Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-21
KIRKwooD's INDIAN PLAN.

Secretary Kirkwood's bill to try g rev
departure in the Indian question has some
decided merits, though, as we shall pres
emily point out, there are one or two rather
serious hindrances to the general plan. He
proposes to send Commissioners among the
Indians, with power to obtain their con-
sent to the reduction of their reservations
Whenever this cannot be obtained the part
to be taken from tie reservation shall be
surveyed and sold, and the proceeds Of
these sales shall constitute fund from
which to furnish the Indians with means to
improve and cultivate the land remaining
to them. 1t is to be a further duty of the
Commissioners to induce the Indians to
take up land in severalty, upon their doing
which patents are to be issued to them.
The general purpose of the bill is to lead
the Indians to adopt habits of settled in
dustry, to farm, to raise stock, and in a
word, to subsist themselves on the produce
of their own land, In civilized and peace
able way. That this kind of project is
really not impracticable, at all events with
some Indian tribes, has been proved by the
success of the experiments made in the In.
dian Territory. No doubt some of the
Western tribes are far wilder than the
Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees, and
perhaps some of them are less intelligent.
But experience seems to justify the con-
clusion that if Indians can once be per.
suaded to settle down and accumulate
little property, they begin to develop that
habit Of acquisitiveness which lies at the
roots of civilization, and that eventually
they come to recognize the superior advan.
tsges of the new mode of living.
This is what Mr.. Kirkwood proposes to
do for them, and it is probably well worth
while to try the experiment. In selling
the reservations, however, the Secretary is
evidently burning his ships. What would
he do, supposing that the Indians refused
to be civilized, after all the land and the
money, too, was gone? Il must be under
stood that the Indians may not clearly re.
alize what they are undertaking that they
may become weary of the change that
they may find it impossible to live in such
confined quarters. But if they have
been hemmed in by white settlers, and
their reservations have been circumscribed,
what are they to do in such circumstances?
This is the defect OF the scheme. 1t does
not provide any means of retreat 1t pro.
ceeds upon the theory that success is GER
tain, and success is by no means certain.
It is an old saying that one ehould never
put all his eggs in a single basket, but this
is what Mr.. Kirkwood has done here. If the
Indians should conclude not to go on with
the process of civilization, they must be
moved away to some locality where they
can have more room, or they are very
likely to break ont upon the settlers who
surround them. This is a contingency
which ought to be met at the outset, not
left to the hazard of the moment.
Ano IL ls also evident that very great
care would be necessary to prevent the
sale of the surplus reservation lands from
becoming scandal and abuse. The instant
such plan is announced swarm of land.
thieves will begin cudgelling their brains
for some trick whereby they may obtain
possession of the surplus territory for
song. 1t would be necessary for the Com
missioners to be men of high charar ter,
and they would have to look after the
matter personally, and ascertain that all
the sales were genuine, and for the highest
market Irics attainable. And it is doubt
ful whether, even when every care and
precaution had been exercised. the lands
could be sold for enough to provide fund