OCR Text |
Show see no reason why.it should not be overcome here. The other--the allotting work-is of course growing steadily less as it proceeds. The most serious handicap against which an employment bureau must struggle among the Sioux is the ration system; yet I believe such a bureau the very best instrument with which to bring this most demor-alizing business to an end. Altho, as a broad principle, the ration system has already ceased to exist, it is still in limited practise here and there, owing to the unfortunate language of the treaty pledge that the Government. will aid the Indians until they are. self-s~~pport-ing. The Sioux who cling to this pledge and avoid reaching the stage of self-support are simply responding to an influence which knows no racial boundary l i , but is common to. all human nature. To push even.a part of these Indians into actually earning money in a big competitive world where there are no rations, will do more than any other one thing could do to awltken the spirit of self-respect in which alone lies the doom of the ration system. Mr. Rrennan re-ports that 5,700 of the 6,700 Pine Ridge Indians are still on the ration roll in some way, butthat 1,600 of these are dropt from the roll during the summer months. About 500 of the 1,600 are able-bodied men; the rest are the relatives whom the 500 support. The able-bodied are employed in building roads, dams, etc., on the reservation and paid day wages in lieu of rations, or else work is found for them off the reservation. This year some 350 are working outside. Very few save any money. Some are able to buy a new wagon, a span of horses, or a harness. The main point so far achieved is that about 2,000 Indians are actually supported by labor instead of by rations during six months of every year. I t is to go on from this point, and also invade the ranks of the 4,100 Indians who still draw mtions all the year round, that an employment bureau is needed to do in the North what in the South has already been done. The field is ready. Two great railway systemsthe Chicago and Nort,hwestern and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul-are extend-ing their lines along the borders of the Pine Ridge Reservation. The builders of these roads know the Indians as workers, and are ready to pay them white men's wages. The Indians are strong, silent, and, as one railroad boss puts it, "have not yet learned to loaf when the boss's back is turned." From the neighboring towns, and even from neighboring States, wme calls for Indian labor. Gangs of all sizes are sought. ' One employer at Casper, Wyo., writes to Pine Ridge that he wants more because "the men I got when I was there are good men.'' Another recognizes the wish of the Indian to have his wife and children with him: Please, can you send me a good Indian to shock grain for me? I will pay him 20 cents an acre--and 10 acres is average day's work to sho& after the bundle carrier-and furnish him good place to camp, and fuel and potatoes. We can take hls family. |