Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-20
THURSDAY. July go, 1s71.


There are Indians in Oregon who appear to bt
in similar condition. Most of the unsettled
Indians do nothing but hunt and fish to keeI
themselves from starvation; and many of then
use these methods to secure food in a very lazy
and shiftless way, especially since they have
been trained to depend on the general govern
ment for supplies. The Indians who are with
out food, and find themselves compelled to hun
for roots, complain that the agents do not feet
them, and, on this account, feel misused. 0
course, the Indian agents have no means of pro
viding for their wants. Gen. Ord thinks i
would be well to authorize military command
ers TO supply them from the army stores, fo
this might prevent robberies and murders. Tn,
argument is, that they will engage in pilag'
and steal cattle from the settlers and ranchmen
who in return viii shoot them, and there viii
be an "Indian war"
Ii is high time to do with these unsettled In
dams something more than feed them. The
more they are led the more they will depend on
being fed. Under no circumstances will they
work, if they can help it; nor will they persist
in hunting and fishing, if they can have all
their wants supplied by the government, for
they prefer utter laziness to the exertion neces-
sary to procure their own food. If it shall be
the policy of the government to crafty them
in this respect, we shall have on our hands
all the shftless bands of savages in the
country, who will rob our people and ravage
the border settlements, unless we give them all
they need; and even then they may engage in
pillage, occasionally, to get something more.
1t is time to consider this question seriously,
and carry out with the strong hand policy
that will place the Indians in different condi.
ton, and train them to new habits.
1t seems indispensable to place the Indians on
suitable reservations, keep them there, supply
them with the means of starting successfully
as agriculturists and make them understand
that they must work or starVe. There is no
reason why they should have perpetual sup
port from the government, any more than the
communities of white men settled in California
and Nevada. The chief difficulty in the case is
that the Indians refuse 10 work, and insis
on living without work. This must be
changed, and the change will be realized
when they shall be forced to under
stand, that they must adopt the methods
used by the white settlers, to preserve them
selves from dying of starvation. What is pos
sible to Indians, in this respect, can be seen in
the Indian territory; and the sooner all the In
dams at the west are brought to similar con.
dition, the better it will be for them and for the
country. To go on feeding them in this aimless
way merely to keep them from robbing somebody
and getting killed, only increases an evil thai
is already intolerable. Let them be fed, and lei
lan AZ
pline and kept there.
The Indians must adopt the habits of ciyiliza
ton, SO far at least, as to "work for living,
like all provident people, or they must disap
pear from the earth. This matter is regulated
by law which no congress can repeal, and nc
philanthropy suspend. Petitions against iti
operation are useless it will be executed
whether men weep or curse; if we are wisel!
benevolent, we shall recognize this law as
fact, and take proper account of it in on
behavior TO the Indians. It is OF tn
first Importance TO their welfare tina
they be confined to suitable reservations
and trained to work; it is important, also, I
the settlers whom they perpetually annoy ant
pillage. No doubt the Indians suffer man!
wrongs at the hands Of the bOrderers; but they
on their part, infct wrongs and provoke
assault, and their relation TO the settlers is no
likely to improve while they continue to be un
settled, thriftless savages. 1t they were situate
where they could annoy and harass some O.
our New England towns, il is very lively tina
our people would at length hate them as the
are hated by the people of the border SETTLE
ments. They should be so placed as not to il
cite hate anywhere, and constrained to adop
habits that may save them from determination
A novel law question is to be submitted to tn
supreme court. 1t arose in this wise: On
Dorus, otherwise known as Jack Straws, wa
tried in the superior court, in Boston, b.
fore Judge Pitman, on a charge of extortiOI
The case was submitted to the jury on Tuesda
afternoon, and they were informed that the
might seal their verdict and separate, returning
the same into court the next morning. Thi
they did, or intended to do; but when the scale
package, handed to the clerk by the foreman
was opened, it contained nothing to indicate tn
verdict. The slip of paper containing it ha'
been accidentally left out when the othe
papers were sealed up. The judge, after som
hesitation, directed the jury to retire again
which they did, and soon brought in verde
of guilty. The prisoners counsel contend tina
a jury cannot, having once separated, be pei
mitted to render verdict on re-assembling
and on this point the ease goes TO the suprem
court. The question, it is said, has never befor
been raised, and the lawyers of course will loo
for the decision with unusual interest. If til
case is, as is said, unembarrassed by preceden
- 40 hn a, 1nNIf tn la,td
whether dozen respectable gentlemen shoul
be permitted in the morning to remember wha
conclusion they had arrived at over night.
A Honolulu newspaper claims that there /
not another community of its size so much &C
dicted to reading as the foreign population @
the Sandwich Islands. The literary taste
these islanders is illustrated by the followin
statement of the comparative frequency wit
which the works of different authors are Gale
for at the circulating library: Dickens, 4
Thackeray, 5; Bulwer Lytton, 6; Wilkie Co
Inns, s; Chas. Reade, s.; Anthony Trollope, 8
Pierce Egan, 4; Judge Halliburton, 2; Artema
Ward, 8; Mark Twain, 81 Mrs. Henry Woot
8; Miss Braddon, 4; Mrs. Oliphant, 5; Mi,
Mulock, A.; Mrs. Southworth, s; Miss Null
ryatt, Amelia b. Edwards, Mrs. Riddell, +. "
Robinson and Eugene Sue, each mark A; N
thaniel Hawthorne, Miss Pardoe, Grace Aguila
3; while T. S. Arthur and James De Mile, on
rate at II.
Cincinnati has ice water drinking fountain
provided by the city. They work well, are n,
very expensive, and are thought TO be of gres
value in checking the formation of habits of il
Temperance. Among the numberless beverag,
recommended for hot weather not one is :
agreeable or so wholesome, Notwithstanding a
that the wiseacres may say, as cold waite
Where it is provided freely at the public cos
the public purse, the public health and the pu,
lie morals all gain by it,
A man named Robinson makes very 90,
living out west by undertaking to lead part
to q mountain of gold in Dakota, or somewhe