The Secretary Asks the Puyallups Whether They Are Fit to Hold Their Own Land
Interior Secretary John W. Noble met 200 Puyallup people on the reservation and promised to carry their wish to sell to President Harrison — after satisfying himself that they could be trusted with the money.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
TACOMA, Aug. 25. — [Special.] — When a Puyallup Indian called Secretary of the Interior Noble's attention to a tramp walking on the Northern Pacific railroad through the reservation this morning, he observed that this was evidence that white men were not all able to take care of themselves. Then the Indian admitted that the Puyallup Indians were no better than the white man in this respect. He argued that while a few of the Indians were unable to take care of their property, the bulk of them had, from continued contact with the whites, learned how to barter and trade and manage their own affairs.
Secretary Noble is confident now that the Puyallup reservation will be opened by the next congress. This is the first reservation he has made a personal investigation of since being appointed secretary of the interior. After today's meeting with 200 Puyallup Indians, including men, women and children, representing all of the reservation land, Mr. Noble expressed himself as highly pleased with the manners, habits and general intelligence of the Indians.
In a speech to them he said, in substance, that the advice of all of the people who have the best interests of the Indians at heart is that the government protect them and handle their property and hold their money at a fair rate of interest. Still, this is but the advice of people friendly to the Indians, and it will not be forced upon the Puyallups as the policy to obtain in opening the reservation.
He said he would tell the president that he found most of the Indians able to handle their property, and he was sure the president would advise congress to pursue the right course in dealing with the Puyallups. He seems in favor of letting the Indians have their own way in the matter, because his talks with them and with Tacomans have led him to believe that they know what is best for their own interests.
Among the Indians who spoke at the mass meeting were Joseph Swoyall, Jr., James Cross, A. Jackson, Dick Sajawa, John Stawalluce, John Wallace, Dick Sawatum, John Hote, Charles Satiacum, John Wyton and Tommy Kane. Agent Fells acted as master of ceremonies, and besides himself and Mr. Noble there were on the platform Judge Scott of Port Townsend, and John F. Plummer, Nelson Bennett and Secretary Schafner of the Commercial Club of Tacoma.
Of the speakers, Swoyall stood alone in advocating protection by the government for the Indian. He did not think the time had come for them to take into their own hands the handling or disposition of their property. He did not think them capable of coping with the white man. Secretary Noble reminded him that white men have been known to sell a gold mine worth $10,000 for $100, which seemed to impress some of the Indians that not all white men were smart or able to make the best use of their property.
The other speakers were unanimous in advocating that the Indians be allowed to dispose of their property and handle their own funds. They agreed that some land should be held by them — enough for a home — and that the valley lands, comprising 5,000 acres, which the Judge Drake commission recommended they should hold for homes, be kept under restrictions as is the entire reservation at present. This would enable them to own their homes and still escape paying taxes.
Secretary Noble spoke again at the conclusion of the meeting, saying the enterprise of the white man had made the reservation valuable. He did not want to see the enterprise of the whites checked by the reservation remaining closed. Railroads are great civilizers, he said; therefore provision should be made, when opening the reservation, for right-of-way through that portion of the reservation which the Indians wish to continue to hold under government restrictions. Railroads would, he said, increase the value of the reservation land held under restrictions, and also increase the value of the land which the Indians would sell.
In disposing of the contracted lands, Secretary Noble and the Indians agreed that the law should take its course. Among those who pressed the desire to sell strongly was Charles Satiacum, who said he was getting old and wanted his money before he died. Satiacum must be nearly 81 years of age. For such of the Indians as are not able to take care of their own interests it is expected guardians will be appointed.
“Among those who pressed the desire to sell strongly was Charles Satiacum, who said he was getting old and wanted his money before he died.”
Noble's 'investigation' — a federal cabinet officer deciding in an afternoon whether Native people were competent to hold their own property — was the logic that produced the Dawes allotment policy, which stripped tribes nationwide of two-thirds of their land. The Puyallup Reservation was opened to settlement soon after; today the Puyallup Tribe is one of the largest landowners and employers in Tacoma, and fights over treaty land, right-of-way and consultation are still being argued in the same terms.
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