Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-12-22
A SAVAGE SENTIMENT.

EVERY once in q while a stale
fat and barbarous saying 10 ex.
pressed regarding the Indians Of
this country. 1t appears frequently
in public journals, and Is uttered by
individuals. 1t is this: "The only
good Indian is = dead Indian -
Such sentiment as the words indi-
cate either comes from q cruel and
depraved heart, or is merely o
thoughtlsss expression of q human
parrots, who initiates and u:ters
what he helrs because he hears IT,
and because other people have said
it, he takes it fer granted as being
proper. When the cold-bleoded
declaration comes from a person Of
education it is an evidence that it
is simply the enunciation Of a civil
Iized savage, one whose malicious
nature Is in conflict with his intel
isctual enlightenment. And the
Indians could say with much more
force in reference to that class, that
the only good white men who pos
-ess such brutal instincts are dead
ones.
The oft-used expression quoted re-
gariing the aborigines simply
means, according to the Significance
Of the English language, that the
utterer Of it is an advocate Of whole
sale murder OF helpless and ignor-
ant human beings, and that it would
be proper to exterminate them. This
Is about as high a conception Of the
''march OF civilization" rs some peo-
pie are capable Of attaining to. In
order to further the cause Of en-.
lightenment they would assassinate
the unenlightened, and leave those
only who have reached . more or |
less advanced stage of development. |
A prominent Indian in the Dakota
region, in conversation on the pres
ent state Of affairs, drew the atten.
ton of q leading white man to the
fact that in many respects the In.
iiaus were better than the whites.
having no brothels nor drinking
shops.
1t is tie high function and duty
If the civilized to enligbten and de-
5elop the ignorant, not murder
hem. IL the same eagerness had
seen displayed in that direction to-
ward the Indians ~ there has been
n robbing them Of their lands, the
question in relation to them would
ave been solved long since. They l
you'd have been lifted from the
ark realm Of savagery into the
right region Of correct civilization I
is needless to assert that theee
cor benighted people are not sus- 5
sptible Of cultivation. This theory
as been smashed in Mexico and +
on this continent. Some J
the brightest and most liberal b
linded publicists have been pure :
CODED Indians. But the develop y
ent of the Indians can never be o.
ached by placing them perman- q
lily on the defensive against the - :,
ljust encroachments OF the race p
aiming to be their superiors. "
We never see, the common ex- +
ession favoring the annihiIation Il
the aborigines of this country pr
Ithout being inspired with a feel W
g Of shame and Indignation. He
no utters it with a full sense of its "
rport Is heartless monster. He Il,
ny be intellectually advanced, but wi
morally decrepit and made Of In
CHI material as constitutes tyra nts. -
is pleasure to note the fact that ",
horrible sentiment exhibited by eli
Oft repeated saying-"rhe only ne
81 Indian 10 . dead Indisn',-is -, ~
citing with wide a9d unsparing q
from numerous sources tn,
4 directions. thu
du