Uncle Sam, Trustee
explain that Uncle Sam does not "guarantee to find purchasers for said lands, or any portion thereof, it being the intention of this act that the United States shall act as trustee for said Indians to dispose of said lands and to expend and pay over the proceeds received from the sale thereof only as received, as herein provided."
Three separate peculations were developed in this scheme:
First, the Big Steal—the confiscation of every dollar of Indian value above the four-dollar-per-acre mark.
Second, the Long Steal—the four-year open game of "heads I win, tails you lose," for the grazing lands.
Third, the Little Steal—the taking by the Government of some twenty-three thousand acres at two dollars and a half—exactly half the price offered by the syndicate.
Thus the Rosebud bill was drafted. To give it any measure of reputable standing, the endorsement of three-fourths of the male Indians was absolutely essential; but their endorsement was out of the question.
One other way was open to the conspirators,—that was to take advantage of a recent decision of the Supreme Court, abrogate the time-honored Sioux treaty, and take the land without the Indian consent.
On January 5, 1903, the Supreme Court of the
