Morning journal and courier., 1885-11-10

influence in the life of race and in the set
 clement of a question of national impor-
 tance." Section seventh of this bill "ex- tends over a tribe, upon the completion of
 the a1lotments, the laws, both civil and crim-
 inal, of the State or territory in which they
 reside, and prohibits the passage by the To-
 cal government of any law denying Indians
 the equal protection of the law"
 President Gates of Rutgers, in his admira-
 ble pamphlet entitled Gland and Law as
 Agents in Educating Indians," says: s'Look
 at the condition of the Indian to-day before
 our laws. A quarter of 8 million of people
 are utterly without the protection of law. On some fifty Indian reservations the United
 States has solemnly pledged itself not to ad- minister justice between Indian and Indian,
 and this pledge, with fidelity rarely discern ibIe in our treatment of Indians, our govern ment has kepti
 Suppose that an Indian gets some glimpses of the higher planes of civilized life, leaves his reservation, formally sewers his connec- tion with his tribe, settles in a civilized com munity and by his industry acquires proper ty. Does our law protect him in the enjoy ment of it2 Not at all Iron Eye, edu- cated Omaha, made quite a sum of money in l trade. This he lent to white men, taking their notes. He has been defrauded of every cent of it. His debtors have refused to pay him, simply because he was an Indian and could not appear in court to sue them. Hun dreds of Indians have been defrauded in this | way Could we more forcibly take away ! from them all incentives to labor? It Is not enough that we say to hundreds of well edu- i cated, honorable men, many of them minis ! ters, lawyers and physicians of excellent ed ] ucation: You cannot in any way become 8 | citizen of the United States, no matter how ! worthy of citizenship you may show your | self, because you are strictly speaking @ na | tive born American!
 l "'The negroes, who are your emancipated ! freedmen, are citizens, and the door of natu ralization is open to any foreigner who vii live among us six years, no matter how vi cious or ignorant he may be- but it is shu ! and barred against you.' This restriction l would seem hard enough. But it has no l been enough to satisfy the hatred which hal pursued the Indian in certain quarters or tt arouse from a calloused indifference the con science of our people. Not content witt ! this our government has said for years: ! There IS law and justice for every man il our fair land, no matter where he was bor1 | or what his condition, save only for the In ! dian There is no law to protect him; there ! is only law to punish himn
 | "An Indian cannot appear in court; no can an attorney appear for him unless espec | ially ordered so to do by the Indian depart | ment Neither citizen, nor foreigner, no l infant, the Indian is simply the victim o ! the law"
 Is this state of things to continue? Shai
 we, the citizens of the United States o I America, who make our proud boast tha ! in this free land equal justice is administere ! to all let such dark blot rest on our fai | fame?
 The Coke bill is practical measure to wards a better state of things. Let each in
 dividual give it his hearty support, and le
 the sessions in Center church on Novembe
 18th show by the number in attendance tha
 aL least we of New Haven are not indiferen ! to injustice and wrong D.