THE INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION, 1316 FILBERT STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 1884 . Allen, Lane & Scott, Printers, Philadelphia. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/objectsofindianrOOindi THE INDIAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION, 1316 Filbert Street, Philadelphia. Objects of the Indian Rights Association. T HE Indian Rights Association is an organized body, com- posed of citizens of the United States, irrespective of party or creed, which aims to secure the civilization and legal protection of the Indians. It aims to secure for these “ Wards of the Nation ” educa- tion, law, and a protected and individual title to land. It aims to make the Indian first a man and then a citizen, subject to the responsibilities and endowed with the privileges ac- corded to all other citizens of the United States. This Asso- ciation would have . the Government adopt toward the Indian a policy wise, firm, and continuous, neither capricious nor vacillating, cruel nor sentimental. It recognizes the agency and reservation system only as a temporary expedient, which must in time be completely aban- doned as the Indian shall be fitted by practical training to take his place among the whites, and to earn his bread by his own labor. The Association is in hearty sympathy with the general policy advanced by the Indian Bureau, and the efforts exerted by it for the education and civilization of the Indians. It, however, fully recognizes the important fact that the efforts of the executive body in this regard are sorely hampered, and in many instances rendered completely abortive, by the inert or hostile attitude of the legislative. By means of bad legislation, no legislation at all, and inadequate appropriations, Congress frequently ties the hands of the Secretary of the Interior and of Indian Commissioner. Therefore the great object of The Indian Rights Association is to affect Congress in the ( 3 ) 4 only way in which that body can be affected — through its constituency. The pressure of business upon Congress is so enormous that measures designed for the welfare of the Indian cannot even gain a hearing, unless they shall be emphasized and sup- ported by the demands of the public sentiment. In the past, Indian wrongs, Indian wars, and the expenditure of blood and money which they entail, have resulted mainly from public ignorance regarding them. This ignorance is now, to some extent, but by no means entirely, dissipated. In its appeal to the people, The Indian Rights Association has there- fore adopted the following Methods of Work. It aims to organize similar associations in the principal cities and towns of the country. These associations are in close communication with the Board in Philadelphia, from which they receive information upon all important events and questions concerning the work of the Association. They are thus enabled to enlighten the public upon Indian affairs, and to bring a direct and indirect influence to bear on their repre- sentatives in Congress. The Board in Philadelphia constantly sends its representa- tives to the widely-scattered Indian reservations for the purpose of getting fresh and accurate information. Knowledge thus obtained is rapidly circulated over the country by means of newspaper articles, pamphlets, public addresses, and private conversation. Such information is also of great value in guiding the formal policy of the Association in determining its course in advocating or opposing measures in Congress which affect the welfare of the Indians. Outline of Work done by the Association since its Organization, December 15TH, 1882. I. Public Information. 1. Addresses. Above 100,000 persons have been reached by means of public addresses in various cities and States. 5 2. Printed pamphlets have been issued and widely distrib- uted, as follows : — Copies distributed. Impressions of Sioux Tribes in 1882, with a brief Consideration of the Indian Question. By Henry S. Pancoast, i, 7 °° Four Weeks among some of the Sioux Tribes of Dakota and Ne- braska. By Herbert Welsh, 2,750 Report of a Visit to the Great Sioux Reserve. By Herbert Welsh, 2,950 Report of a Visit to the Southwest. By Gen. S. C. Armstrong, of Hampton School, Va., 1,250 Report of Mohonk Conference, 1,200 Annual Report of Indian Rights Association, . 1,000 Law for the Indian, with Appendix. By Henry S. Pancoast, . . 350 In all, 11,200 Newspaper articles also have been published in various papers and in different cities. 3. Visits to Reservations and Indian Country. Six journeys have been made by the representatives of the Association to various parts of the Indian country. Through these visits the Sioux of Dakota, many tribes resident in the Indian Territory, the Apaches, Navajos, Pueblos, Pimas, Hulapais, Maricopas of Arizona and New Mexico, have been reached. The most valuable results have followed the careful investiga- tions which the representatives of the Association have made among the tribes mentioned. • Among other results may be noted the aid the Association was able to render in the mat- ter of the Sioux agreement (see III., 1, 2), and the Santee land claims. II. Legislation and Legal Matters. 