Show THE INDIANS The late census of the Indian tribes dispels the quite general belief be-lief that the aborigines are dying out On the contrary they are increasing in-creasing that i3 to say those tribes are that live away from the whites while those who are civilized or are close to civilization are gradually decreasing in numbers The whole number according to the census is 262000 The births last year numbered num-bered 2998 and the deaths 2478 The civilized Indians in New York I known as the Six Nationsin all 5116 lost 235 by death while there were only 187 births The western tribes almost without exception report re-port an excess of births over deaths Among the 5769 Cheyennes and Ar apahoes there were 324 births to 119 deaths the Kiowas Comanches and Wichitas 149 births and 96 deaths With the exception of two the twentyoue tribes in Indian Territory report an increase which is also true of the Utes and Apaches while the Sioux and Crows hold their own The general increase for the year is about one quarter of one per cent which is not much to be sure but is enough of the impres to prove the fallacy sion that the red men are ann 1v losing in numbers However if the history of the eastern tribes can be taken as prophetic the time is not far distant where there will be a general decline and in the coarse of a century a fullblooded young Indian will be an attractive curiosity curios-ity in a circus sideshow Every year the western tribes are driven close together by the encroachments of the whites and as the latter advance ad-vance the Indians retire The closer the original occupant of the soil gets to our civilization the weaker he becomes The contact is too much for him morally and physically physic-ally |