The Indian Dispossessed
tary of the Interior? Does the underworld supply "the voice of the people," even while the people protest? There is more of concern in this than the mere welfare of a luckless race.
The Ponca agitation finally resulted in an underground scheme to settle the questions at issue and end the contest. It is a tale of chicanery worthy of the Indian bureau. Observe the sequence of dates.
On October 25, 1880, twenty Ponca chiefs and head-men in the Indian Territory affixed their marks to this statement, and their agent forwarded it to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:
"We, the undersigned, chiefs and head-men of the Ponca tribe of Indians, realize the importance of settling all our business with the Government. Our young men are unsettled and hard to control while they think we have a right to our land in Dakota, and our tribe will not be finally settled until we have a title to our present reservation and we have relinquished all right to our Dakota land. And we earnestly request that the chiefs of the Ponca tribe of Indians be permitted to visit Washington the coming winter for the purpose of signing away our right to all land in Dakota and to obtain a title to our present reservation; and we also wish to settle our Sioux troubles at the same time. We make the above request, as we desire to have the young men of our tribe become settled and commence to work on their respective claims.
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