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Show 130 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. came from there before. They promise to tell the President our wants, but soon they forget it. In a little while they forget and take their words and throw them away : so these men who came before said. They say we will take the Indians' words to Washington. They wrote what the Indian said, and $ aid the words would go to Washington ; maybe when half way to Washington they throw the paper away. O sir! we are cheated here, and maybe they cheat the Government too. When the President sends men, the Indians listen, but they do not bring the President's words to them. We will try it again. We think you are a good man. We see you write our words down, and we think you will take them to Washington. You must not take the words of the whites when they talk about the Indians. When a man cornes from Washington, the whites advise him before the Indians talk to him. We will try again. We feel sorry Father Chirouse and McKenney are gone and do not hear what we say. They seem mad and do not want to see the Indians. Here we are talking, nnd we tell the truth. When they come back they Avill say the Indians are liars ; [ he here produced an old hoe, saw, and drawing- knife;] I received these tools from Lincoln; I keep them and use them when I want to work. Now see these, and you will see what the white men tell the President when they say the Indians live like the whites and get plenty of tools. Agents say to the Indians no money comes from Washington ; they always say, " If the money comes we will help you. " We ask something from Washington because we sold our land, and were promised these things for it. When the white people come as agents or superintendents they get rich. When the President sends a poor white man as agent, he says you must go to the Indians and work with them. The President sends the money, but the Indians never get a cent of it. We do not know where the money goes ; perhaps it is drowned on the way. All these tribes receive no money from the President. We can not say anything else; this is true. Listen to what we say, and take it to the President, and write ' back to us from Washington. You see these old Indians; they cannot go to school they are too old. I was sorry when Father Chirouse went, to the woods. I am not a priest; I am an Indian, not a white man. There are some Catholics belong to the mis . siou. There is another kind of Indians who don't pray to God ; McKenney and father Chirouse talk to these Indians and tell them to believe in God, and say we must live like white men. Father Chirouse talks to the Indians who are not Catholics ; they don't know what to do, and it scares them away ; some of the Indians think they mu^ t not do what they have been accustomed to do in their Indian ways, so they go away. There are only a few Indian homes here, they are scattered everywhere. If you will do what is right all the Indians will settle on this reservation. We would like to talk with you, but we cannot ; it would take two or three dayi. Mr. BRUNOT. I am sorry I cannot wait to hear all you have to say. I am glad some have talked, and what you have said I will take to Washington. But the President has many people to think about, and there are many Indians, too ; there are more than fifty reservations. The President has to leave the care of many things to other people. I know ihe wants you to do well, and he wants to send people here who will do right. He has been told by many people that Father Chirouse is a good man, and will do what is ri,. ht, and he has appointed him to the agency. He has not been agent long, and some of you may think you do not like him, but it is best to wait awhile and see. He is your agent now, and you must try him. We think he will do what is right as far as he can. You must follow his advice, and do what is best for yourselves. If the President finds there is any one who don't do right, he will send him away; but because one man don't like the agent, it does . not prove he is bad. Another thinks him good; which shall the President believe? He - cannot tell ; but if the large majority are satisfied, the others ought to be. You spoke of one man who some of the Indians tiiirik does not use them right. I hope the Indians will find that man is going to do right by them hereafter. I hope there will not be any more trouble, but I tell the Indians and the white men the President will not have men on the reservation who will not do right, if he knows it. He intends to have good men. I told you I would, give you half an hour. I gave you that time. The steam is upon the boat, and I must go away, but if you want this man ( Johnny English) to talk, hold up your hands, and I will hear him for five minutes. JOHNNY ENGLISH. All these Indians say one of these men is very bad. We like Father ' Chirouse very well, because he tries to do what is right ; when he begins to work he does one thing at a time. The President wants to get a man for farmer for the Indians, to show them how to plant vegetables. He never did anything about farming ; he does some-thing else ; he is logging. He did not come for this ; he came here to teach the Indians how to farm. We get a blacksmith and a carpenter they do very well for us. There is a man named Peter he does very well ; he staid a few days and did a great deal. The farmer n^ ver does anything on the farm. If an Indian goes slow he takes a club and strikes him. If he wants to stay here and work for us he must do right. The Indians don't want to see their people hurt by the whites. We want a carpenter here to build houses, so that these Indian boys who want to can live like white people. We want cattle and a good piece of land. We want our houses fixed. The agents always say the employes have no time to work for the Indians. The houses are built for the employes, not for the Indians. We never had a carpenter to help us. Mr. BKUNOT. I want all who say as he does about the farmer to stand up. [ All stood up |
