Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-02-08

innocent of disaster which may come to
these people through the enlarged opportu-
mites unless we do all We can to improve
them
The law we have secured must surely,
as its provisions are carried out,
undermine and destroy the pres
ent Indian policy, and the
machinery by which it is carried out.
This was but ill-ada9ted to any work
which, as friends OF the Indians, we
desired to see done for him, but it has no
place 10 the new order of things intro
duced by this law which has been enacted
since our last conference. Under its pro-
visions he steps out of his undifferentiated,
impersonal tribal relation into one Of indi-
vidualized, responsible citizenship under
the constitution and laws of the republic
All things are made new in his status and
relations; perforce all things must be
made new in our methods of dealing with
him. When we make him a citizen we
reorganize his manhood, with all its in
herent rights under the Declaration OF In
dependence and Constitution. =
"A crisis has been created rather than
reached in the effort we are making for
the Indian. He is about to be thrown
into the seething activities of Our complex
civilization, and take his chances In free
competition with other races. He must
receive at once the best possible equip
ment for this emergency; a preparation
and and education which he could never
receive under the old policy OF enforced
isolation, legAlized pauperism, and newt
able idlenes3 and debaucbery. The most
formidable obstacle 10 his civilization has
been the policy under which it has been
attempted. This removed, we must adapt
our methods to his conditions and needs,
which are more peculiar than his nature,
which is that Of every human being. The
Reservation walls being down, and the re-
straining power Of the agent broken, be
and his children will become a race OF
wanderers and beggArs unless they are
met, as they escape from a hopeless bond
age, with influences wise enough and
large enough 10 teach them the nobility OF
manhood and the uses of freedom
Prot. Painter goes on 10 enlarge upon
the necessity and h%elpfulneSJ Of schools for
the Indians; upon the inadequacy OF the
present schools, with their want OF sys-
TEN and ~permanence, and advocates the
appointing by the President OF a comml>-
sion to manage Indian affairs.
Judge Draper, Superintendent Of Public
Instruction for the State of New York, and
Bishop Huntingdon, of New York, gave
some account of the Indians living In that
State. We give q few scattered extracts
from Judge Diapers remarks: y
1--WE have in this State eight Indian
reservations with an Indian population Of
4 900 in round numbers. The condition
of things upon these Indian reservations
in our State is truly deplorable. These
people live upon lands as fertile and as de-
jlghtful as could he found within the Dor
ders OF the Empire State. They are, how
ever, shiftless. They speak their own
language very largely; they are lazy; they
are entirely indifferent; they are acting
upon a theory ia their own minds that Is
in entire a~ntagonism to the theory upon
which this conference is proceeding, and
the question with them il, How long
will it be before we eXterminate you and
reduce you to our ideas, and how long be
fore the time will come when the indian
tribes will claim their own again, and
we will be masters of these hills and these
dalcs and valleys. The Indian population
State is increasing; they are not be-
ing dispersed; they are not dying. They
are growing in numbers. There
is no police regulation upon the reserva-
ton nor any power nor authority OF law
there. They live in about the same shape,
probably, that the same number of whites,
under such circumstances, with such n his
tory and under such conditions, would be
II they quarrel, there is no execu-
tor ofthe law at hand to Interfere to pre-
vent it. If they commit crime the law
stands away off at arms length, AMI there
is no power to punish. There is scarcely
any marriage relation among these In
dams upon our reservations, and the en-
tire condition of things is truly deplorable.
= = x The one central thought of the
character Is that they must main
tain end rerpetuatc tribal relations. That
they may keep up tribal identity, they live
in the past. they rehearSe again and again
the story Of by.gone days, and they warn
each other to believe that the first duty Of
the ICdiau is to perpetuate tribal rela-
Bishop Huntingdon followed in a similar
vein. These two speakers Indicated by
their remarks that the New York Indians,
surrounded for years by a civilization
which fails 10 lay hold on them and help
them, are III . tar less hopeful condition
than their brethren in the West.
We will conclude our account of the
Conference in our next communication.
". Va. WOMAN'S INDIAN AsSOCIA'N,