Show tile cile tnie TIIE INDIAN QUESTION ONE OKE of our exchanges says that th elate winter campaign has been the first sensible indian fighting done by this nation this opinion is very generally shared by writers on this question throughout the west A war that would be sharp swift and cruel that had for its object the complete blotting out of the indians would find many advocates in theN the western Vestern states ardd arid territories ri it was only the ot other day that we read of a proposal which was made in arizona to exter exterminate the indians root and branch many are of the such a method of settling the Indian question would be the easiest and eha cheapest pest but the th nation would incur cub cui odium dalum abroad by the the adoption of such sucu a barbarous bar barous barons plan of dealing with the aborigines and it boua could not be sanctioned the whole question is beset beget with difficulty angwill and will continue to remain so as long as the present ideas respecting spec ting the indians prevail there was a time in the history of our nation when the red men were supposed to have rights and there ther was ewas a disposition manifested to respect them but that feeling is rapidly disappearing bo so long asther as there ewas was a large extent of country west of the missouri river known as the indian territory to which the indians could be induced to remove when the whites needed their lands and were willing to pay them a nominal price for them the polac policy of treating with them prevailed of late years much of this indian territory has been occupied by the whites many parts of it have been found to be rich in the precious metals and also well weil adapted for agricultural purposes and settlements and cities have been formed and built throughout its vast extent the indian really has no territory altor that he can call his own there are u few reservations it is true but they are coveted the surrounding whites want them and the indian sees very plainly that he cannot retain them very long and that he is in fact already 14 4 the way the popular view publicly advocated by influential persons and newspapers is the old idea that right 7 it is icoy now nov found that we need the entire continent in which to work outi out our destiny we are conquerors and the indians the conquered they must accept what we choose to give them for this whole country from ocean to ocean ocema by the law of the strongest is the property of the tho white man I 1 the result is that most of the white men who live in an au indian countr country Y haye become fully imbued with the idea chatan that an indian has nomore no more rights than a wolf and that like that fierce animal he ought to be shot down at sight this waro war of fraces races raees with which thelvert th the west elVest ia is threatened can be traced to the prevalence of this most inhuman an and d mur murderous idea naturally enough the indians do not accept the white mans the case their fathers inhabited this land centuries before he hp came across the great waters etwas it was their land the white mail man ia is an intruder he has no rights which they feel to respect res act except those which he has deri derl derived from them therefore when they are driven from their lands their game destroyed and they themselves and their race killed without provocation the law of self preservation appeals to them as strongly as it does to those who have white skins they deem themselves justified in adopting every means of retaliation let white men be placed in their position and how long would they endure the treatment the indians have received and not resent it there never will be any settlement of this indian question until a different policy is adopted towards them unless indeed a settlement be obtained as has been proposed by exterminating them they are human beings and entitled to light rights as such men by their sophistry may dodge this and talk about their acts of cruelty placing them outside the pale of humanity but the stubborn fact still remains that they have rights which they in common with us have derived from the creator no nation has ever prospered which has treated the he conquered or aboriginal races with in her borders as the indians are treated As a people we have acquired a right to 0 speak authoritatively upon this subject J act there is not a community on the continent onti nent which has had rny any longer or more intimate experience with indians than tha ours and we have proved to our own entire satisfaction at ae least s that where the whites treat the t indians kindly they are but seldom troubled with indian wars we have had difficulties in our territory but in nearly every very instance they can be traced to the he wrong doings of the whites frequently our settlements have had to suffer for the misdeeds of strangers t ra agers outside tide of our borders or travel traveling 1 ng through our territory bry |