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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 143 were promised food for the poor, and we thought it would be so. All that was told us then I throw away. You see us hero. It looks all right; but you should go to the poor men's houses, and see what they need. All do not work. Some are poor, sick, and old. I am glad you came. You ought to stay always. All that was promised us in the papers you might as well destroy. Some new folks ought to come and get new papers, and we would believe them. The first thing ought to have been the grist- mill ; the saw- mill last. We need the mills to keep the poor from getting hungry and sick. Everybody has not money to buy food. When the mill is done we ought to have wheat put into it and ground, and given to the poor until they die, and then they quit wanting it. The old folks don't care about the school; only the' children need it. The old folks need only food to keep them from dying. We need a blacksmith, carpenter, and miller, and then we will be like the whites. There is too much work for one blacksmith. We ought to have three or four in different places. It is nothing to me. I may die to- day or to- morrow. I am talking for others. Every man ought to have a plow and harness like the whites. If a wagon comes to the shop here it has to wait two or three days before it is fixed. If a white man has a wagon broken he takes it and has it fixed at once. Oue mill and one saw- mill is enough. Those that don't know how to plow should go to work and learn. Some get a bushel and a half to sow; some get two bushels; others three bushels. That is why the Indians go away. When they want oxen to plow they can't get them. When they want potatoes to plant they can't get them. The chiefs get them. They are not the only ones who sold their lands. The bad men have fathers, and all like to get something as well as the chiefs. We ought all to be treated alike. If a bad man comes, let him have things. If a good man sees a bad man packing off things he thinks that bad. I never got anything for my lands. The whites get rich on our lands that we sold. When the whites came to this country they had no shoes. They ate cammas just as we did; and now these same men treat the Indians like dogs and rats. If we had not whites in this country we would live as we did then. Their hogs and cattle eat the Indians' food. We want to get good blankets, not paper blank-ets. I do not know what our boots are made of. If we hit anything they break in pieces. We did not want sugar and coffee and such things. When I got big I saw whisky. They told me to smell it. It made me sick. They told me to drink it; that it was good. I drank it. I know whites and Indiaus both drink it ; it kills them. I think you ought to quit making whisky, and wine, and beer. The whites say, " Why do you drink whi. sky 1 " We don't make it ; the whites make it, and give it to us, and they say they will put us in jail for drinking it. Whenever they have war, whisky is sent, and they drink it, and it makes them brave. When they are cold the white man says it makes them warm. When I have a bottle of whisky, and a man says he is cold, I give him a drink. Everybody knows the Indian don't make it. If I had a handfull of money, and went outside, the white man wi. uld take the whole of it, and go and get a bottle of whisky for four bits and give it to me. White men taught me to drink. HENRY KILKE, ( Molally.) Long ago the chief said we would buy your lands. The calico and other things, they said, we give you. W^ e want to know about our lands. I have a wagon ; I bought it. My house I got the same way. My clothes I bought ; the Government never gave me any of them. I got harness, and oxen, and a plow, some time ago. I guess that was all I got for my lands. Now we want to know what we will get for our lands. We need a grist- mill, harness and horses, and plows and wagons, and that is all we want. Louis NiP- PE- SuCK. We are glad to see you here from Washington. If we had a super-intendent like Meacham we would have done much better. WT e are always glad to see him come. We know his heart. We wish Mr. Brunot could go around and see the houses; I dou't say to stay a couple of months, but to stop a day or two. You see all these Indians are not wild. They have clothes like whites. Some time ago some of the Indians had flat heads. The whites said it was bad, and they quit. The superintendent before got here at night and left in the morning; never said anything to us. We understand what Mr. Meacham tells us. You hear what has been said. You may take these words, or may be not. We sent our words east before, but they never went. Mr Meacham promised us a mill. We have it. He said our lands should be surveyed, and it has been done. We need a grist- mill. Everj'body has not a team to go away off to mill. You say we do not plow deep. We have not enough horses to plow deep. Some men have good hor. ses, plow deep, and get good crops. You may think what we say is not true, but 1 think it is true. If we had had a good superintendent we would be all right. Some of our people are poor. That is why we talk about plows and wagons. Strong men can work and get them, but all can-not. Since I have been here I think I have not done anything wrong. Everybody knows I am a chief. I think I am a good man and speak the truth. I have helped the Indians. I have asked the agent to help them. What have I done wrong? They have just gotten their eyes open. Long ago 1 told them to put a boy in the blacksmith- shop, and carpenter and tin- shop. None of them wanted to learn. One went into the tin- shop and learned ; then he learned blacksmithing; then to be a carpenter. Joe also learned to be a blacksmith ; now he is a carpenter. Now they cannot afford to have so much work done. Now the land is surveyed, who had it done? I talked to the agent ami had it done. Some of the Indians say it was bad. I wanted to give each a home to stay 011. If it was not surveyed outside |