s reasons for
opposing the leases--reasons which were sound on the face of them. They
also declared that the Indian Commissioner had sent a telegram to their
agent saying that if they would not sign they would be ignored by the
Department, and the leases approved without their consent, although such
consent was required both by treaty and statute.

It was immediately denied by the other side that any such telegram had
been sent, upon which the wily Sioux played their trump card: they
produced a certified copy of the dispatch which they had obtained from
the operator, and publicly handed this piece of evidence to Senator
Stewart.

The Indians also consulted Judge Springer of Illinois, who, after
reviewing their case, said that they could serve an injunction on both
the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner, in the District of
Columbia. This they did. The officials asked for thirty days; and the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs personally hastened to Standing Rock,
where he gave the red men a good scolding for their audacity, at the
same time telling them that no lease had been made, or would be made.

President Roosevelt then sent Dr. Grinnell, a well-known friend of the
Indian, to make an independent investigation. Dr. Grinnell reported
that the Walker lease was entirely opposed to the Indians' interests,
and that it would not only be unwise, but wrong, to approve it. The
Lemmon lease of the unoccupied portion of the reservation was afterward
executed with the Indians' consent.

There are innumerable such instances, but this one is worthy of mention
because of the spirit and success with which the Indians conducted their
own case. Very often their property is dissipated in spite of the fact
that there are men among them who fully grasp the situation. These men
protest, but it is of no use. They are denounced as "insubordinate,"
"disturbers of the peace," and worthless prevaricators. Here is where
national honor and the rights of a dependent people are sacrificed to
the politicians. When we consider that the Indian still owns more than
70,000,000 acres of land, and trust funds stated at $48,000,000, the
proceeds of ceded territory, it may be seen that this immense estate
largely in the hands of "wards" and illiterate persons presents a very
serious problem.

It has come to be more and more the case that the Indian, so long and so
oppressively paternalized, is allowed to take a hand in his own
development. This i