Editorial on Big Bear


"Editorial on Big Bear"
Saskatchewn Herald 3/13/1885 Big Bear has always an excuse for not going on to a reserve. When in the middle of the plains on his way in from the south he declined to go farther because his agricultural implements had not been delivered to him; and from time to time he has up to the present day urged similar frivolous reasons for refusing to carry out his part of the bargain. For a long time the Government temporized with him, hoping that better counsels would prevail, and that the influence of his bad advisers would lose its weight. There appearing but little prospect of this, and wearying of his broken promises, the Government gave him to understand that if he and what followers he had left did not settle down by New Year their rations would be cut off. The Bear being still obdurate this threat was carried into effect, and rations were only given to those who worked. Meantime disease has all but exterminated their horses, leaving them without the means of moving about as freely as of old, and the old procrastinator seizes on this as another excuse for not settling down, because he has not horses wherewith to move. This is of course a mere pretence, as the Department will furnish the band with stock and implements when they are in a position to use them. Meantime the Government must stick to its rule of "no work, no grub" as the settled Indians are beginning to grumble at having to work for everything they get while these get everything they want and have not to work.

"Editorial on Big Bear"

Saskatchewn Herald
3/13/1885
Big Bear has always an excuse for not going on to a reserve. When in the middle of the plains on his way in from the south he declined to go farther because his agricultural implements had not been delivered to him; and from time to time he has up to the present day urged similar frivolous reasons for refusing to carry out his part of the bargain. For a long time the Government temporized with him, hoping that better counsels would prevail, and that the influence of his bad advisers would lose its weight. There appearing but little prospect of this, and wearying of his broken promises, the Government gave him to understand that if he and what followers he had left did not settle down by New Year their rations would be cut off. The Bear being still obdurate this threat was carried into effect, and rations were only given to those who worked. Meantime disease has all but exterminated their horses, leaving them without the means of moving about as freely as of old, and the old procrastinator seizes on this as another excuse for not settling down, because he has not horses wherewith to move. This is of course a mere pretence, as the Department will furnish the band with stock and implements when they are in a position to use them. Meantime the Government must stick to its rule of "no work, no grub" as the settled Indians are beginning to grumble at having to work for everything they get while these get everything they want and have not to work.