New-York tribune., 1886-04-01
TILE INnIAN QEESTION.

A citizens 6etlnp 10 Dc Hciu III hssoOh-
ton Hail, has been called for Friday even
ing {" to consider the best means OF secur-
u ing a more liberal and humane government OF
" the Indian tribes in this country, and to give
expression to the growing sentiment OF the
"peope upon this important subject" Con-
siderng that the tendency OF the representa-
tions made in the House recently by the mem-
bers of the committee which last year visited
rbe Indian reservations is hostile to the con-
tinuation of the appropriations for Indian edu '
cation. while the general course of Congress on
the Indian question is undecided If not ndltier-
cnt, there is justification for such public dis
cussion as is proposed. The time perhaps has
come to give definite impulse to Con-
gressiona action on the subject, and to present
in the plainest way the guiding facts which
have been established. Two central points
must be emphasized. In the first place, the
futilty of the reservation system as perna-
nent policy has been proved by ample expert
ence In the second place, it has been as clearly
shown tnat the Indians are capable of industrial
and general education thoroughly fitting them
for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship
and enabling them to hold their own in any or
dinary conditions.
more toward a new and broad Indian policy. 1t
is felt by those who have examined the subject
most carefully that the duty OF the United
States to the Indians Is not 10 keep them III
state of savagery, penned up on reservations
like cattle their normal condition SO altered
by restraint as to develop and foster their low
est tendencies and stifle their higher ones but
that il requires such measures as will prepare
them to take then place i'll the near future as
free and full citizens of the Republic, finding
their protection and defence in the laws which
assure peace, order and prosperity to the whole
Nation, and an ample ield for the satisfaction OF
their ambition and their capacities in the social
system which is the ripest result OF American
civilization. No plan less broad and thorough
than this can fulfil the obligations of the cOun-
try to the Indians or do credit TO the enlghten-
ment of the people. We have taken the destiny
of the Indians out of their own hands. We are,
therefore, in honor bound to make their Oppor-
tunties equal with our own Hitherto the treat
ment of this quest on has been for tine most part
Jgnoblc and discrcditable. The national con-
science has at las, been aroused. Outside of
Congress there is a deep and growing feeling
that the future mast redeem the past and pub
l,c opinion cannot be expressed with too much
weight and emphasis on the subject.
Take The Indians out of leading strings.
Teach them self-reliancc Educate them in
American laws and customs and handcrafts.
While the rising generation IS thus being pre-
pared for new life, let the older members OF
the tribes be encouraged to till the land Sc
cured to them in severalty, and so secured that
shaipers cannot dispOssess them while they are
as vet in their untanght state. The results
already attained at Carlisle Hampton, and the
Lincoln Institute, not to mention other places,
are such as to put beyond question the capacity
of the Indians for civilization AS a rule they
are quicker aud more receptive than the negro,
yet no one doubts the ability Of the latter to
raise himself And though Mr.. holman and
Mr. Cannon have recently asserted that most
of the educated Indians relapse into savagcry,
the statistics utterly disproye that staten ent
and show that it is merely discreditab!e evil
dence of the perfunctory manner in which the
Congressional committee did its work last sum
mer. There is indeed 10 excuse for refusal to
accept and act upon the facts now established.
We know that the Indians can be civilized We
know that to deny them CIVILIZATION is TO doom
them to a speedy and miserable extinction.
Let us hope that at the meeting about to be
held these truths will be strongly presented and
that thus the hesitation or apathy of Congress
may be removed