The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-06-21
A FOOLISH INDIAN POLICY.
From tile Neu York tribune.

u
From tile Nep York tribune.
EVILS OF THE RESERVATION SYSTEM.
Our Government can afford to be- mao
unanimous in its treatment of Indians. but
1t cannot afford to continue the policy of
treating them as lords of the soil and her
own citizens as trespassers upon their ter
rltory. Even when giving them consid-
Grafton for their good will for peaceable
possession, it should he done with full
understanding that We claim the land by
natural right, as children of that Great
Father who created it for his whole fami-
~, and is no respecter of persons We
should take our share by the same
right which we recognize in Indians
our right to home on the earth:
and in accordance with this theory
we should secure to every one of
them homestead by such title as would
make it inalienable for long period, so
that sharpers might not take ADVANTAGE of
his ignorance or nomad instincts to deprive
him of his Inheritance. Let this home
stead be wheresoever on the public lands
he may select; and the more they are scat
tered the better. Abandon at once and
forever the plan of herding them, like
droves of wild cattle, on reservations, fenc-
ing them in with bayonets, and leaving
them to gore each other. Civilizing them
must ever be hopeless task while they
are thus hemmed in with their old heath
enisms. 1t is as individuals not as tribes
that they can be reached by the missionary.
While they form separate communities, the
individual must find it next to impossible
to stem the current Of public opinion in
making any departure from old habits
1t is the public sentiment in these COM
munities which has dragged almost all our
educated Indians back to the level of their
tribes, and which often makes them the
worst of bad Indians. No human beings
adhere to their traditions with more tenac-
ity; and just in so far as we succeed in
keeping them on reservations, in so far we
prevent their improvement. Labor, for
instance, is held by them in such utter
contempt that a warrior loses caste, be-
comes contemplate, who plants or hoes
corn, or who does anything but hunt, and
fish, and massacre his neighbors. What
hope can there be of their civilization
while they are herded together to foster
their prejudices, and prosecute any indi-
vidual who steps out Of the beaten path,
and degrades himself by any useful labor.
SHAM AND REAL REFORMS.
Keeping them on reservation alone must
retard their civilization intellectually; but
when we add to this the habit of arming
them with the most destructive of deadly
weapons that they may be able to live by
hunting and so feel above any necessity
for that labor which they despise, we give
a premium to savagery, and effectually aid
the pride and Incidence which, unaided,
are strong enough to keep their hands from
the pillow. When we continue to furnish
these deadly weapons, after knowing that
they are used for the murder of our citi-
zens, we stimulate their love of blood by
heavy brides. When we propose to feed
and clothe them, we take away the last
motive for work. We do everything to
make and keep them idle vagabonds,
and then keep up ceaseless clamor about
our good intentions toward them. We
have opened and persevere in keeping open
a door for the most stupendous frauds it is
possible to conceive. We investigate and
report these frauds, and punish no one for
them, but now and then take in some new
men, with clean regulations, to sweeten
the mass of corruption engaged in exter-
Indians through the cultivation
of their vices. At every such change we
have national anthems on our improved
Indian policy, and the stealing goes on as
merrily as ever. Among the bad infiu-
ences, under Mr. johnson, on the removal
of which we are now congratulating our
selves, was that of Bishop Whipple, one
of the most devoted of Indian missiona-
ries, who had taken charge of the Mime
sofa Indians, and who had vainly attempt
ed to stop the Indian frauds. BY and by
the Bureau will be regenerated again by
turning out the present Commissioner and
getting in some one else; but the Indian
rings will continue to rob the Government,
to make it bleak faith with the Indians, to
excite them to pilliage and murder, to make
this murder war, and make profit by sup
plying both belligerents with munitions,
and will keep in safe places while soldiers
and citizens are butchered. There can be
no settlement Of our Indian troubles until
we drop the last pretense of recognizing
these people as independent nations by
canceling every treaty at any cost and ex-
tending our laws over them. Every Indian
should know for surety that if lie MUIR
ders he will be hanged; that murderers will
be ferreted out by men who understand
the business, not by military parades; that
he who steals will be imprisoned and set
to work; that he who raises cattle or corn
shall have right to their use, and that he
who is idle shall be secure in his right to
starve. By every natural law, bring your
Indian face to face with the alternative
work or want-and you can very soon civil
lie him; but until this is done, the money
spent for this object is much worse than
wasted. JANE G. SwIssHEIM.
Medicinal Poisons on the Wane.
The patriarchs took mercury, bismuth, no
IL, brot, Ia nf str ,oria