Indians
in other places, who took treaty years ago, are now better off
than they were before. They grow grain and raise cattle like
the white people. Their children have learned to read and write.
"Now, I will give you an outline of the terms we offer you. If you
agree to take treaty, every one this year gets a present of $12.00.
A family of five, man, wife and three children, will thus get $60.00;
a family of eight, $96.00; and after this year, and for every year
afterwards, $5.00 for each person forever. To such chiefs as you
may select, and that the Government approves of, we will give
$25.00 each year, and the counsellors $15.00 each. The chiefs
also get a silver medal and a flag, such as you see now at our
tent, right now as soon as the treaty is signed. Next year, as
soon as we know how many chiefs there are, and every three years
thereafter, each chief will get a suit of clothes, and every
counsellor a suit, only not quite so good as that of the chief.
Then, as the white men are coming in and settling in the country,
and as the Queen wishes the Indians to have lands of their own,
we will give one square mile, or 640 acres, to each family of
five; but there will be no compulsion to force Indians to go
into a reserve. He who does not wish to go into a band can get
160 acres of land for himself, and the same for each member of
his family. These reserves are holdings you can select when you
please, subject to the approval of the Government, for you might
select lands which might interfere with the rights or lands of
settlers.
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