Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-01-29
HOME RULE FOR RED MEN,
1had. Pound Proposes Most Rational
Method of Solving the Indian
Problem.
He Would Have the Various States
and Territories Granted Juris. :
diction Over the Aborigines,
And Thus do Away With the Indian
Bureau and Half the Stand
ing Army.

~" tAIAN iIulk TIC
ing Army.
Hon. Thaddeus c. Pound, of Chippewa
Falls, Wis. is a veteran On In
dian policy. While in congress he served
liuch on the Indian committee and gave
much study to Indian affairs. He studied
the methods of elevating the Indian. and
framed the first act providing for training
schools for Indian children. In a late let
ter, printed in the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Gov. Puond, clearly and cogently states his
views on the best present method of deal
ing with the red man:
My conviction then, and more mature
Judgment, says he, lis that full iurIsdic-
ton and political control of the Indians
and their distinctive affairs should be re-
manded to the several states and territor-
les IN which the same are located. The
Indian no less than any other persons
should be amenable to, and enjoy the pro-
lection of law, local and general, affecting
the liberty, moral restraint and pursuit of
happiness, vouchsaved to the citizen or
other inhabitant.
TO be effective, law, through the ap-
proprlate machinery of government, should
reach to and be tangible reality at the
Threshold of touse, hut or wigwam. I'm
der existing policy the governing force
affecting this anomalous inhabitant Is
primarily located in the president of the
United States, and from him communi-
Gated to the secretary of the interior,
thence to the commissioner of Indian
affairs, and finally reaches the subject by
the hand of the United States marshal.
or contlgently the army officer, hesita-
ton, doubt, suspicion and sentiment de-
laying all along the line Superadded to
the embarrassment comes the complex at
tltude OF the party In contention, appeal
ing to the charity of the government as
Its ward on one hand, ard demanding
recognition and treaty as an independent
national entity on the other, to be fed and
clothed today and engaged in treaty or en-
countered In war tomorrow.
Gould policy be more irrational mis-
chievous or imbecile? The sequel is being
written in blood today, having come down
to US IN an unbroken history of horror,
waste, disgrace and fraud. No; the cure
Is not IN the transfer of the Indian bureau
to the war department.. This would be
but an exchange of irresponsible instru-
mentalities.
The true remedy, in my opinion, is
only to be had by turning over to the
several states and territories full jurisdic-
ton OF the Indian and all his affairs.
This accomplished, one-half the standing
army may be disbanded, and the bureau
of Indian affairs, with its detaiments and
entallmcnts OF patronage, expenditures
and temptations, may be dismissed
lime and judlcious labor will be required
but the Legislation and work cannot be
begun too soon.
''What, will be asked is to become of
the various treaty rights of the Indian to
annuities, lands, ETC.? For the carrying
into effect OF all such obligations, the
st..tes VIII become trustees, as in cases of
grants Of lands or other subsidies for edu-
cational. railroad, reclamation and other
purposes. Such rights and obligations
can be more amicably, economically and
fairly adjusted by and through state
authorities than under the present
system, by which they rarely ever End a
termination or settlement The measure
OF relief resulting from such reform, to
the general government, cannot be
computed. while the states affected will
hardly feel an added responsibility, but
be a thousand times rewarded by their
increased population and the safety and
prosperity of their citizens.
Nor can it be denied that the true in
terest of the Indian may be more safely en-
trusted to his immediate neighbor, whose
personal well being depends so much upon
the quletude, advancement and prosperity
of I'll the integral parts IF the community.
Indians OF the various ATOMS md tribes
differ in disposition, habits and degree of
advancement as do the whites of different
communities and classes, but the man in
the N ,on cannot understand these varied
conditions, nor wisely shape
rules for their propor regu-
lation. Authority, to be timely and eff
Gent must be present, conscious and dn-
disputed. Nowhere can authority over
all the people, and the guardianship of
their rights, liberties and progress, be so
Wisel y reposed as in the state government.
with its subsidiary, county, town and
school district branches, reaching to the
freside Of the citizen. Such is home rule
in its truest sense.
sit is startling fact that the bound
aries of the Indian reservations set apart
from the public domain aggregate in
length more than $4,000 miles; or about
one-half the circumference of the globe.
To protect increasing contiguous settle
ments from depreciation and violence of
the various Indians residing on these res
ervations, and the Indians from trespass,
or invasion of the aggressive white set
tiers, is physically impossible under our
present policy. A military system like
that of Germany would be inadequate
That a radical reform is demanded will
not be denied
81 have briefly outlined the line of ref
ormation which commends itself to my
judgment, and the intelligent reader may
multiply reasons in support of this propo-
sition by a retrospective study Of events
connected with the management of Indian
affairs"