The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-01-12
THE ISDlAN PROBLEM.
The Practical so,utlou OEsrsd by u Member
of Congress.

The Practical solutlou OHsrsd by u Member
of Congress.
specia! Dipaich to ne EatstligaeeT,
WASHINGTON, D. c., Jan. tt.-tf I had
the settlement ot the Indian question
would begin with the dissolution of all
tribal relations" said Representative
Funston, OF Kansas, to your correspond.
eut to-day. Mr.. Funston has been many
years on ths frontier, aud knows some.
thing practically OF the Indian question.
lie has a lot Of Indian constituents.
Gust so long as thO'Indians are held
together and kept on the frontier" con.
tiuuod he, "just 80 long will they make
tho complain. OF one that OF all and SO
on the war.path whenever they have a
pretexs. 1t would be much better to
sell all the Indian reservations at auc.
tion and take the money and buy farms
for the Indiane, in lots Of few iamiliCa,
In the east. Whenever We begin 20 drop
these people in Pennsylvania, Ohio,
New York and Indiana, for instance, on
cultivated farms, then we begin the alb
sorptiou Of the Indian by civilization,
and in a few years the savage will be
known only to history. Just so long as
we keep them together that long will we
have them in the way and suffer from
their troubles.
zone difficulty with the Indian comes
from the white mans greed OF gain.
We have gotten the idea that the Indian
ia not entitled to have a farm OF good
ground, but should be crowded clear
outside OF q region which will produce
ANYTHING in the line Of agriculture. We
forget that all our lands once belonged
70 the Indians, and that they have a
better right TO them than wG have. We
hear constant complaints about the
Cherokee Strip, Indian Territory and
other bodies OF Indian lands not being
thrown open for white settlement.
Why, we have no more right to those
lauds than the Indians have to the
| white mans farm in Indiana. They
have the title to the lands allotted to
thom, and il they do not choose to en-.
gage in farming the land II is their busl-
ness, not uurs. We have no right to re.
duGe their wealth ii we do reduce their
domains. SHOULD we remove any OF
them again we should sell them out and
locate them on good farms In the civil
lied East, where they can easily make a
living and where civilization will come
10 them without force or effort.
~ know OF my own personal knowl-
edpe.n continued MIR. Funston, that
the great bulk OF the lands allotted to
the Indians now making war sra not
| illable. White men would not take
them for agricultural purposes, aud
what can we expect the Indians to DO?
| What would Nebraska farmer do on a
sandy desert in New Mexico? What
would an Ohio farmer do for living on
plain in the extreme northwest,
where there is no rain? The Indian
| iarmsrs in Kansas are good onea they
raise large crops, pay their debts, keep
the peace, make good neighbors and
are successful in all things which make
up a good citizen, except probably the
church and school. II the Federal gov.
ernmeat is TO be the guardian OF the In
dian, why not treat him like white
man2 Why impress him constantly
that he is a worthless Troublesome In
dian, a suspicious, treacherous savage
| Why not locate him where he can make
liviugi 1t would be economy az well
as Justice, humanity and peace. We
could board the Indians at boarding
houses in the East as cheaply as we take
care OF them now. am not an apollo
gist for the Indian, but l believe in ap'
plying the sensible as well as the
heroic treatment