The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1875-06-19
The Indian Territory Again.

1t Is gratifying to see the business ele
ments vi Kansas City again arOusine
themselves to protest against the quar-
tering Of all the savage tribes OF the
plains in our frUnt door yards, and, il
! possible, to avert that calamity. 1t j.
the manifest policy of the government
to quarter all the Indians together, and
release a. much as possible Of the fertile
west to white men and white civilization
And to such policy there can be no OBJ
lection, provided the spot selected be
not one that divides the states and inter
teres with commercial relations. No sc.
lection that could be made would dam
age the West so much as that OF the In
dian Territory. 1t lies directly across
the highway Of commerce between the
Missouri valley and the Gulf, and while
locking up to savage barbarism enough
of the best country in the West to make
two States, practically closes the com.
mercial channels of all the balance of the
West. The Omaha papers are demand
ing the removal of the Indians from Ne.
braska, and particularly from the Mob.
rara valley, on the ground of the great
fertility Of the country they occupy
there, and the want of it for homes for
white men.
This argument has its potency and
merits consideration in the case of that
state, but it has greater force when ap-
piled to the Indian territory, for it is
much more fertile than the Niobrara
valley, is greater in extent, has a much
finer climate, more varied production,
and is much more courted. Besides this
the Niobrara valley does not lie across
the commercial pathway of any body, and
to leave the Indians there will cause no
further damage than to lock up a COM
paratively small extent of country to
barbarism, while the Indian territory
lies across the commercial pathway of
the whole West, snd to lock it up, dam.
ages all other portions, which damage
will, in the case of Nebraska, be more
than the loss of the Niobrara valley.
Besides this demand for the Niobrara
valley there is also q demand for the
gold mines in the Black hills beyond, a
demand, as the members of the board of
trade aptly termed it. of "a few rowing
gold hunters"
But, we are asked, if the Indians can
not be allowed to remain in the Niobrara
valley and the Black Hills, and cannot
be provided with homes in the Indian
territory, where are they to go. We do
not regard it as very material where they
60 to, if they are to remain barbarians /;
in that case they must continue to go
to keep ont of the way of civilized peo-
pie. If they are to become civilized it
does not then matter so much where
they go to-they can 60 anywhere, like
other people. There is no objection to
them remaining in the Indian territory,
if they be allowed so much country as
will meet the requirements of civilized
life. and the balance be opened to other
civilized people. It is not the presence
of the Indian that is objected to, but the
policy Of setting apart vast areas of
country for them to roam over and main
tain savage life.
That the present condition of the
Indians is miserable nobody pretends to
dispute. The superfine humanitarians
who would lock civilization out of the
Indian territory concede that the great
need of the Indians is civilization. And
they have been making efforts in that
direction ever since the settlement of
the continent. The only question should
he, how can civilization he best impaired
tn them. It certainly cannot he done at
all ~ long rs they are excluded from
civilized Observances and customs To
put them upon a reservation by them
selves and allow no association with the
whites except the lower class, as has
been the case heretofore, issimply tn pro-
vide for engrafting upon them all the
vices Of the white race in addition