The weekly Shasta courier. [volume] (Shasta, Calif.) 1872-190?, 1873-09-06
Communism of Indian Tribes.

The communism of the Indian sdemands
notice in this review. The right of the in
dividual to the proceeds of his labor is one
OF his God-given rights, of which no govern
ment should deprive him, unless in those
great national emergencies when every indi-
vidual interest must be sacrificed to pre-
serve the life of the nation. And the expe-
rience of six thousand years has shown that
the Incidence of mankind can only be over
aroused to that steady industry which is the
condition of civilization, by the steady
pressure of necessity. "In the sweat of thy
brow shalt thou eat bread" "1f any man
will not work, neither shall he eat" This
is the Divine law, the heaven-ordained Indi-
an policy; and we have not bettered the
matter by our attempted amendments. In
deed, with all other races we have ceased to
attempt any improvement on Gods plan of
human government. We recognize the duty
of every Irishman, and Dutchman, and
Chinaman, and American, to work; if he
will not work, we either send him to the
workhouse or let him starve. The Indian
is the only man for whom we provide the
means of living in idleness. It would be
hard to show what right he has to this i'm
munity from labor. But it would not be hard
to show that between pensions to the lndi-
ans, and salaries to the agents, and pay of
the soldiers and officers, and transportation
of supplies, and the value of the reserva-
tons of public lands, it costs the nation
more to keep these Indians in idleness than
it would to bring all the arabic lands of
California into cultivation.
But the expense is not the worst feature
of this policy. 1t actually prevents and
discourages everything like individual eff
| fort, and by paying an equal amount Of
tribute to each man without regard to con-
duct, it places the lazy, drunken Indian on
a level with his industrious squaw, and with
the energetic hunter and fisher, who is more
over compelled by the custom of the tribe
to share the proceeds of his industry with
the idle loafer. Thus, the communism of
the Indian tribes is worse than the commu-
nism of Paris. 1t is indeed the French
communism in its inevitable result. Yet
men who would shudder at the proposal to
introduce the European communism into
America, are actually voting, yearly, millions
of dollars for the support of this feature of
the Red Republic among the Indians. But
| if communism be good for them, why not
| allow other nationalities to reap its benefits :?
Why not lay off the valley of the Hudson
as an Irish reservation, and vote some mil
lions for whisky and blankets to keep those
gentlemen from going out on the war path
with free shillalahs? Why not make res
ervation of the great valley of the Mississip-
| pi for the Germans, and vote few millions
for lager-beer and tobacco to keep them in
good humor? Why not have big talk
with the Chinese, and locate them in the
Santa Clara Valley, voting them few mil
lions for the purpose of providing them
with stale fish and opium at the national
expense?
1t may be answered, that these people
get on very well when thrown upon their
their own individual energies by necessity,
but that the Indians will perish unless pa
tronized and pensioned
But the proper reply to this is, the Indi-
an is a man also. The laws of political
economy are as truly the laws of God as
the laws of chemistry or the Ten Command
ments. Nothing but failure can result from
any attempt to supersede or improve upon
the laws Of God. The utter and shameful
failure of our attempt to subsidize and sup
port by our national authority the Indian
tribal system of combined communism, indo-
lence, polygamy, and slavery, ought long ago
to have convinced us of its folly. The civ
iized world frowns reproach upon England's
attempt to sustain in Turkey government
which shields some of these denominations !;
/ L a., a, Il, -,
compared with those of the Indian tribal
governments which are permitted to exist
within the Gordon of our armies. 1t is a
strange spectacle sovereign nation toler-
ating rival severeignties on its sofia re-
public supporting military aristocracies-a
industrious people pensioning communism
and laziness and Christian, chivalrous
people tolerating polygamy, female slavery,
and the vilest abuse of woman
The results are what we see before US.
The miserable Indians themselves are rap
idly sinking under their uncontrolled vices,
and are fast perishing by drunkenness, dis
ease, and mutual wars. But they are not
yet so far reduced as to be unable to per-
ceive that, in some way, the more civilized
race is their enemy. Captain Jacks father
and his warriors fell by White treachery in
a peace talk. There have not been wanting
White savages capable of robbing the Indi-
ans of their poor rags, and furs, and blankets.
and even of their souls, by bartering to them
the fire liquor. Maddened into wild beast
like fury, they are almost yearly breaking
out on the war-path, and slaughtering all
whom they meet, devastating the frontier
settlements, and as in the melancholy case
before US, with the cunning of the serpent
shifting the bravest and the best Of our peo-
ple 1t is time that this terrible process
of laundering and slaughtering should cease
1t is disgraceful to American repulicanism
that it should have continued so long. The
American people are now aroused to an in
telligent consideration of our Indian policy
and will command the abandonment of those
erroneous principles which have too long
guided our relations with that people, and q
return to that first principle of republican
government, the equality Of all men before
the law.-Orerldnd Monthly. for September
Colts Firearms Company have received
an order for thirty thousand pistols, which
will make it lively at the armory for some