Much more difficult it was, then, for the Indians. The ordinary Indian was very poor, ignorant, and conservative. A few, it was true, had large herds of ponies, but the average Indian might have two or three, and these worthless for the stern work of breaking prairie sod. The shrewd Indians who owned large herds, moreover, could see no reason for raising crops when stock-raising paid better and was vastly easier and more agreeable. And this was the more true when, as on the Umatilla reservation, wheat had to be hauled long distances to be ground. Furthermore, it was not at all the proper thing for a common Indian to begin a new sort of enterprise without the consent and example of his chief. Plowing, and like work, again, was for the Indian inexpressibly awkward and hard to learn, and, moreover, contrary to his ideas and to the ideas of his women of what a man ought to do. It was entirely natural that he should prefer to such drudgery, the sport of hunting and fishing and moving around. It was not his habit to stay in one place, for when the camass was ripe he needed to be near the grounds where it grew, and when the salmon were running it was necessary to be at the fisheries. Moreover, it was not sanitary for those Indians with their tepee habits to dwell long in one place; when Indians were forced to do so, filth brought disease and death. So, it was a hard, long task [the white man had been at it for thousands of years], this task of settling down to the orderliness and laboriousness and anxiety of civilized ways,—certainly a task not to be done in a year or decade, according to the swiftness and impatience of Americans. Under the most favoring conditions it was a task that demanded time for slow and painful growth.[21]
The conditions were not the most favorable.
In the first place the Government that was finally responsible was far away, at its best worked slowly, and was now handicapped by an absorbing and expensive war. A new party, moreover, was in power, and new men were at work. The financial problem, which this new party had to face, was stringent; it was not to be wondered at, therefore, that funds indispensable to the right working of the reservation system reached their destinations tardily. On September 25, 1861, for example, only a portion of the funds appropriated for the Oregon superintendency in 1860 had arrived, and the remainder had been remitted so far behind time as seriously to impair efficiency.[22] Agent Bancroft, and some of his employes, in two years received pay for only one quarter.[23] Moreover, when funds did arrive for the different agencies, they were in checks, which were hard to cash and reckoned on a legal tender basis, while the entire business of the Coast was on a gold basis. It was, consequently, very difficult to secure and retain efficient employes.[24] Native employes also, in particular, wanted their pay promptly on doing their work and felt aggrieved if they did not get it. Nor could the business of the Department be economically conducted; merchants naturally asked higher prices for goods when paid for in vouchers. The practice by agents of issuing vouchers itself was a most pernicious and corrupting one, but it was the only way in which the agency business could at times be carried on at all. Goods which were bought were frequently long delayed for lack of cash for transportation, or money was borrowed for transportation at the high rates of interest which prevailed on the Coast.[25] Goods of all sorts solemnly promised to the Indians, and improvements in the shape of mills, etc., were delayed for months and years; it was natural, therefore, for the Indians to feel that the Great Father was not particular about keeping his engagements, and that they in turn need not be particular about keeping theirs.
Furthermore, the Government did not provide adequate protection for Indians who were on reservations. We have noticed before how the Nez Perces reservation was invaded by miners in defiance of treaty obligations. A still more conspicuous example of the failure to provide protection occurred at the Warm Springs reservation, where repeated raids of the Snakes terrorized and impoverished the agency Indians and discouraged them from attempting the cultivation of the soil. The Snakes on one occasion killed or captured many women and children, drove off the cattle and horses, both of the Indians and the Government, compelled the employes to flee for their lives, and plundered the agency. Troops pursued them without effect; and, moreover, hardly had the pursuers returned, when another raid took the remainder of the stock.[26]
No feature of the reservation system was the cause of so much dissatisfaction to Indians, agents, and superintendents as was the payment of annuities. Not a few of the Indians of some tribes—notably of the Nez Perces—were men of self-respect and shrewdness, who felt insulted at being offered gewgaws and calico.[27] Calico and loss of land became connected in the Indian mind.[28] Among the Yakimas it was noted that there was great reluctance shown by many at receiving annuities. A reported speech by Qui-tal-i-can, a Yakima Indian, on the occasion of distribution of annuities at the Yakima agency, illustrates the attitude of independence held by some Indians: "The white men propose to bring all Indians to one land. Not good. Like driving horses into a corral. Suppose Indians went to Boston and told all the Bostons to go to one place. Would it be well? I am a poor man, but I will not say to the Agent, I am a dog. The Great Spirit will take care of us. He will always cause the grass to grow and the water to run. I am somewhat ashamed to be here today. My land is not to be sold for a few blankets and a few yards of cloth."[29] The Indians in general, moreover, quite rapidly learned to prefer that which was substantial to that which was trashy.
But the goods which they received were ill adapted to their needs, since these goods were not sent in accordance with their own expressed desires, nor according to the requisition of the agents. At the Umatilla reservation, when Mr. Davenport distributed the annuities, the total amount of goods had a "pretty fair appearance"; but for 91 men there were provided 59 flannel shirts, 22 coats, 23 pants, 51 wool hats, 49 caps, and 65 pairs of brogans, and there were 122½ pairs of blankets for the total of 324 persons.[30] Many of the articles received by the fishing Indians of the Sound country were those suitable to the more agricultural Indians of the interior,—consisting of "pitchforks, sickles, scythes without snaiths, frying pans, and other loose ends of New York stores."[31] It was not to be wondered at that the Indians traded off or gambled away these goods. Besides lack of suitability, there was no telling when the goods would arrive for distribution, and in consequence the Indians might have to go without needed clothing in winter time: "Really, the worst part of the annuity business was the uncertainty as to what kind of goods would be furnished, and at what time, if at all."[32]
It was held by agents and superintendents that this sort of expenditure was in itself not wise, since it tended to pauperism and indolence. It would have been better, they said, to expend the money for improvements such as would help the Indians to become self-supporting,—in particular for the planting of orchards,—or to pay the Indians for doing work, rather than to give them articles outright. At any rate, it was urged, annuities ought not to be issued to all of each tribe, but only to such as stayed on the reservation and showed inclination for work and progress.[33]
The reason why there was so much mal-adjustment, so it was universally claimed by superintendents and agents, was that the annuity goods were purchased on the Atlantic coast. A newspaper correspondent said that the fault lay with the "Great Father in New York who annually gets contracts for furnishing things to poor Lo."[34] So important does this aspect of the annuity problem seem, that I quote at some length from the annual reports of three superintendents. Edward R. Geary reported in 1860 from the Oregon Superintendency as follows:
"Reference to the several lately ratified treaties made with the Indians in the interior of Washington and Oregon, shows that the chief objects to which the large sums embraced in the first payment for their lands ceded to the United States are applicable, are such as 'providing for their removal to the reservations;' 'breaking up and fencing farms;' 'building houses;' 'supplying provisions and a suitable outfit,' etc.
"The aggregate amount of these first payments, to be expended for such objects as above specified, under the five treaties with the Indians east of the Cascade mountains, and appropriated by Congress at its last session, is $231,900. Of this, the sum of $111,000 was expended in the purchase of drygoods, groceries and hardware on the Atlantic side. This expenditure does not appear to be in accordance with the spirit and intent of these treaties; nor does it meet the just expectations of the Indians."