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Show REPOET OF THE C03IJfISSIOA'ER OP INDIAN AFFAIRS, 7 the Tankton and Santee Sions are still more hopeful. Among the lat-ter civilization is an accompl~shed fact, and if the Yanktons could plant crops with ordinary certainty of a harvest, they would shortly provide their own snbsistence. Such progress indicates un~nistakablyt hat the difficulty of the Sioux problem does not inhere priocipall~in the Sioux nature, but in the barrenness of their conntrr and the absence of ueces-sary control. TIIE BLbCIf IIILLS. Tile [ ~ ~ ~ bexlciicre titc~ttm eutionrfl iir mg i n i r 1.ri101.r, nc(.3~ion~1't)l~ I'I II? <liscoveryo f ~ 0 1 . li l l r l l n r portiou ol' thd Sioux rcsi~rvi~tioIt;rn o!\~n a$ the Blnvk Hills cotlntr!', illerc;l.ied to %llch n ile'ler ill tllu openiu,n of the spring season as t i iequire action looking ifornard the pnffihaseof this country from the Sious proprietors %nd the opening lip of the Big Horn Nonntail~c onutrj. for settlement and miuing. For this purpose, as well as for completing the negotiation for the relinqoisluneut by the Sious of their hunting rights ill Nehmsl<~au d Kansas, a laspe delegation of this tribe, composed of represent:rtires from those agencies, TP~IbS rought to IT-ashi~~gtoiun 3Ia.y last for an interVie!v with the President. It >\-as not espected thut this inte.siXiexvw oold coocl~tdeth e purchase, but that it ronld prove a preiimiuary step by which the Sioux tribe would berome acquainted iriththc rishes of the Government and its purposes relative to their own ~~ecessitions~ idin terests. Accordingly, at the request of the delegation, the President seut a co)~~missiono,f rhich R--o n. W. l3. illlisou. of the United States Senate. wils made chairman. to negotiate at a gebeiral conncil of the tribe in tbeir own coootrs. ~ h e commission lras not set submitted iis rrl)Jrt, bnt I all1 inforiued that the r~egotiatiolls lrare failed on account of a vide disagreerneut as to the ralne of tlre 1.iglrts to be relinqr~isbed by tlle Sionx. >Ieanrbile, not-rrithstandilrg the stringent pro bib it or^ orders by the ~ u i l i t aarn~t hori-ties, a n ~ l i uth e fi%e of the la,rge ~i~ilitafroj-r ceivhich hiis been on duty in rind arouud the El'ills duriug tile summer, probably llot less than a thon- $and lnioers, vith t,lle unmber rapidly inureasing, llare lnade their may iuto the Sioux coantrr. A rnirritic. association 11;1bs eeu orpanized. lams be protected by t11e Gorerrln~enot r to protect themselves. In this srsious eolnnlioation tbcre soems to be bnt oue alternative for r l ~ t .( ;1~\.~.~11111cCi(ll1f1: ~TrO SLIi t~i . r~. ttil tti . r ~ ~ i l i t fio~r^:r^ ~it 1111,1 <111111 SIICII <ttnlfttctry I#IC:~I IS:I $ wi l l itt~~tr,.I ,.,, tric~S ,IJS~.It -.t~r$.i,u f t11e [ r e :~l .v. r~~ntl'~ t s I I I U S i n ~ ~loxr Y ~ I ~ Y ~ I I:d~l ~ III II !CI , ~ I S ~ ~I I!VI .r o r e nw rllc. eil'urt uf ~~~a c t j t i ;~. tion. ~€o!v&er uuivill&g \re mag be'to COIIS~SS it, the exI)erieuco~ft he past sulrrlner proves either the iae!Beielruy of the large ~militnry force 11nder the cowmal~rol f slrch officers as Ger~eraluS heri<lwn.T errv. and 1 C!sooli, or the ntter i~t ;pr a c t . i l i l i to-f keepil~gA lnericalls o ~ lotf il' koou-try ~ r l ~ ezrooIf 1i s knoan to exist by ally frar of ordersor of United States 1 c;~va:r~-o,r b.7 any on~lsitlerntiuo~f ~t .hi r igl~tso f othera. Tire oct:np:~tionn ud ponsessio~o~f the Eliiclr iIills by white rnen seems on inaviti~hle,h nt ITO re;lson exists for n~i~kilrtgh is inevitability an occ;\sion of \rrong or Iasti~rgit !jnry to the Sioux. If. an Illdian cnu be ~~osseese<<of l rigltts i?f cot~~~tr.e,ijt-l-r,e r natural or acqoired, this coi~ntry brlougs i'or occopatiou to tlre Sionx; and if thej- rere an independent, self s u p l ) o r t i ~l) eople, :rble to claim tllitt berei~ftert he Uuited States (iovernr~~eushto ulcl lei~r-otb em e,lltircly ;tlone, in sear l j receipt of sncl~ aunuitics only as the treat,>- of lSFS gu;lmmltecs, t h y \vo.11ld be in a gosi- |