Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1889-08-09
LO, THE POOR INDIAN,

LO, THE POOR INDIAN,
st. Paul Globe: With the success
that has crowned the efforts Of the
Sioux commission, and the success
that is sure to be achieved by the,
Chippewa commission, the tribal rela-
tons Of the North American Indians
virtually come to an end. Hereafter
they are to become part Of the great
cosmopolite race Of this country, and
a few generations from now the In
dian will only exist in tradition. 1t
is singular that during the entire CEN
fury of our national existence, in
which the Indian problem has been
one of the most disturbing features of
governmental policy, it never oc-
Cured to the rulers and lawmakers
Ct the country to adopt the policy Of
inducing the Indians to accept their
lands in severalty until the Cleveland
administration came into power. AS
soon as this policy WAS announced by
Mr.. Cleveland, the wisdom of it be.
came SO apparent that the entire
country approved it, and the Harri-
son administration took up the work
just where the preceding administra-
ton left off. It is now being brought
to Il glorious termination, and in the
future the nation is to he relieved of
an Indian problem.
Still, the government is not entire
ly freed from responsibility or dis
charged from its obligations to aid
the Indians i'll adapting themselves to
the new order Of things which is about
to be inaugurated. That was a very
sage remark by John Grass to the
Globe correspondent at Standing
Rock yesterday, when, torecasting the
future Of the Indians, he said, Ever
ything depends on our young people. "
There is the whole situation in a nut
she'll. The Indians can never make
any progress toward civilization as
long as the young men and the young
women remain under the influences of
savage life. 1t is impossible to con-
vert the old bucks and the old squaws
! to the IDEAS of white civilization, be-
cause it is beyond the human power
to reconstruct their natures. But the
young people are more plant materi-
al. They can be educated, and it
now becomes the duty of the govern
ment to see that they are provided
with educational facilities. Gov.
Fosters idea of establishing an Indus
trial school at each agency merits the
thoughtful attention Of the authori-
ties at Washington. John Grass
dropped another suggestion during
his talk with the Globe representative
which, while it may seem to contain
an element of Indian vindictiveness,
still possesses big grain of wisdom.
1t is to the effect that Sitting Bull
and the other constitutional kickers
be secluded by themselves so that
their bad influence can no longer be
exerted over the Indians. In his
quaint philosophic way of explaining
things. John Grass says that sit is
better to send one man away than
that the whole nation snould suffer by
being kept back. Sitting Bull has
not only opposed the present treaty
but always has opposed civilization
and always will be Il nasty man tc
get along with" We are inclined to
agree with John Grass that the In.
dams should be relieved Of the bad
influence welded by Sitting Bull and
others of his ilk, and, while we can.
not concur in his suggestion that they
be shut up in prison, we do think ii
good policy to to transplant them tc
some locality in the East where they
can indulge their savage f,ncies with.
out hurt to their own people.