Views and Interviews by Frank Fiske

For years I have maintained that the Sioux Indians are not farmers. They never were and by natural bent are not so inclined. The attempt by the government to make farmers of the Indians has been a pitiful failure. All old timers are agreed that this was a useless undertaking, but the theorists could not see it that way. Now it is gratifying to read in "Indians At Work" the report of F. A. Asbury, Agricultural Extension Agent at Pineridge Agency. He says, in part: "The older members of the Oglala Sioux tell of the days before the allotment period when practically all Indians were livestock owners, and that there was no hard times among the Indians then. There were from forty to forty-five thousand cattle on the reservation then and the horse population was even greater. The story of the disappearance of the Indian herds is a sad one, due to the allotment system, leasing of large tracts of land to outside cattle companies, shipment of the Indians' cattle by the train-load and subsequent move to make the Indians into farmers. The slogan, "Get rid of those worthless horses," resulted in the selling of horses until today the Indian is afoot. The farming bubble burst. Crop failures occur more frequently than do successful yields. On the unplowed land grass still grows and complete failure of the grass crop are few and far between. Abandoned fields occupy large portions of the reservation. Our virile native grasses, especially during the past good grass season, are making a successful fight against the wild sunflower and Russian thistle, adding evidence that this is a livestock country, first last and all the time."

The Extension Service is now undertaking the restocking of the Sioux reservations. A small beginning has been made and it will require years of patient endeavor consistently directed to again restore the Sioux Indians to a state of self sufficient living conditions. It is to be hoped that the Indians will cooperate in full with this program as it is the only means of solving the long suffered Indian problem on all Sioux reservations.