uncle sam reports on his real estate deals with his red children he bought square miles at average of 48 cents an acre I 1 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON I 1 released by western newspaper union the department bof recently of the interior issued a new colored map the fi first of its kind which shows how uncle sam since 1790 has ac quiren the nations public domain from 66 principal indian tribes by some treaties and numerous acts of congress A study of this map shows that these cessions sessions ces by the red man constitute about 95 of the public domain or something like square miles in so far as the aggregate cost of this land was w as approximately that means a little more than a square mile or approximately 48 cents an acre it would mean that uncle sam certainly got a bargain in these dealings with his red children in a statement issued at the time the map was released secretary harold ickes of the department of the interior inter I 1 0 declared that while que questions eions are still frequently raised as to whether the indians received fair prices tor for their land the records show that except in a very few cases where military duress wap wa present the prices were such as to satisfy the indians discussions of enhancement of land prices from original costs to the present estimated value of nearly 40 billion dollars only lead to idle speculation there is no equitable basis of value comparison then and now some black pages while the history of our dealings with the indians contains some black pages since the days of the early settlers there has been a fixed policy based upon the principle of free purchase and sale in dealings between the native inhabitants ol of the land and the white immigrants in no other continent has any serious attempt ever been made to deal with a weak aboriginal population on these terms while the 15 million dollars that we paid to napoleon in the louisiana purchase was merely in compensation lor for his cession ol of political authority tho rity we proceeded to pay the indian tribes of the ceded territory more than 20 times this sum lor for such lands as they were willing to sell moreover the indian tribes were wise enough to reserve from their sessions cessions ces cess lons sufficient land to br bring ing them an income that each year exceeds the amount 0 of our payment to napoleon it is true as secretary ickes says that in the majority ot of cases the indians probably received a fair price for their lands since there is 13 no equitable basis ot of value comparison but it is doubtful it if the sioux the nez perces the bodocs and the doncas to name only a few would agree with mr ickes that the principle nt ind tree free purchase and sale had bad been observed in their dealings with the great wh white it e father F a ther louisiana territory since mr ickes mentions the louisiana purchase it might be well to examine briefly the record of our governments dealings with one of the aboriginal occupants of that region the sioux for generations these dakotas had occupied a vast empire along the missouri river including most of present states ot of north and south dakota and parts of nebraska wyoming and montana gradually their territory had been reduced by a series of treaties until they held only their choicest hunting bunting grounds in the black hills the powder river country and the big horn mountains that was guaranteed to them by the fort laramie Lar arole treaty of 1868 1863 as a permanent reservation and besides they wert v ert granted lor for as long as there were buffalo on the plains the right to hunt on any land north of the platte this reservation was to be considered indian territory in which no white person or persons shall be permitted to settle or occupy any portion of the same or without the consent of the indians first had and obtained to pass through the some same moreover it was agreed that no subsequent treaty should be considered valid unless executed and signed by at least three thre e fourths of all the adult male indians occupying and interested in the same the government kept its promise less than a year four months after t the he president had proclaimed the fort laramie treaty general sherman noted for his only good indian is a dead findlan philosophy issued an order that all indians not actually on their reservations were to be under und er the jurisdiction ol of the army and as a rule will be considered hostile then came the announcement that the northern pacific railroad was to be built across the northern part ol of the sioux hunting lands and soon afterwards the great white father sent surveyors protected by soldiers into this region without taking the trouble to ask the sioux N ar n I 1 I 1 P 4 V alk f 1 y v S V 4 T CALICO IN perpetuity A An important provision of the treaty of 1794 whereby the united states acquired lands from the iroquois confederacy was that there should be az an annual distribution ot of calico among members of the six nations this provision Is still carried out each year with appropriate ceremonies in observance of perpetual peace and friendship with the iroquois shown here at a typical ceremony Is florence Prin printus tul a descendant ot of old iroquois chiefs who received the rolls of calico for distribution toi permission to pass through the same in 1874 gen george A custer and his seventh cavalry were sent to explore the black hills hilis again without asking permission ol of the sioux to whom pah sah pah the black hills was almost sacred soil then a newspaper roan man who accompanied custer flashed to the world the electrifying ying news that gold had been discovered in the hills and custers official report not only confirmed this but it was also an ecstatic description of the beauties 0 of that region the result was inevitable justified treaty breach prospectors and miners flocked to the new el dorado for a