The rations issued were not enough to support
life, and many Indians had no other means of support. At one home I found a
family of one man and five children with no food in the home except some meat
composed of short ribs cut from the beef with a soup bone, about five pounds
net of beef for one week for this family. The majority of the Indians did not
speak or understand English and hundreds of their children are being allowed to
grow up without any education at all. The affairs of the full bloods are left
at the mercy of the more shrewd half bloods and the local whites; both acting
in conjunction, with results that are deplorable. They are unable, owing to
their inability to speak English, and from a lack of an education, to protect
themselves from acts of injustice done to them and are thus deprived of any
remedy for their relief and have been left to rot through the incompetence or
willful neglect of those in charge of them and their affairs. Many complaints
of this condition have been made in their behalf by others, to no effect.
Indeed, it has been heretofore been said to be unsafe for anyone who can be
“reached” to present their claims or complaints to Congress. It is “cords to
the wrists and gyves to the heels” for anyone who undertakes this thankless
task, and such persons are pursued and harassed, and the sole effort which is
afterward made seems to be to cover up the evidence and put on trial the
complaining witness in place of trying to remedy the evil or punish those
guilty of the wrongdoing. While on the reservation I had the experience with
these tactics. Having heard that a member of the Commission was there to
ascertain the conditions of their affairs, many Indians came to the agency and
gave expression concerning the same.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.112-113
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