1. Bill for land in severalty prepared by a non-member, advocated by Indian Rights Association, and presented to Congress through Senator Dawes. Passed Senate, and will be pressed before House this winter. 2. Bill for Introducing Law on Reservations , prepared by Committee on Law, will be pressed this winter. 3. Bill of Senator Dawes , to open Sioux Reservation. Ap- proved by ex-Commissioner, and resolution to press it. Now before Congress. 6 III. Proper Execution of Law , and General Work. 1. Sioux Agreement. This was a measure to open the Sioux reservation, &c. Many of its provisions were objection- able. Signatures to the agreement were improperly obtained. The Indian Rights Association was instrumental in blocking the measure and securing appointment of investigating com- mittee. (See Report of Visit to Sioux Reserve.) 2. Taking claims by Indians. Assistance was rendered to the Santee Sioux, who had this right under special enact- ment. 3. Starving Indians. Money sent them through Mrs. General Crook, at her request. 4. Securing increased appropriations ; taken up at request of Secretary Teller, January, 1884. Petitions were prepared, signed by leading men, and sent to each member of Congress by their constituents, or through the Indian Rights Associa- tion. The appropriations were increased. The above outline merely indicates the work, which appears more in detail in the annual report, and other publications of the Association. This large and important work has been conducted with extreme economy, the total expenditure shown by the first annual report being $1 767.77. The increased work of the Association demands a largely- increased expenditure. To properly carry on its work, the •Association should have an income of at least $5000. To en- able the Association to do' what it has now every opportunity of doing, the list of members must be largely increased, and the work sustained by more general contributions. Persons desiring to become members, should send their names to Herbert Welsh, 1316 Filbert street, Philadelphia, or to any member of the Executive Committee. Contribu- tions should be send to C. Stuart Patterson, Esq., 38 South Third street, Philadelphia, or to Herbert Welsh, at his above address. The following letter, addressed by General Crook to Herbert Welsh, the cor- responding secretary of the Indian Rights Association, will interest all who de- sire to know a soldier’s view of the Indian question. It presents a hopeful outlook for the Indian, if public sentiment throughout the country shall cou- rageously demand for him civil rights and the benefits of practical education. These benefits the Indian Rights Association aims to secure in behalf of a peo- ple too weak to help themselves. Will you exert your influence with your rep- resentatives in Washington toward this end? The inertness of the members of Congress in regard to this question is due to the indifference and ignorance ot the people of the United States concerning the wrongs of the Indian and the means that should be taken to right them. Will you not communicate with your representatives on this subject ? If they prove to be ignorant regarding it, and therefore hostile to the civilization of the Indians, seek to place them in possession of such reliable information as may be found in the publications of the Indian Rights Association. Address Herbert Welsh, Corresponding Secretary Indian Rights Association, No. 1316 Filbert street, Philadelphia, Pa. Contributions designed to aid the prosecution of the work of the Association may be sent to the above address. [Extract from Harper's Weekly , New York , Saturday , August 30th, 1884.) GENERAL CROOK UPON THE APACHES. Headquarters Department of Arizona, Whipple Barracks, Prescott, July 16th, 1884. My Dear Mr. Welsh : — The best answer to the questions contained in your communication of the 23d ult. would be found in a recital of the facts which careful and impartial investigation could not fail to develop in regard to the Chiracahua and other Apaches. Until such an investigation, deep, systematic, and perfectly unbiased, can be made by yourself or some other member of your association, I ask that some consideration be given to the few remarks I wish to make in their behalf. It is not to be denied that the Apache is the fiercest and most formidable of all our Indians when upon the war-path. Opinions may differ as to the place in the scale of intelligence the Apache should occupy, but there is no diversity' of sentiment— at least not among army officers — as to the skill and cunning with which this Indian conducts all warlike operations. Speaking for myself, after a somewhat extended experience of over thirty-two years’ duration with the vari- ous Indian tribes from British America to Mexico, from the Missouri river to the Pacific Ocean, I do not hesitate to put the Apache at the very head for natural intelligence and discernment. He knows his rights, and is not afraid to main- tain them. Were he a Greek or a Roman, we should read with pride and en- thusiasm of his