Show 4 l THE NATIONS NATION NAT 1 f S WORK V 0 lt BY C H FORBES FO LINDSAY SY J FATHERING NG THE INDIAN IN A 1 gur flur ur past treatment of our Indian n has been humane but sadly lackins lack lacking lackIn ins ing In In Intelligence and efficiency Hard Bard Hardly ly any condition could have been better bet better ter tei calculated to promote barbarism end pauperism than the system of segi se gi gatlon first adopted as a police measure and continued from misguided motives of paternalism That they have haven not n t been utterly ruined by It speaks lo for the Inherent nt t sturdiness of ot character In the North American Iq Ir din dmn tender ender the old policy the Indian was ws wasa wasa a social and economic anomaly He I was encouraged to disregard the V very ry I law l w of nature that of providing the means menns of subsistence for tor himself 2nd nl nis offspring His life was regu rega regulated regulated laed and circumscribed to the last de det t L 1 When from sheer revulsion of spirit ho he h occasionally went wont ort off a ram rampage ramT rampage page T gC we stigmatized him as a blood bloodthirsty thirsty savage sav save and hurried hur hurried hurri ried ri d out our troops to herd him back to his confines Like our incurables und and hopelessly insane we deemed him hima a useless encumbrance and while we f ther d him huhn tenderly fervently prayed that WP rte P might be speedily rid of him Time and a more intelligent study stud of this pitiful remnant of o the former lords lorda of the land have brought about a better bolter b understanding of them and a if wiser loser attitude toward them We Ve have haye cone Orl lu tu know that the Indian is naturally nat naturally of a p fuL disposition that his forbearance under provocation is re ra remarkable ram m that h has many inherent hamter mit ml t excite the tho envy of prou cst st people and that In il Ills his general makeup are arc the quah qualities L t ties tics hat that go to tho the composition of an ible citizen if they be but giver l fitting ing stops SLOp and n 1 roper proper direction Th The Indian m which vexed our grandfathers hap I nfl evolved itself into a s I and definite prop proposition o with encouraging features In the th present bo forthe for the fu futuro futuro turo The task tak of civilizing these chil children children children dren of nature ii is no easy one We Ve have to contend with the Indians unconquerable un conquerable dislike to o the white man llan his temperamental aversion lon to novelty n velty and nd md other mits that conflict with the character of the Caucasian These are area aret r t a 1 strung stron to oe ne overcome in the adults st middle age and little more than thant thano o lerance t of or our efforts may be ex ox pete of the men and women in the earlier stages stag of It IP is I from the more material offered by the children n that our government hopes to troll mol the Indian I llIan of the future Our r family embraces some Iome more than Indians In These A arc domiciles domiciled in reservations res scattered s all over the country west of the Mis Mississippi MississippI Mississippi There are a few n the lake region and one little settlement in North Carolina Contrary to general belief the Indians are Jr holding their own In numbers ant and an perhaps increasing slightly The resent enlightened pol policy polky ic icy ky y of the government is designed to sot set the Indian upon his JUs hi 1 feet to sever severi i he the Ih communal ties that bind him to his tribe and to abolish his position as a adt dt upon the government c tr fully tenderly rb we have led him along the paths of civilization civilization tion and find now while still watching over him mm nUll and find and directing his 1115 course we wc u are arc him mm nUll and find and directing 1115 u p a ti ing him to o wirt alone alo w The eon con cout t tuition i tion of the ration policy polley and the expansion of the labor policy polley are teach teaching I ing lug our charges s the value of individual effort and md the opening of the reserva reservations reservations reservations to lo white settlers is instilling self dependence and emulation We Wp have during durin the th past pw t twenty cars i been een individualizing the Indian as ast t I the owner of real estate CItate by b breaking up u uth th reservations which widell preserved the theoM theo oM oaf o r customs and habits and establishing each Indian as an inde independent in independent de pendent landholder This movement I has extended rapidly in recent years ears und and nd wilt will soon embrace the lest of o the theo I dime OId o imp reservations We e are giving the Indian the white mans chance and andi anda i a kin him to assume the white mans r Ton 14 VW t are ue placing upon u on him the obliga obligations obligations of and 1 loosing looking lio to him t to help build up the tho frontier community community community ity in which his interests ie le And hois ho hois hoIs is 1 as a man of o his strong strongs A fiber night l l le be e expected to tn respond to toan s any an demand d mand upon lipon his manliness We Ve Weare arc are getting setting good hood results as we learn to appreciate the individuality of the Indian and apply appl to his treatment a yardstick cut to the measure of that tat individuality which is as pronounced s that of any race on earth In the past the government has been find the Indian to r antly exercised nothing to do with the sole thought d b t him out of mischief Our Mt nt policy Is to direct his energies J T useful I ful and profitable channels and anden n 1 en t a 1 him lo to t independent labor labors I j s against t the old communal work with i c s i lack laek of personal incentive and com cora coral comI 1 l t sti And the Indian Is making good in ht every field which he heas heas heas as entered re Some of the best farms ni In th tit newly opened sections are tilled lv by h Indians whose fathers loafed I through life lie en n the same soil roll The Th reclamation service employs hun 1 Th e s o of f Indians and welcomes all it can earn get l for they have proved to be the best laborers available Where the past tc shunned the sandy sand waste its F r ins ns are h ping transform tran form the desert Into a i blooming garden In mines on r id td construction and various other I v t vv Ik r t s j throughout our growing western w t land linc you will find them And on these thes busy huy spots you ou will gain a new and I hopeful view of the red race problem Wh i t you ou see nee th the Indian putting his weight with a will on a mattock or sturdily swinging a pick you ou recognize I him for fir a man to be respected and you wonder atthe at the density of your our past mis oi tion of him But the picture that your our fancy any forms tit if the tho future othe Indian i Is dimmed by a shadow in the back background ground the sinister shadow of liquor This TIis is the t e greatest t danger that be besets besets sets his path to prosperity It Is s a greater menace