National Republican., 1881-08-04
The Noble Red Man,

Perhaps there is no subject of public
policy upon which there is more pro-
nounced difference of opinion, more
fruitless discussion, or less progress to-
ward rational conclusion than that of the
relationsb sbetween our rGovcrnmcntandt the
Indians. The juvenile histories of the
settlement of America stirred our youth
ful blood with horror ut the atrocities of
the red man perpetrated upon our Pilgrim
Fathers in the Colony of Massachusetts,.
Peter Farley eight rest the turf above
himD gave us delightful accounts of the
prowess of our ancestors in their deadly
conflicts with the Penobscots, the Pc
quots, the Mohegans, and the Narragan-
sets. Uncas, Miantonomah and Philip
were the Sitting Bull, Red Cloud,
and Spotted Tail of our fore
fathers, and when they were van
quished and their tribes scattered
there were no lackadaisical editors to
the eastward of them to deplore the fate
which "the murderous whites" had meted
out to the gentle savages. Our sturdy
ancestors were too busily engaged in sub
DUNG the unpromising soil and shield
ing the lives of their families to have
time for mourning over the wrongs of
the poor Indians. The historical collec-
tions of Massachusetts and Connecticut
fail to exhibit any tenderness on the part
of the earliest settlers toward the abo-
rigines. They wanted space, and they
took il. If the Indians made rcmon.
STRANGE, so much the worse for the In
dians. The now highly-cultivated regions
bordering on the Bay of Massachusetts,
and on the Atlantic Ocean to the north
and east, and on Long Island Sound were
taken from the Indians by force. No Indian
Bureau, no Indian agents, no Indian ring.
The remnants Of the tribes live there still,
leading a gypsy life, some weaving baskets
and others obtaining subsistence rs
best they can, and all subject to the same
laws rs the white man. There is no In
dian reservation in Maine, Massachusetts,,
or Connecticut for the Penobscots, Mo-
hegans, or other Indians. Nor has civii-
zation done much for them except to
extinguish the fierceness which once
made them as formidable as Sioux, Utes,
or Apaches They are afraid to kill white
people for the very same reasons that
make white people afraid to kill them.
The maintenance of Indian Kingdoms
on American soil, the boundaries thereof
being temporary and changeable at our
will the imprisonment of the Indians
within those boundaries; the payment
to them Of salaries for being Indians, and
the vicarious theft of the lions share of
the same by the deftness of philanthropic
agents and the greediness of author
lied traders the hunting of Indians who
wander away from the space assigned
them; the formation Of treaties with
their chiefs, of which the latter know
only so much as rascally Interpreters may
tell them; and, finally, the occasional
trips of braves to Washington at Govern
ment expense, rs n advertisement for the
Nations representatives. and an oppor-
tunity for theatrical effects by the Indian
Ofiice-all these would be ludicrous were
they not so costly and sometimes so
tragical.
The war between the Indian and the
frontiersman is as bitter and unrelenting
now as it was in 1920 and thereafter on
Massachusetts, Bay, but no more So
There cannot be peaceablc joint occupa-
tion of the same territory by two gov
ernments. The tribal authority" of
Indian chiefs ought to cease. The res
eryations ought to be abolished. The
Indian Bureau would still be useful Ia
aid the Indians TO education and en-
ployment. But, ask the sentimcntalists
what will become of them, dependent as
they have been on the Government foI
subsistence? The answer is, Let neces.
sity teach them, as it did the negroes
They are outnumbered by the savages Of
civilization in the great cities, who
murder, rob, and steal rather than
leave their favorite localities to iind work.
Society suffers some everywhere in the
friction with lawlessness The Indians
can be made to fear the law more easily
than can the criminal classes Of the cities
They cannot be made more dan"erouS
than they are now. They murder and
are murdered. They are not always in
the wrong, as the frontiersman says, noi
always in the right, as the professional
philanthropist says. Let civilization cease
10 treat with barbarism. Let the law be
terror to all who dsobey it. Sitting
Bull has found theway of the transgressoi
to be hard, Let us not apologize to him
II is not the Indians habit to plow and
reap. Let us teach him il is not our habit
10 allow anybody to kill, rob, or steal