Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-23
RIGHTS OF THE SAVAGE.
"A Practical Discussion of tine Indian
Problem.

RIGHTS OF THE SAVAGE.
Practical Discussion of tine Indian
Problem.
The Indian difficulty will not be en-.
trey protitless if it shall tend to bring
about reasonable aud practical dis.
c,,ssi II of the relations and response.
bililies OF the two races. There has
Leen more nonsense talked and written
upon this subject than any other, per-
llaps, in all the list OF troublesome pub.
tic que ''ions, says q writer in the Globe
d mocrat. In loca ities where the
Indians are o living reality, they are
scorned AID despi ed on general priuci-
pies, and nothing is conceded to them
localities where they are known only
by tradition and romance they are re-
garded as a greatly wronged peop e,
tor whom tears should be shed aud
money expended in liberal measure.
Neither of the g views is altogether
right, and neither is altogether wrong.
LII the one case there il more OF less
prejudice, due to considerations of self
interest; and in the other there is a
great degree of ignorance and sentl-
me tally for which there is really no
good excuse. We have the red men
with us always. The first settlers on
the Atlantic coast encountered him as
soon as they landed, and in all sue
cessive movements of p opulation vest
ward he has been present As factor in
the problem OF progress. We ought to
understand him thoroughly by this
time; but the melancholy truth is that
we do not, and it is entirely our own
fault that such is the case.
There has never been time in our
history when we have dealt with the
Indian in coherent and consistent
way. 1t has been our habit to look at
him from different points of view at the
same time, thus confusing the facts and
making something of him that is con-
trary alike to logic and to nature Par
ticularly since we began the work Of
civiIizing him have we insisted upon
deceiving ourselves as to his character,
his rights and his interests. 1t is i'm
possible to ever make white man of
him in the sense of disciplining him to
the voluntary oh >ervance of those duties
upon which society is founded. He is
an inveterate loafer as far as ordinary
and useful labor is concerned: and his
conceptions of moral distinctions is
hopelessly vague and misleading. Per-
haps he is not responsible for these de-
fects; there is q good deal of reason to
belieye indeed that he is so constituted
as to place him forever beyond the
reach of those ameliorating influences
by which other races are developed
from inferior to higher states no matter
what facilities and inducements may be
offered him. Our experience with him
proves as much. We have done for his
race more than was ever before done
for any other, and the result is disap-
pojntment in every respect. Once an
Indian always an Indian is the great
confronting truth in the case; and all
our efforts to remove or to modify it
have only served to confirm and en-
phasize it.
When we speak of the rights of these
people we are apt to go astray in the
matter of just and proper discrimina-
ton. They have no more claim to in
diligence and assistance. There is
nothing in the philosophy of civiliza-
ton that entities them to superior prFi-
leges, as race or as individuals. The
familiar theory that they once owned
all the country, and that we have taken
it away from them, thereby mourning
an obligation to support them, is q
palpable fiction. They never held any
valid title to the lands over which thew
roamed in savage freedom. Neverthe-
less we have humored that childish
fancy to the extent of paying them
literally, in the aggregate for all that
they have yielded to us. They have
never acquired any interest in the soil
by cultivating it; on the contrary, thew
have steadily and perversely resisted
the development of vacant and valuable
lands. often resorting to the massacre
OF men. women, and children to pre-
vent the expansion of civilization. If
they had put any portion of the primeval
territory to advantageous use, the case
might be different; and they have not
done so, even when provided with the
best of facilities. They have duties
corresponding to their rights, and those
duties have been persistently and inso-
lently disregarded. 1t is time to stop
talking about what civilization owes
Cneln, ana press the question of what
they owe to civilization. At the least.
it is fair to contend that they ought to
earn their own living by the toll of
their hands; and the Indian problem
will never be placed in course of def
mite and final solution so long as thew
are permitted to escape this obligation.
Chicago Journal.
Egg-Eating Hens Outwitted.
Hons uhan oo,Ga.l =: 1,