to him than to any other citizen lUzen of this country for all others enjoy a certain degree of Im Immunity Immunity derived from generations Of users user of alcohol You might give your child whisky with less ill effect than would follow the indulgence in it by an adult Indian To him it is a crude poi poison poison poison son which will work its full ull force upon his system sy and soon scon set UD up an un unquenchable quenchable quen hable craving Here Is a problem problem lem lent In itself It must not ot be supposes supposed that th in placing placIng placing ing the In l an n In ip a to enjoy the h hI benefits b the duties of independent citizenship the government has hOlS entirely resigned re i nd It ItS guardianship of f lim hm In opening up reservations the allotment nt of lands includes every Ct ry soul I men women and children the I Indians Indiana and every reasonable provision tl Is m c he for gIving them a n fair start stalL Where necessary Congress has made appropriations for irrigation and other Improvements To guard against the unsophisticated aborigines becoming prey pt to their allotments are Jn i tru f by bl the government nt for twenty years ears and may only be sold or leased with the approval of ot the Secre Secretary Secretary Secretary tary of the Interior It Is desired to maintain the operation of the law against the introduction of liquor r into the Indian country Unscrupulous persons have hae secured land on reservations and engaged in the business of selling liquor to the Indians maintaining that an open reservation Is no longer Indian country The com commissioner commissioner commissioner missioner of Indian affairs is determined to oppose this traffic with all the means at his command but he is handicapped by a recent decision of the supreme court and by the fact that his office has no fund from which to derive the means of prosecuting the offenders It Is heartily to be desired that tha some meas measures measures measures ures may be adopted for the protection of the Indian against his most formidable formidable formidable able enemy Experience proves that his safety safet lies In keeping whisky out of his reach Once he touches it he completely loses control of himself Nevertheless he Is eager to buy it and willing to pay any price for it facts that offer strong temptations to whiskey dealers to evade the law if possible J There are arc probably Indian children of school age Of the majority of these the government hopes to make useful citizens who will become an im important important important factor In fa the development of the western states The opposition of their parents to their education is constantly diminish diminishing diminishing ing and there has been a marked in increase increase j crease in school attendance during the past few years It has risen from less I Ithan than in 1898 1838 to upward of i in 1904 The government maintains 93 boarding schools and day schools I Ion on the tho reservations In addition to lo I these there arc are 23 25 a advanced schools of which Carlisle University and the Haskell and Hampton Institutes arc are the I best known The present pr gent commissioner of Indian affairs is strongly in to faVor faor fa or of pratI practical cal education and industrial training for the young redskins and his ideas shape the policy polley of the principals Let me cite one instance that recently came cameto cameto cameto to my notice in evidence of the substantial substantial results that are arc being produced A Abridge Abridge I bridge to span a river was needed ne ed by b Snohomish County Wash Yash The officials 1 estimated the cost at The gov government government government employed in the construction I the schoolboys of o the reserva reservation reservation tion Th y completed the work y quite 1 satisfactorily and at a cost of their labor being almost gratuitous The affairs of the Indians were never neverin neverin in such favorable hands as now Frank Prank FrankE E Leupp the present commissioner understands and sympathizes with his charges He has had the advantage of twenty years ears of close intercourse with I the Indian in his natural environment I which is the forest and plain of our 1 sparsely settled states where in the theold theold theold old home and playground of the red redskin redskin redskin skin must be found the field of his future usefulness What of the future of the North American Indians As a race they have none They are fated not to ex extinction extinction extinction but to absorption The process began beJan long ago with the hardy fron frontiersman frontiersman who married the daughter of ofa o oa a red man and begat a family of half breeds It has progressed In this di dl ever eer since ince with constantly In Increasing Increasing Increasing creasing frequency fr These I find in the white strain the practical qualities lucking In the aboriginal character They display ability to take care of themselves and to make their way in the world in competition with white men Many of them arc capable of occupy occupying occupyIng occupying ing prominent positions in business and the professions The future activity of the coming generation of educated Indians is a less calculable quantity Ownership of land will draw the majority to agricultural pursuits and ther is reason to believe that as farmers they will make a creditable figure In the main The Indian is a natural diplomatist and logician He may be expected to furnish a large proportion of the lawyers and politic politicians politicians politicians ians of o the future west but without an infusion of f white blood he will never shine In the field of commerce He ut utterly utterly terly lacks the executive ability Should he find a mine upon his land he would never work it but Jut try to pur purchase purchase purchase chase it from him and an he will drive you the hardest bargain Imaginable Of course there th re are among the younger Indians not a few In whom the hereditary traits are too strong to be eradicated or even suppressed This element must inevitably die out in a ai afew afew i few generations In compliance with the inexorable law of the extinction of o the least fit There are graduates of the schools who go back to the paint and feathers and beads and baskets of their fathers and find in the unkempt hair the dirty blanket and the smoky wigwam relief relic from the irksome restraints of civilization civilization civilization tion The love of the wild dies hard in inthe inthe inthe the virile Indian I have heard of a physician in good practice who found the call of Mother Nature so strong I that he would steal away from his city home and abide with his people for fora I I I a while On the newly opened reservations rase rations the I Indians have built houses upon their farms but in many instances this Is merely a concession to self respect and a token of jf equality with the whit neighbor Often beside eside the house Is a alent I tent lent and In ht that the redskin lIese lives lIes I C e H |