New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-01-25
NET prRpoSE OF TIE LNDIAN.

"In short, what is an Indian good for any wayF
This is a question which it strikes us might
more appropriately be propOunded to the
Almighty Creator of All Men than to us; and
if our friend will apply prayerfully in that
quarter, it is possible that he may receive
satisfactory answer. If the INDIANS are not
Men, but Vermin, over whom God has given
us dominion, their determination by fire and
sword is a Christian duty and if they help us
in the performance of such duty, then at least
they are good" for so much, If not more
Making war upon them also!helps Army officers
in getting their step. They are also extremely
useful in assisting Agents to make their Tor
tunes and if these gentlemen do not desire TO
kill the goose that lays golden eggs for them,
they will do their best to restrain the enthu-
siasm of the exterminatOrs. Here is another
query:
"of what use have the Indians been to this coun
tryi"
1t requires no great acumen to retort by
asking of what use a great many White Men
have ever iDeen to this country There are
thousands of human beings in this very city
who are of no use to anybody-not even to
themselves; and we suppose that there are
few of the same kidney in Kansas unless 1t is
nearer n Land Of Canaan than we think 1t to
be. We have never heard it proposed, how
ever, to make q general slaughter OF our
loafers-in fact. anyiproposition to do so would
be voted down by large Democratic ma
iority If it will be any satisfaction to our
correspondent, we feel free to confess that we
sec little good of bringing Indian Chiefs to
Washington TO be "lonzed.' But we have
=, tI,, Til Of inf
ing strangers quite "A number Of White Men,
every one of them with an ax in his hand
which lac was DESTROYS of grinding. Indian
Chiefs do not come to Washington of their
own motion-they are brought to serve the
purposes Of those who bring them. 1t is pos
sible that some good may come OF the impress
sion which they receive of the power of the
nation but we arc decidedly in favor of max
ing their visits like those of angels RI
"Dld THE Tribune ever publish any articles when
gave any credit the pioneer for building country
or did 1t ever acknowledge his night to protection from
the Indans~
This Is really an astonishing question tOeome
from an inhabitant of Kansas. We have dim
recollection OF having written and printed just
a line or two intended (such was our humble
purposc) to promote the happiness and pros
perity of Kansas aforesaid. We suppose,
however, since the gentleman puts such an
interrogatory, that all our efforts have been
failures and highly painful it is for us to
suppose so. We wish our correspondent
distinctly to understand, since perhaps
il NAV comfort his soul, that eff a com
"pany of White Men should band together,
"refuse to work, go naked, and roam
cover the Plains these dissipated and nude
meanderers could not "rely upon the favorable
Influence of THE TRIBUNE in getting their
subsistence from the Government" IL any
class of Men, be they White, Black, Yellow, or
Copper-coored, are meditating, either on the
Plains or in Washington, any such game for
Subsistence without labor, we shall certainly
be upon their track, with the sharpest stick in
our whole collection. We believe, with the
Kansas man, that everybody should earn
"their bread by the sweat of their brow" but
there are q good many characters in these parts
who seem to have plenty Of bread (aud meat
without any extraordinary perspiration. Some
people might think it equitable to kill off this
gentry, but we really think that would be
going little too far
When our Kansas querist triumphantly asks,
"Is the Indian any better than the White
Mani" we can only answer that we know
some White Men who are no better than In
dams. They do not paint their faces--we wish
that they would, for then we should know
them at sight. They do not go nakGd--if they
did it would be all the better for their talors.
They do not roam "--On tho contrary, they
stick by the places that know them with the
local fidelity of cats. You will have to look a
good while at their brows before you will find
any "sweat" on them, except in extremely hot
weather. They are, in short, nuisances ; but
being white nuisances, they must, we suppose
be tenderly considered, especially when they
turn up in Washington.
We have never supposed, and do not now
suppose the Western Indian TO be n model
of manhood or the proud possessor of al
the cardinal virtues. He is naturally ieal-l
Gus Of the advancement of civilization, for he
knows by experience that it will speedily expel
him from home, or from all of home which he
possesses. lie makes war after the fashion Of
his fathers-cruelly. remorselessly, and bar
barously; but We have taught him no better
lesson, for that is precisely the way i'll which
we have always made war upon him. IL he is
considered Wild Beast and treated accord
ingly he will behave like Wild Beast-and
small blame to him, say We for dong 80. The
tone of the very communication which we
are considering shows the animWS with
which he is regarded by too many Of our
Western settlers. He is undoubtedly in
their way-and so are they In his IL there
should suddenly arrive in Kansas great
number Of beings superior to its present in
habtants, and if these incursionists should at
once proceed to possess themselves Of the
principal farms. and to legislate the occupants