Under this 

 law the title to Indian lands is held by 

 the Government in most cases for 25 

 years, but in the meantime the allot- 

 tee is subject to the laws in common with 

 other citizens. More recent is the enact- 

 ment of a statute, drafted by the associa- 

 tion, designed to defeat the monopoly 

 that has so largely controlled Indian 

 trade, the law now providing that any 

 person of good moral character shall be 

 granted a license on application. 



The courts have frequentlj^ been ap- 

 pealed to by the association in the en- 

 deavor to secure justice. The Warner 

 Ranch (Mis-ion Indian) case, appealed 

 from the local courts of California to the 

 Supreme Court of the United States, was 

 in its inception espoused by the associa- 

 tionand prosecuted by it to the final de- 

 cree of the highest tribunal, the necessary 

 funds for the prosecution of the case 

 lieing advanced by the association. The 

 celebrated "Lone Wolf" case was ap- 

 pealed by the association to the United 

 States Supreme Court in the hope that 

 the policy of recognizing the validity and 

 sacredness of the Government's treaty 

 obligations with the Indian tribes, fol- 

 lowed since the adoption of the Constitu- 

 tion, would be upheld. The adverse 

 decision in this case marked the begin- 

 ning of a new era in the management of 

 the Indians. The appeal made to the 

 association by friendsof Spotted Hawk and 

 Little Whirlwind, of the Northern Chey- 

 enne in Montana, under sentence of death 

 and life imprisonment, respectively, for 

 the alleged murder of a sheep herder, 

 was responded to by the association, 

 which employed counsel to present the 

 case on appeal to the supreme court of 

 Montana. The effort resulted in securing 

 the liberty of both young men, and a 

 Bubsetjuent confession by the person 

 guilty of the crime charged to them fully 

 exonerated them and showed the need 

 of wat' hfulness to prevent great wrongs 

 against Indians by reason of local preju- 



