The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-29
FUTURE OF THE RED MAN
AN INTERVIEW WITH INDIAN CON-
MISSIONER MORGAN.
He Says That the AborigiDes Have Not
Had a Fair show, but They Are De-
veIoping the Arts of Peace With Some
Degree of Suceess.
LSneciaI Cnrreenondencel

veIoping the Arts of Peace With Some
Degree of Success.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12-"s there hope
for the American indiana This was the
question which 1 put to Indian Commits
sioner Morgan. Eyes, there IS" was his
reply. Il am glad yoa have asked me this
question. Readers of the reports of Indian
troubles in the daily papers hare no doubt
concluded that the Indian is without e1-
ception a wretched, Lazy, malicious Great
ure, supported entirely by the government
and making no progress whatever in civil
cation. Butthe facts ave that 1eare gaining
ground every year. Elevating the Indian is
Of necessity a slow process, and we must
have patience. Youcannot change toe char
acter and customs of people in a single
generation. The Indian is without much
adaptabiljty. Evolution works at a snaifs
pace with him. The work of civili1ing
him, of teaching him TO be self sustaining
and moral is attended with a Thousand
difficulties. Our Indian population. which
is estimated at about 10000 and almost
stationary in point of numbers, is widely
scattered. The Indian reservations com
prise lClyUUO Iillto, all CApAHSS Ol
territory almost as great as that in the
German empire. A great obstacle rs found
in the strange languages still used by most
Of the tribes
Our system of dealing with them,
whilc perhaps the best that could be de-
vised for present purposes, is vicious We
set up over them agents to whom are
given semi despotie power, and pay the
agents such small salaries that it ia almost
impossible to get good men. Thousands
Of Indians are kept on their reservations
practically prisoners. Tbe issue Of rztions
and annuities tends to produce pauperism
We disburse each year millions Of dollars
worth Of supplies by contract, and many
frauds exist, Notwithstanding all vigil
ance, the Indian invariably getting the
worst of it. The most serious difficulty of
all is found, not in the Indians and their
conditions, bat in the white people with
whom they are thrown in contact. On
the frontiers the Indian is generally hated
and despised. He is looked upon as a fair
prey by every trader, adVenturer, scala
wag. The white people who hang on the
borders Of the reservations those who
have allied themselves by marriage with
the tribes. and even those who have been
from time to time in government employ,
have in many cases presented to the In
dams a type of character and practical
philosophy of life on par with, if not in
ferior to, their own. Added to all this is
the natural conservatism of the Indian
Like all semi-barbaric peoples, be clings
to old customs and notions,
and it is very hard indeed to make him see
new lights.
Notwithstanding all these difficulties
we are making Roadway. The outlook is
encouraging. There is some hope for the
American Indian The best thing in the
present situation is the settled policy of
the government to break I'D tribal rela-
tons, and to induce the Indians to settle
upon their own homegtesds, to incorpo-
rate them into the nationsl hfe, and to
deal with them as individuals and not as
tribes or bands. At almost ali the agen-
cies where the lands have been divided for
this purpose, the Indians are taking their
aIotments and making for themselves
crude homes and farms. Some people ap-
pear to imagine that the Indian does no
farming NJ aa, and such win be surprised
to learn the truth. No one should ex-
pect rapid progress in this direction. In
dians who have lived to be 40 years old.
say, without performing any manual labor,
do not offer promSlng material for the
making of energetic, thrifty formers On
the other hand, many are too young to
realize the necessity Of working for them
selves, and their inherited tendency is
toward the hunt
Last summer we hsd about 1000 In
dams under instruction in farming at the
various agencies Forty-six thousand
acres were p3Osved. and at nearly all the
agencies the need of greater supply Of
lumber, seed and agricultural implements
indicates that farming is on the increase.
Here aud there the Indians try to make
Che soil productive under circumstances
which would discourage even a white
man. For instance, on the Colorado river.
where the country is arid and Agriculture
without irrigation almost impossible, the
Indians select patches for themselves on
the low lands, ana dig holes in the ground
from ten To twenty inches apart and from
eight 10 fifteen inches deep, and therein
plant the wheat or corn. Then they irri-
gate the growing crop by carrying water
in vessels from the river and pouring it into
the holes. In TINS way they actually cufti-
~,
quite crop every year
At Cheyenne river the Indians have
tried very hard TO raise good crops, but the
drought has been against them They cul-
tivated about $500 acres, but did not get
much to show for their labor. These In
dlans have almost without exception bEilt
themselves log houses. and the ma iOriSy of
them have stabtes. As rule the Indians
are easily discouraged Ii rs new business
for them, and they Quickly lose heart il
bad luck attends their e.fu-ts. To show
that even an Indian Will some<inses persist
in well doing cite the case Of the AaD<aus
snd GroS Ventres Of Dakota, right urt5>e-.
ia the region where the troubles now exist.
These Indians tined tanning for three
years with poor SUCCESS on account of
drought, but each year they broke new land
with the pIow. and the following spring
tried it again. Finally they made a very
fair crop, raising 400 busheAsof oorn- 500
bushels of potatoes, go bushels ot hsaas.
etc. Their wheat crop did not turn oot
we'll About 100 aGps are under cultiya-
ton AZ this agency. At Pine RidSeaSency-
The seat of the war, the Indians raissd in
1899 nearly $500 Bushels OF whest- corn
potatoes and other crops AT RoreoQd
fairly good progress has oesn msde, not
wiShst1nGing the scarcity of proper tools
and implements for farming operations.
/ % so farTneR- scattered over an ARA OF
90 by rs miles, the governments supplied
twenty-five cultivStors and forty pioWs.
aud expected ne farmeEs 70 support them
selves.
"1Su lave doubtless resd asreaS deal
about Standing Rock Indian agercy in the