determination to die rather than suffer wrong ; but looking at him as a native of our own soil, and as the feeble barrier which stands between our- selves and the silver mines or coal measures supposed to exist on his reserva- tion, it is not always possible to do justice to his virtues, or to consider his faults as identical with those of which we ourselves should be guilty under sim- ilar provocation. We have now on the White Mountain, commonly known as the San Carlos Reservation, a body of Apaches and affiliated tribes numbering almost exactly five thousand souls. Of these the Chiracahua Apaches number five hundred and twelve, of whom one hundred and twenty-nine are warriors and half-grown boys. I shall limit my remarks to this band, because it is the one which I fol- lowed into the Sierra Madre, in Mexico, just a year ago ; and, being the very last body of American Indians to come in from the war-path, the improve- ment effected in the past few months in the condition of its members will be the most satisfactory evidence upon which to base the hope we may en- tertain for the future of any of the aborigines. With the exception of infant children and a very few broken-down old men and women, every one of these Apaches, of both sexes, is now hard at work trying to make a crop. I am happy to say that all the reports received from the military officers in charge of them are of the most encouraging character. Unless some totally unexpected bad weather prevent, they will raise a great quantity of cereals and vegetables, and will, besides, be in a condition to sell for cash to the quarter- master’s department a great share of the barley, corn, hay, and fuel consumed by the troops in the posts nearest them. I expect that this year all or nearly all the articles named required by the garrisons of San Carlos and Fort Apache will be supplied by the Apaches. In having this done, two objects are gained — the Apache is kept from idleness, and is made a producer. No sermon that was ever preached on the dignity of labor could imprint upon the savage mind the impression received when he sees that work means money , and that the exact measure of his industry is to be found in his pocket-book.- . . . He recognizes at once that our regulative system is well adapted for the preservation of prop- erty, or the preservation of order, which is almost the same thing, consequently he accepts and imitates with scrupulous fidelity the simpler forms of our judicial proceedings in dealing with offenders in his own tribe. An enlightened self-in- terest begins to dawn, and to teach him that intemperance and industry cannot exist in the same camp. He promptly accedes to the suggestions that the man- ufacture of his favorite liquor, “tizwin,” be stopped, and that the corn once used for this purpose be sold for money or ground into meal. Then he begins to see how great is the money value of his squaw’s labor, and no difficulty is ex- perienced in doing away with the ferocious custom of slashing off a poor wife’s nose, every time that a drunken maniac imagines he has some cause for jealousy. This is not a fancy sketch, but an accurate recital of what was done for all the Apaches in 1873, ’74* and *75, and what is now going on among the Chiracahua band. I am not going beyond the limits of an exact narrative when I express the opinion that had the Apaches been permitted to continue in the path of civ- ilization and progress in which I placed them in the years mentioned, many of them would by this time have been fairly well qualified for the elective franchise ; or. in any event, instead of being dependent upon the Government for support they would have been contributing appreciably to the general prosperity. Upon being reassigned to command the department of Arizona I found that all that had been accomplished with so much patient labor had been destroyed, and almost all trace of it had been obliterated. From the simple, pathetic story of the Apaches I gathered that they had been systematically and outrageously plundered by a gang of sharks thinly disguised as Indian agents and others. The Indians had about lost all confidence in our Government, and were on the brink of an outbreak, which would have cost us heavily in the losses we should have had to suffer, and still more heavily in the taxes we should have had to pay for its suppression. In this exigency there was only one thing to be done. I personally visited the various bands, including those already on the war-path, and assured them that the people of the United States were not in sympathy with the rascals of whom they complained, but were sincerely desirous of doing full justice to the Indians, and I asked them, if they had any confidence left in me, and if they believed that I would act toward them just exactly as if they were white men, to remain at peace until an adjustment of their wrongs could be effected. With the Chiracahuas, progress, as might be expected, is rapid, because, being brought in contact with the more civilized branches of their tribe, they see at a glance how much they have improved, and endeavor to emulate them without obliging us to