The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-09-08
CIVILIZING RED MEN.
General Whittlpsey of the In
dian Commission Talks.
THE PUYALLuP RESERVATION.
Some Ideas Concerning the Sale OF the
Lands There-Manual and Me-
chanical Training.


days. General Whittlesev is secretary of
the Indian commission. He is man with
q we'll cut nose and firm mouth; and
though his hair and beard are nearly white
the general is active and apparently still
young. He was born in Connecticut, but
at the breaking out of the war he was iiv-
ing in Maine. Going to the front with the
Maine volunteers, he served during the
most of the conflict as adjntant general on
General Towards staff.
At present General Whittlesey is making
tour of the Indian reservations. The
commission of which he is secretary is
an honorary one, the members serving
without pay. They have no executive
power, except in regard TO supervising the
supplies bought by the government for the
Indians. The commission tries to keep
accurately informed of the condition of the
Indians all over the country, and upon
this information makes recommendations
to congress.
Speaking of the broader aspects OF the
Indian question. General Whittlesey said:
There are likely to be no more Indian
wars such as that in which Custer and his
men were massacred. And, by the way.
visited that famous battlefield on my
way West. There is tract there
mile square dear the present agency
reserved as national cemetery. Here is
the monument to Custer, and stones put
up for the men at the places where they
fell, whenever that is known. So you can
see by the monuments the line of march
and the way the men went down in battle.
But such things as that are over. OF
~ ~ no m Qtlor
riots and disturbances, just as there are
among whites who are supposed to be CIV
ilized; yet the Indians as u whole are be-
coming more peaceably disposed, and
easier to deal with.
part of this change is due to a change
in our treatment of them. tits not so very
many years ago that the opinion was prev
alent that the only good Indian was dead
one, and so determination of the Indians
was deemed the best method of settling the
Indian question. We may not have for
mally avowed such sentiments, but pracu-
caliy that was the end of our efforts.
''You can see what mean from the fact
that until recent years no serious attempt
has been made TO educate the Indian, to
fit him to be an American citizen, and to
find way out of the difficulty by making
him man like the rest of us. A dozen
years ago the appropriations for Indian
schools was only the ridiculously small
sum of $40, 900. and this year it is $1,000
600, all of which can be judiciously ex-
pended.
"Yes," remarked General Whittlesey
with some emphasis, 1.-The Indian is MAX
ing progress which is as favorable as
could be expected. He is advancing in every
way. People forget that the education of
the Indian must necessarily be matter
not of years, but of generations. We
or at least our ancestors did
after thousands of years, and we can not
expect to transform a wild Indian in de-
cade. The traits that are in his blood can
only be eliminated after education of sue
cessive generations. But, of course. he
must advance, and will advance more
quickly than the Anglo-Saxons did, be-
cause he is having placed in his hands all
the appliances of civilization, and he is sur
rounded by people of higher civilization.
"Whether the Indians will ever be wholly
absorbed in the white race, and so dis
appear as distinct race. is matter upon
which don't care to hazard q prediction,
for guessing at what will happen
centuries ahead is not a specially
profitable amusement. 1t is true, how
ever, that the Indians and the whites
seem to mix more rapidly than the whites
and blacks. In this state there are
good many half-breeds, and
great many are also to be found down
among the tribes in Indian territory.
Whether the Indian and the white blood
might really make a desirable mixture it
is impossible to say, because the best white
blood is not now mixed with that of the
Indians. Generally speaking. the whites
who are now marrying Indians are tramps
or adventures.
"The reports of the physical degeneracy
of the Indians are in many instances well
founded. Consumption and scrofulous
diseases are terribly prevalent, it must be
confessed, not only in this state, but in
Idaho and Montana. This fact naturally
makes it harder for the race to hold its
own"
General Whittlesey has visited two Ore
gon reservations. With the Indian train
ing school at Chemawa, near Salem, he ex-
pressed himself as greatly pleased.
The Indians there are makina their own
shoes and clothes, raising vegetables
and doing quite little for their
own support. Those at the Sill.
itZ reservation are nearly seif-sup-
porting, and they seem quite ambitious.
They cultivate law for themselves. and
they earn money working for the whites.
Many of them have built homes for them
selves, good houses of four. five and six
rooms. The buildings are painted and are
really comfortable.
The Alaska Indians have been visited bv
General Whittlesey during this trip. He
has stopped at Juneau. Sitka, Douglas
island and every other point where he
could get access to them. These Indians.
of course, cultivate but little land. because
get there living from the sea. The
Alaska schools are doing very good
work, the general thinks. At Sitka man
ual and mechanical training has been
taught with some success. Zone particu-
larly good feature of the Sitka school"
said General Whittlesey, sis the cottages
erected in connection with il. There are
nine of them. and they are occu-
pied by young people who have
been graduated from the school and then
have married. This saves them from 60
ing hack into the demoralizing life of the
Indian villages. In those villages the peo-
pie are huddled together in novels. whole
families of ten living in one room. You
can see the effect il must have in undoine
the work OF the schools.
WASHINGTON INDIANS
Your Washington Indians are very
CONTINUED ~
much further advanced tnan those nj
the plains. The government is called
upon TO spend comparatively little money
: l.. L.