Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-10-12
-comnunicate,lI
The Indian as he is Seen up the Nilsson
ri-His Habits and Customs
LIBERALIZATION.


ri-His Habits and Customs Hi
liberalization.
Mr.. EDITOR Allow me to Civ,
Iyou single view of the Indian.
shall not attempt to write all abou
him, for every man who sees hin
probably learns something new
about him Whether descended iron
the 'Lost Tribes" or not makes,littI6
difference as to the facts Of theil
present existence and peculiar char
acteristios. They exist, nave To-
cality in our territory, are beings OF
peculiar habits and traditional preiu-
dicos, and are as stolid as all China
and Japan in refusing 10 be different
from what they aret Hence, We
have to take the Indian as he is, and
not as very kindly sentiment
would fain belieyo him TO be. 1t
does no particular good for al New
England and Quakerdom to sympa-
thize and believe if they were treat
ed with christian kindness and love
they would respond in pure thoughts
and deeds as the white races are ex-
pected to do. The facts are that an
Indian is being which it has taken
probably two or three thousand
years to produce in form, feature'and
habit. Now it takes more than a
day or a year to reform and make q
new being of one subject for only a
few years to vicious training and in
fuences.
1.-THE color of the Fthopian's skin
j. caused by an age Of exposure to
torrid sun, how many years Of life in
the North would it require to render
him fair, his hair straight and brown
and his eyes blue? 1t would prob
ably require al least fifty generations.
What perceptible impressions have
trade, commerce, missionaries, and
all the appliances of civilization made
upon the fixed institutions and ideas
of the Chinese There are many
other comparisons, and take what
one you may or select from all and
the Indian furnishes a more perfect
representation of ingraincd and oh
stinate stolidity than any other.
With three thousand years Of culmi-
mating habit, tradition and savage
education, in about how many days
will he become changed being !?
That is tho question which has 50
far foiled every effort of Government
and the retormer. Add to this the
aggregate of all the Indian has re-
ceived from the white man for his
nature is not so unfriendly to these
and you have some idea Of the pres
ent Indian half noble and all dirty
and mean
Whose untntored mind
Just don't know anything but goes it blind.
Study how you will to make him DIFF
ferent new generations Of them are
being daily educated to the same
condition,
The Spartans took their children
from infancy and trained them with
the main idea Of rendering them har-
dy, enduring soldiers. The child
that was not suited to this use did
not long endure. Women and men
alike were trained to raise nation
of hardy people. We know how
successful they were The Atheni-
ans on the other hand trained their
people in letters and art and gave
wonderful result which characterizcs
their whole history. Look also at
the Jews who have preserved their
religious ideas and all their pecuIiari-
| ties from the remOtest sacred or pro-
fame records down to this day
Scattered through oil the earth and
subject to the effects of all forms Of
law and government, by the force of
education and habit they keep them
selves intact and peculiar people
| Climate alone has had some effect
upon their personal appearance when
for many centuries they have re-
manned stationary. All that can be
I'said of the perpetuating effect Of cd
ucation upon the character of any or
all these people is also true of the
Indian to-day Read the travels of
Lewis and Clark, the narrative OF
Hunts travels and Of Capt. Bonner
vile, both the latter written by IT.
wing, and then visit the Missouri riv-
err and study the Indian now. You
will discover he is the same IT.
Wings "Asteria" gives about as cor
rect an account Of his habits and pc
cularities as any man can write now,
yet these facts were learned in 1911
and 1912. The part Of Dakota west
of the Missouri river is yet occupied
| by these Indians, almost as free rs
then from any actual restraint. The
same tribes and bands are there now
with few exceptions, but considera,
bly, modified as to the relative mum
bers of each. For one Thousand
miles along the river their agencies
a few forts and some trading posts
are the only habitations. Otherwise
the whole region is the same wilder
ness, its solitude broken only by the
whistle of few steamers. About
sixty thousand Indians reside upol
and range over the lands drained By
the Missouri They have most IN
disputed possession of tb hundret
thousand square miles territory
Between the Missouri and the noun
tains on the west, are near 5000
Indians, and many of them are wilt
and hostile tribes, or worse than thai
outlaws because of the massacre c
1862.
Nearly all these Indians are eithe
openly hostile or secretly opposed t
the trade or advancing settlement
! of the whites. The posts at whic
the agents are stationed to furnis
+ food and supplies and pay annuitit
are on the eastern edge of this r.
gion. Hence, there is and can be bl
little control of the Indians. A fe
0 small bands are located on defnil
# reservations where they are KEEP
|. are near to forts and settlements an
: have become partly civilized, that
Q to say more lazy, dirty, indolent an
less warlike, though not q whit lei
%b~svipr, apd r,oan +bop 49, 49,