Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1874 — Indian Statistics. [ARTICLE]

Indian Statistics.

In his report the Commissioner of Indian Affairs classifies the Indians nnder three heads, as follows: First —Thoso who are wild and scarcely tractable to any extent beyond that of comiiq; near enough to the Government Agent to receive rations and blankets. This class numbers about 59,813, and may be catalogued as follows: 44,354 out of about 52,000 Sioux; 420 Mandans, 1,620 Gros Ventres, 4,200 Crows, 5,450 Blackfeet, Bloods, and Piegans: 6,163 Utes in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico; 9,057 Apaches in New Mexico and Arizona; 4,975 Kiowas and Comanches in Indian Territory; 7,324 Cheyennes and Arapahoes in Indian Territory, Wyoming and Dakota; 5,362 Chippewas in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan; 800 Nez Perces in Idaho; 1,600 Shoshones and Bannocks in Wyoming; 1,000 Shohones, Bannocks and Piutes in Oregon.

Second— Those who are thoroughly convinced of the necessity of labor and are actually under taking it, and will more or less accept tne direction and assistance of Government Agents to this end. These number about 51,429, and are summed up as follows: 5,769 Chippewas and Amenomonees in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 338 Sacs and Foxes in lowa, 4,622 Sioux, 730 Poncas and 978 Rees in Dakota; 3,289 Pawnees, Omahas, Ottoes, Sacs and Foxes in Nebraska: 1,830 Flatheads in Montana, and 2,500 mixed Shoshones and Bannocks and Sheepeaters and 1,209 Nez Perces in Idaho; 295 Kicka?oos, 303Kaws and 2,372 Osages in the Indian erritory: 100 Pah Utes on reservation in Nevada, 575 Utes in Utah, 1,450 Mohavee and Hanlapaes in Arizona, 9,066 Navajoes in New Mexico, and 15,056 among the different tribes in Washington Territory, Oregon and California. Third —Those who have come into possession of allotted lands and other stock property in stock and implements belonging to a landed estate. This class comprises 5,140 Senecas and other Indians in New York; 11,774 Chippewas and other Indians in Michigan. Wisconsin and Minnesota; 2,780 Siottx at ffisseton, Santee and Flandrean agencies; 266 lowasand 1,735 Winnebagoes in Nebraska; 750 Pottawattamies and Klckapoos in Kansas; too Osages. 15,600 Choctaws, 1,800 Creeks, 600 Chickasaws, 2,138 Semlnoles, 17,217 Cherokees and 4,141 belonging to smaller bandß in the Indian Territaw?; 100 Eastern Cherokees in North Carolina; 1,307 Nez Perces in Idaho; 5,112 Yakomas and others in Washington Territory, and 10,905 Pueblos in New Mexico. Within the above classification, modified somewhat, might he included 4,300 Pimas and Maricopas and 6,000 Papagues in Arizona, and a majority of the 5,000 Mission Indians in California, who have always been self-supporting and only within a short tune have been furnished by the Government with an agent and a few employes. A fourth class of roomers and vagrants is enumerated, consisting of 600 Wlnnebagoes in Wisconsin, *SO Klckapoos in Kansas, known as Mokohoko s Band, 5,000 Diggers and others in California, 8,000 Indians on the Columbia River, Utes in Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Arizona; 2,060 Yumas and others in Arizona, and 1,200 scattered Indians in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Texas.

The Commissioner says a decided advance has been made during the year in the direction of securing control and influence over the Indians embraced in Class 1; and the way has opened quite perceptibly for a much larger and more hopeful work among them during the coming year. The first requisite in the treatment of afi Indians of this class is firmness. Any outrages or depredations should be followed ttp promptly and punished at all hazards and any cost. Any leniency wnich comes in to prevent this is an expensive and mistaken kindness. The 51,429 people embraced in Class 2, the Commissioner says, ©ay he property classified as

teachings and influences of missionaries. They need some form of civil government and the Inauguration of a process through which they may cease to be Indiana by becoming American C Of'he roamers, numbering about 14,000, Nttle can be said, except that they are generally as harmless aa vagrants and vagabonds can be la a perance, idleness and poverty, without ’a land, unwilling to leave their haanta for a homestead upon a reservation, and, scarcely in any way related to or recognized by the ’Government, they drag oot a miserable life. The report states that the Sioux Bomber 50,000, the greater portion of them “ yet nnreached by eivilfzatioa.'” Four thousand four hundred and forty-four of the more tractable received rations from the Government at eleven different agencies, and from 5,000 to 10,000 of the wilder class “consented to visit the agencies" when on “an occasional raid for rations.” The wildness of the Sioux and the non-adaptability of the conntry they inhabit to their support in a civilized mode of ltfe make the future of the tribe a serious problem. In reference to the .Black Hills the Commissioner says that all legislation looking to settlement of this region by the whites should be frowned down, as it would create demoralization among the Sioux. The relinquishment of the right given in 1868 to the Bed Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies to hunt in Nebraska, It is believed, can be obtained by paying the Indians $25,000. Their right to roam in Wyoming still exists, although their repeated violations of the treaty made with them would justify the Government, the report states, in abrogating it. Without calling for vigorous operations by the military, it would be impossible, Commissioner Smith asserts, to put a stop to the constant and murderous raiding by Indians belonging in the southwestern portion of the Indian Territory. But the necessity of fighting these Indians would have been obviated by firmness and promptness in procuring the punishment of the crimes of individual Indians and of white marauders in their territory. The question of the future of the wild Indians in the Indian Territory, he says, is a very serions one, as their deep and avowed aversion to any settled life cannot be overcome so long as they are on the border of vast, nnoccnpled plains and almost within sight of herds of bufihlo, and makes it well-nigh impossible to secure settlers in Northern Texas and New Mexico from pilfering and murderous attacks by small parties or by individuals of these tribes. The remedy suggested Is to procure from the Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaw* a sufficient quantity of land, in five different tracts, suited to herding and agriculture, disarm and dismount these wild Indians and remove them to these localities, furnishing them cattle in return for their ponies and rations and clothing in return for their labor In building houses and opening farms for themThe Commissioner concludes by stating his conviction of the feasibility of Indian civilization, and that the difficulty of its problem is not so inherent in the race, character and disposition of the Indian, great as these obstacles are, as in his anomalous relations to the Government and in his surroundings affected by the influence and Interest of white people; that the main difficulty, so far as the Government is concerned, lies in the fact that the Indian’s deepest need is that which the Government, through its political organizations and operations, cannot well bestow. The first help- which a man in barbarism requires is not that which can be afforded through a political party, but that which is offered by a fellow-man wiser than himself, coming personally and extending a hand of sympathy and troth; that no amount or appropriations ana no governmental machinery can do much toward lifting an ignorant and degraded people, except as it works through the willing hands of men made strong and constant by their love for their fellowmen.