an when it was first spoken--tell him also that the
United States never cures a wrong until the people demand it; and
when the hearts of the people are reached the Indian will be saved."
Then let us try to arouse the people to demand it.
And I beg you to notice, that the wrongs are not of the past, but of
the present. Those who say otherwise have either not examined the
facts or else they are deceived. While there has been much progress
made since General Grant's administration, the machinery of our
Indian affairs in its last analysis seems to be largely yet a scheme
to plunder the Indian at every point. Its mechanism is so complicated
that there are comparatively few who understand the wrong, and these
seem almost powerless. While there are many men in the Government
employ of the best intentions, there is always a "wicked partner" who
contrives, somehow, to rob the Indian.
He is wronged: (1) In his person. Let me illustrate. Go with me to
Nebraska. An Indian, upon one of our reservations, injured his knee
slightly. There was a physician who was paid a good salary by the
Government, but when asked to visit this man he refused to go. The
poor sufferer grew worse and worse, till the limb became rotten and
decayed: his cries could be heard far and near in the still air, yet
the physician heeded not. A friend was asked to take a hatchet and
chop off the limb. In agony he died, the physician never having once
visited him. That was a brother of yours in America. A short time
ago, in Southern California, lived an Indian in comfort, upon a lot
of ten acres upon which he had paid taxes for years. The land about
him was sold, but no mention was made of his lot, as his lawyers told
him it was not necessary and the purchasers promised he should never
be disturbed. Within a few months, however, a suit was brought for
his ejectment, and in the midst of the rainy season, this old man of
80, his wife and another woman of nearly the same age, were put out
of their home. They were thrust with great cruelty into a wagon, left
by the roadside without shelter and without any food, except parched
corn, for eight days. The wife died of pneumonia, and the old man is
a homeless wanderer. Why this cruelty? Because there was a spring of
water on his land which the white man wanted. This was in America.
2. In his property. Let me illustrate again. In North Dakota one of
the tribes asked that they might have some barns. The request was
grant
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