Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-25
Another Chapter From Washington
On the All Important In
dian Question.
HUMANITARIAN INCONSISTENCY.
Better Material for Civilizations Ends Is
Being Lost at Home Than Is
Wasting Out West.
TIE RIGHT TO OWN DEPENDS ON USE
u Night Be Well to Try to Make the ssvsgss Turn
Their Land to Good Account
rrRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT !

"AShlNGION, Jan. al see lHE us
PATCH differs with my article on the In
dian problem, in the issue of last Sunday,
and mildly intimates that I sneered at the
humanitarians for their efforts which have
resulted in the increase of the appropria-
tions for the Indians from few thousands
to few millions within few years. am
very sorry il anything said sounded like a
sneer, for 1 intended to speak frankly and
sincerely, simply ofwhat seemed to be a
logical conclusion from the confessions of
the humanitarians themselves.
1 have read much more testimony in the
matter since then, both from the standpoint
of the humanitarians and the Government,
if the two are to be quoted as though they
should be held antagonistic to one another
] have also read a good deal of stuff that has
been written by persons hired to attack the
policy of the Government without giving it
the least credit for its attempts to deal fairly.
honestly and successfully with the question.
This last is unworthy of notice because it is
eI-parte, though 1t gives great deal of
truth.
Modern Business Principles.
There is no doubt OF a vast deal of dis
honesty in dealing with the Indians on the
part of the agents of the Government. In an
atmosphere of thieying competition, in
which it is agreed that in business" every
man is the legitimate prey of every other
man, ii is not surprising that agents should
often be seized by the conviction that the
law of the survival of the shrewdest gave
them the right to exploit the Indian, as the
whites are accustomed to exploit one an
other. The Indians were weak and unable
TO protect themselves, and 1t is business
to cheat them. That is the unwritten law
of the system of competitive and profit
making trade on which the Government
policy is founded.
But l believe the treatment of the Indians
has been more honest, bad as it has been,
than any business OF equal magnitude in
the world. The history OF broken faith is
simply this: The restless and aggressive
whites saw millions of acres of soil held by
Indians who made no use of it. They
rapidly encroached upon the reservations.
Thousands of settlers would have taken
possession and improved farms across the
indefinite bounds of the reservations almost
before the Government would become aware
of their presence. These settlers would
fight for their right-that natural and in
alienable right which is coming more and
more to be recognized in the DEVELOPMENT of
political economy-that ownership should
and
Must Depend Upon Use.
They fought for their fresides and farms
against Zoe who had only the claim of
prior occupancy of the country by the acci-
dent of birth, and who would not, except in
rare instances, even pretend to use the soil
save as wild hunting ground or a thing to
barter back for money to a, Government
which had given it to them without eopsid
Kph har -
use or not No matter what sentiment
might be lavished on the Indian, it was in
evitable that common sense would dictate
that the daring pioneers, driven from one
place to another more than the Indian. In
their hunger for some sure means of liyeli-
hood, willing to attack the unbrokeu wilder
ness and make it blossom like the rose in
the face of a people whose history is that of
murder and plunder, should have the re-
ward that is due 10 actual occupancy and
use of the land.
1t is the march of superior and uucon-
querable civilization that has driven the
Indian backward, and the broken faith of
the Government and the dishonest treatment
by agents of the Government are merely in
cidents Of such as have attended its forward
strides in ever part of the world. The re-
course of the Indian was to accept and be-
come merged in that civilization. He has
utterly refused 10 do this voluntarily to any
important extent though he shows some de-
sire to do so as he is driven into the last
ditch.
Charity Begins at Home.
Now, the only feature of the work of the
humanitarians to which L object. and
think made that plain, was their dropping
into tears and prayers tor more money Tor
the Indian and totally forgetting the mil
lions of starving poor at their own DOORS
don't believe in sguandering nv time and
exhausting my lachrymal glands on a souaw
who has not the desire or the energy to wash
her face, though she be driven from her
heritage 10 small corner in which she has
joint ownership in millions of land, when
L know here are tens OF thousands ofmothers
driven by exploiting masters to the holes
and cellars and garrets of the cities and
towns of the country, and who are glad to
slave for few pennies day that they NAV
have food for themselves and children.
chance to be neat, to educate themselves and
take comfortable place in the scheme of
civilization.
Why don't we hear something of the aIlot-
ment Of lands in severalty to the millions of
poor and industrious whites who would be
glad to accept them as sacred trust and in
telligently use them?
Save the Better Material.
Why do not the humanitarians propose
the issue OF rations to the starving poor
whites, the establishment of agencies for
them, or, what is better, the creation OF work
Tor them by which they would easily earn a
livelihood for themselves.
When we have SO little to expend on the
weak who are driven to the wall by the
strong, why not begin with those of which
the best use can be made in the development
of the higher civilization? At any rate
don't let us snivel on the one,hand and howl
at the Government on the other, but offer
some lucid method, if possible, for saving
and making useful the remnant OF the "opce
proud savage of the American forest"
Prof Andrew White, of Cornell Uni
versity, was in his younger DAYS elected to
the Senate of New York, and upon taking
his scat at once looked around for some
great and good thing to do. He saw the
lands of the Onondagas disappearing and
asked some Of the neishboring humanitar-
isns what could be done to save the tribe
from the! poorhouse. A delegation of
oratorlcal chieftains came to ALBANY by in
vitation TO meet the Committee on Indian
Affairs. Here is the result in the words of
the professor:
Prof Whites Verdict.
Ny onondagas brought down with them one
of their great orators. and he knocked our
scheme in the head within ten minutes never
shall forget him, nor will any member of
the committee ever forget HIM. He rose spoke
with great solemnity something which seemed
to be very eloquent, but which, being in the In.
dian language, our committee could not under
stand. He then solemnly sat down. and the in
.Nn