time the government went through the motions ot of expelling the he intruders then gave it up as a hopeless job having failed to keep the whites out ot of the black hills the governments next step was to find some way to justify this violation of the laramie treaty A good excuse came when several bands of the sioux notably sitting bulls Hunk papas and crazy horses Og lalas who were hunting in the powder river country as they had a perfect right to do failed to return to their reservations within the time limit set by the indian bureau january 31 1676 1876 the tact fact that it was almost physically impossible for the sioux to obey this order within the time allowed make any difference to the indian bu bureau reaul 1 on february I 1 the indian commissioner proclaimed all sioux who were not on the reservation hos tiles and called on the army to round them up then followed the campaigns of generals crook terry gibbon and miles against these hostile sioux and in 1876 77 which either compelled the surrender of the indians or drove them across the border into canada even before the campaign was over a commission was sent to treat with the sioux and arrange for the cession of lands chich the fort lara ale treaty had guaranteed to th them em forever concerning this commission which began its work in august 1878 1876 doane robinson in his history of the S sioux foux indians south dakota historical writes the commission says while the indians received us as friends and listened with kind attention attert atter lon tion to our proposition we were painfully impressed with their lack of co confidence floence in the pledges ot of the government at times they told their story 0 ot f w wrongs with such impressive earnestness ne ss that our heeks cheeks c crimsoned crim with shame in their speeches and recitals of wrongs which their people had sut but fared at the hands ot of the whites the arraignment ment for gross acts of injustice a and nd fraud the description of treaties made only io to be broken th the doubts and distrusts of our present profession ol of friendship and good will were portrayed in col ors ft at vivid and language so go terse that admiration and surprise would have kept us ellent had haan hadn not 0 t shame and humiliation done so 0 that which w aich made this arraignment more telling we was a that it often came from rom the lips ol of men who are our friends and nd who had hoped against hope that the day might come when their wrongs would be ba redressed sioux had to like it since the sioux have much choice to in the matter they signed the treaty offered them aba heres here s what another bistor historian fan says about it not an indian historian but a white historian tor lan george E hyde author of red bed clouds folk A history 0 of the oglala sioux indians writes but the object had been attain attained c d at last and under the cloud of 0 war the government had bad taken the black hills the powder river lands and the bighorn country the pretense ot of formal agreement ag reea and fair air payment which con congress g ress had devised to veil this act of 0 robbery did not even dec deceive eive the indians the chiefs knew that they were being robbed and that they were forced arced to sign away their lands here are beef beed flour and blankets said the united states tor for your lands in laramie plains and between the forks ol of the platte which we took rom from you before 1865 and here said the united states are the same beef flour and blankets tor for your lands in nebraska which we took before 1870 and said the united states with an air ot of vast ge generosity n era ero sity here are the some same beef beed flour and blankets tor for the black hills the powder river and the bighorn lands which we are now taking from you in oil all fairness that is very near the true meaning ot of the agreement ot of 1878 1876 by means ot of which these last lands were taken from the sioux so the sioux were finally settled on a greatly reduced reservation within the present states ot of north and south dakota but even then the great white whit rather father gasn wasn t through with them in 1888 another commission went to the standing rock reservation to swing the cession of of 11 million acres of 0 sioux lands at a fixed price of 50 cents an acre an butr outrageous deou robbery stanley vestal biographer of sitting bull calls ia it and break up the great sioux reservation into smaller ones sitting bull lined up the chiefs against it then went to washington where he succeeded in getting the price raised to an acre the next year another commission came to standing rock to bargain with the sioux at the new price but found themselves blocked at every turn by sitting bull finally by making various promises many 0 of which were never kept incidentally they managed to get enough chiefs to agree to the sale so in the words ot of vestal the cession was as signed the great sioux reservation was only a memory it was the death ol of a nation among the promises that were not kept was one about supplying rations to the sioux penned up on their reduced reservations and in the winter of 91 that broken promise bore bitter fruit for the sioux suffering from hunger and disillusionment became easy victims to the apostles of the ghost dance and before that excitement was over the shameful story of the massacre at wounded knee had been written on one of the black pages which secretary ickes mentions As indicated previously some of the other black pages bear the stories of our dealings with the nez perces the bodocs and the doneas that is why it Is likely that any member of those tribes as well as the sioux who reads the secre statement about a fixed policy based upon the principle of free purchase and sale in dealings between the native inhabitants of the land and the white immigrants will probably smile and there wont be much humor burnor in that