Show i RED MEN flourish I 1 idea that indians are dying out Is erroneous probably the tha race Is scarcely leu less numerous today than when columbus columbua landed on the shores of america despite popular belief that the civilization forced u upon pon him by the white man means his ultimate extinction the north american indian reviving from a 6 long period of decadence has bag shown stith substantial increase in tle ald ri in recent years yeara that he probably la Is scarcely less lees numerous today than when columbus Colum bui discovered america startling as aa this assertion may be to 0 those who have pictured american forests to in the discoverers time as swarming with red men it to la freely advanced by experts of tho the govern mt indian bureau nho maintain that tal the indian necessarily formed an exceedingly scant population which probably at no period materially exceeded the total of indians reported by the bureau for last year the indian no DO longer to Is to be thought of as a dying race declared dr lawrence W white tin an indian authority of tho bureau in support of bat statement it is necessary in tile the first place to lo disabuse the public mind of the tradition handed down by discoverers and early colonists that Siner american fean forests in their day swarmed with the dusky figures of the red roan man As the indian neglected agriculture almost completely it Is highly lm improbable that this country considering its latitude could have supported nore more n ore than several hundred thousand of his race on the other hand band doctor white continued the indian in the present advy after periods of sharp decrease follo following as a natural reaction to sudden contact with the civilization of the white man Is seen to be making substantial gains in population while many estimates or guesses of the indian population were made luring during the past century said doctor while ranging from less than loor COO to the first reliable census was waa made by the indian bureau in 1870 when the population was placed at so figures demonstrate eliat in the last 60 50 years the indian population has made a substantial net gain pointing to statistics which show an excess of births over deaths of 1522 in 1010 1916 and almost ns as great an ex es ces in 1917 normal years which were HOE affected by the epidemic of influenza flu enza doctor white declared these flure fully reflected the generosity of A government that has increased its indian health appropriation alone aiom in 1911 1011 to in 1917 1017 and subsequent years they demonstrate lie said that with tile the schools hospitals and other advantages now provided tor for them the indian be he tribesman or freedman fre eilman Is not a dying race but rather a one had he been treated as other nations have treated sav age agai tribes doctor white concluded there probably would not be a vestige of the race within our republic today |