Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-06-14
DISARM THE INDIANS.

Why are the Apaches in this territory armed by the government? The Indi- ans are officially known as ''Wards of the Nation" The Government is their guar dian, and in that capacity treats them as children or paupers. It does not re- quire that they shall support themselves. and so far they are paupers; 1t provides men and means to instruct them, and so far they are children. But neither children nor paupers should be allowed to own or use firearms. The Govern ment, as guardian of these wards, have right to take their arms from them and toprohibit their possession of weap- ons, and as it ought also to preserve the peace and protect white people from att tack, its duty is to disarm the Indians. An Indian outbreak" such as has too often occurred in Arizona, takes place only when the Indians on a reservation have been allowed to accumulate suffi- cent stock of arms, ammunition and ROAACo VI bC1AAHG l1Em W thSy regard as spree" and it is then we find them arrayed against us with arms equal if not superior, to those of the troops opposed to them. They ac- cumulate their stock of rifles and ammunition under the noses of the government agents. They buy them with what they can save out of their abundant rations and with the money they get from the sale of trinkets. When they 'break out they leave their old men, women and children in care of the agent, and when they have killed, burned and robbed to their heaIt's con- tent, they sneak back to the reservation, once more proclaim themselves "good h. dlans," and demand the protection of the government against the just resent ment of the people whose farms they have pillaged, and whose brothers, fathers, wives, and little children they have slaughtered. That is the story of an Indian outbreak, and it would be an incredible story If it had not been re- peated over and over again for many years. Indians living on reservation have no need for firearms. They plead, and those who profit by them plead for them, that they should have guns and ponies to hunt. Hunt what? But they have not even occasion to hunt. Reser- vation Indians are fed by the govern ment, lodged by the government, cloth ed by the government. All their proper wants are supplied at the public expense. They are not even compelled to labor, and 1t is mista le Tn their management which we hope soon to see remedied. But if ifanywhere an Indian wants to cul- tivate the ground, he requires for that purpose agricultural implements, and not munitions of way. While they have guns and ponies the schoolmaster labor. n vain. Instead of hunting or loafing about the reservation, gambling for to- bacco, they should be employed making roads through the reservation grounds,  in making their own houEe; a Id places tidy and keeping them so; in short they should be accustomed to daily and systematic labor, and to occasionally wash themselves. Most of the Indian are like pig-pens, no roads or bridges are repaired, noth- ing to indicate the hand of industry. An attempt should be made to substi- ute a shovel for rife in the hands of the Apache; to impress upon these wards of the nation that they do not rule Arizona; make their dirty hides perspire occasionally in pursuit of their daily bread, and fewer Indian "out- breaks" would be the result. It does seem ridiculous to maintain large bodies of troops in Arizona for the protection of white settlers, and at tho same time place the most improved implements of war in the hand of those who are our only enemies. Eastern fanatics may and foist upon us their theoret- ical doctrine of tanning the Indians with a Sunday School hymn book, but years of bitter experience in this territory have taught us that there Is but one practical way-one grand solution to this much-vexed question-and that is, to simply disarm them and keep them So.