Show OUR DUTY TO THE NATIVES in an interview with the apache chief geronimo the captive warrior expressed himself to the eff effect act that it is a waste of money to educate indian children as it is being done now A child taken from the reservation and sent to school and then returned to the reservation quickly lays aside the garb of and dons again the blanket what can an educated indian do in the sagebrush and the cactus tu is a pertinent question generally overlooked by the friends of the present system of indian educE education ution their supposition is that every educated indian child would be a leaven lei aven eventually leavening the whole tribe to which he belongs but this reasoning overlooks the flach that it is much easier to fall from the pinnacles of civilization to the depths below than it is to climb from a lower level to a higher one they forget that improved types of animals and plants if left without care soon will revert back to the original forms there are now we are told nearly indian children in reservation and boarding schools the philanthropy that haa placed them there ought also to provide some means whereby these children are given an opportunity port unity ty of puT pursuing suing the avocations of civilized life then there is hope tor for them and their children but if they are turned over to barbarous environments as soon as their course in the school is ended their education is lost the manner in which our government has approached the indian problem has haa not always added glory to its otherwise glorious record we are about to enter upon new relations to the aborigines of other parts of the world if the advocates of expansion carry the day the hawaiian islands have already been annexed and notice has been given to the world that porto rico is OUTS ours I 1 events in cuba may lead to final annexation nex of that island and a chief part if not all of the philippines will become united states territory terri toTy it seems necessary from the outset to be determined not to repeat in any of those regions the mistakes which have been made relative to 0 o the Ind indians lang the natives have rights and these should be respected if the greed of of individuals tempts them to do wrong the arrn arm of the government should protect the victims irrespective of the color of the skin or the intellectual development if any prejudice Is to be shown it should be rather in favor of the weak that may be unable to protect themselves the british government has bag in india followed the policy of protecting even the superstitions of at the natives where they were harmless and could do injury to anybody else this has haa been to be a wise policy one that Is worthy of emulation by other governments government to |