The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-01-14
The so-calIed Indian Problem

~ AhohoiA
According to a bulletin Just issued by
the census bureau the total Indian p
lation OF the United States Exclusive of
Alaska) is pa, 704. Probably there is lit
tie more confidence, if any, to be placed
in the census bureaus figures regarding
the Indians than in those relating to the
whites. But it is safe to conclude that
the figures are not exaggerated, indeed
many tribes are complaining that they
have not peer fully enumerated. The
Indian population of the country may
therefore be set down, in round numbers,
as a quarter OF a million.
There is a popular impression that the
Indians of today are a mere Insignificant
remnant of what was once a vast popula-
ton. The impression is We
have heard sc much from poets
and orators about the fading away
of the noble red man before the advances
of civilization that we have formed an ex-
aggerated idea of the Indian strength be-
fore the white man had begun his career
of conquest in America.
1t is doubtful if at n time since the
discovery of America the Indian popula-
ton OF the territory now embraced in the
United States has been very much greater
than it is at present. 1.-The earlier visitors
to North America" says HILDRETH in
his history of the United States, formed
very exaggerated notions of the number
of the native inhabitants. From the sea
ooa.t hooly 70 the fa1lCnf Tho r;x-ar- 70
have been by far the most populous part Of
the continent. This district had a resource
in abundant supplies of fish, for the most
part wanting in the interior. Great tracts
among and beyond the mountains seem to
have been destitute of resident inhabit-
ants, serving as occasional hunting
grounds for distant tribes. The prairies
of the far West did not originally possess
those herds Of wild horses which have
added so much to the pleasure and the
power, and probably, also, to the numbers
of the Western tribes. The most power
full confederacies, the Iroquois or Five
Nations, the Oh rokees, the Creeks, the
Choctaws, the Chippewas of Lake Su-
perior, never could boast more than three,
four or five thousand warriors, and the
warriors were usua ly reckoned a fourth
part of the whole number. From the
more accurate knowledge of existing
tribes" continues HILDRETH, compared
with the facts stated by the earlier OBJ
servers, we have no reason to suppose that
the total Indian population within the
territory OF the United States east of the
Rocky mountains, at any time subsequent
to the discovery of America, exceeded,
if indeed it ever reached, 100000 indiyid-
uals."
The fact is that the same causes which
have operated since the settlement of this
country to keep down the Indian popula-
ton were active before the white men
came. ''The scanty and uncertain supply
of food" Quoting HILpRETH again, ''and
more especisli, the hardships and severe
labor to which the Indian women were
subjected, contributed to keep the popu-
lation in check. Few exceeded the num-
Der of three or four children. AS a T. gen.
eral rule the Indians were not long lived.
Many perished prematurely by consump-
ton and levers. to which the sudden vicis-
STUDIES Of the climate and their habits Of