reason carefully and patiently at every step. Had they been isolated from the other bands, as was last year seriously advocated by many well-meaning persons, this improvement could not have been effected in years. One word more upon this subject. In dealing with the Apache, gen- tleness, patience, intelligence, truth, and honesty are essentials. But he should be led to perceive that gentleness is not inspired by fear, and that we possess the power to compel obedience to the new regulations which are presented to his self-interest. There are always to be found in every community turbulent or unruly spirits who resist innovation, and are prone to antagonize restraint or discipline of any kind. For such persons, imprisonment or other punishment must be provided, but always in such a manner that the sense of the tribe will admit that the punishment is fully deserved. It was for years a matter of reflection to me how best to attain the end de- sired. With some misgivings, I adopted the plan of arranging before native juries offenders charged with misdemeanors and petty crimes against members of their own tribe. These juries were primarily instructed by army officers with elementary principles of law and legal procedure. They showed them- selves apt scholars, and fully impressed with the importance of the trust con- fided in them, their investigations have in every case been thorough, the pun- ishment awarded adequate and prompt, and the results beneficial beyond my anticipations. It has never been so much as hinted that one of the Apache jurymen has taken a bribe or gratuity of any kind, in which respect they are still behind their more civilized brethren ; but with time all the improvements of nineteenth-century jurisprudence can be introduced. Having given you this brief account of their present condition, I will help you to form some conclusion as to the future of the Apaches. During my re- cent trip to the San Carlos I had conferences with all the bands. The requests they had to make were that they should be provided more fully with farming implements ; that they should be allowed to buy breeding cows from the ranch-men living near the reservation ; that their children should be educated ; that they should have stores in which they would not have to pay the extortion- ate prices now demanded for calico, sugar, and every other purchase ; that they should have a grist-mill erected for turning their grain into meal, and they should pay the cost in tolls to be levied on their grist. When the Great Father does that, says an old chief, he need not give us any more rations, because we can raise everything ourselves. And lastly, they pleaded for the return from captivity, in which they are now held in Chihuahua, of the children taken from them by the Mexican forces. The Apaches made a very strong argument, where, indeed, no argument was needed, to show that both the Government and themselves would be gainers by a system which gave the producer the greatest possible amount of money for his products in his own fields and at his own door. “ It is not good,” said one, “ that we should sell our grain for two and three cents a pound, and then turn round and pay nine cents for flour. Put up for us a little mill to be run by water, and we can save more money. Once I was always glad to go on the war-path and steal stock ; now, when I hear the silver dollars jingling in my pocket, I am contented and happy.” There are several responsible white men who are willing to put up such a mill, and grind the Apache wheat for toll, which, in my judgment, is the best ar- rangement that could be made. Regarding the restitution of the captive children, it must be plain to any comprehension that the Apaches will always have a cause of grievance against the Mexicans so long as those members of their tribe are retained, and their restitution would remove the last vestige of an excuse the most unruly of them would have for urging a resumption of hostilities. This statement has already become too long, perhaps, but 1 will add to it my firm belief that there is not in your own State of Pennsylvania a village of the same population more peaceable and law-abiding than the five thousand Apaches on the San Carlos Reservation. Very respectfully, GEORGE CROOK, Brigadier- General U. S. Army. OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. PRESIDENT. Hon. WAYNE MacVEAGH. VICE-PRESIDENT. Dr. JAMES E. RHOADS. RECORDING SECRETARY. CHARLES E. PANCOAST. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. HERBERT WELSH. TREASURER. C. STUART PATTERSON, 38 South Third street, Phila. COMMITTEE ON FINANCE. Thomas Stewardson, W. W. Frazier, Philip C. Garrett, Wistar Morris, , William Drayton. COMMITTEE ON LAW. Henry S. Pancoast, Thomas Stewardson, Richard C. Dale, Charles M. Hough, J. Rodman Paul. COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION. Herbert Welsh, J. Topliff Johnson, Charles E. Pancoast, Rev. H. L. Wayland, A. E. OuTERBRIDGE, Jr. COMMITTEE ON PROPER EXECUTION OF LAWS. Dr. James E. Rhoads, Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, Effingham B. Morris, Clement M. Biddle, Jos. B. Townsend.