The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-08
THE INDIAN QUESTION.

PRESSURE OF settlers HAS Made tho Gov.
eminent Unable to Keep Promises.
William E. Dougherty In Harper's Weekly.
The extent and extravaganza of the de-
nunciation bestowed upon the government
and addressed to the nation for the alleged
disregard of treaty obligations with the
Indians constitute . monument of error
and misunderstanding that stands in the
popular mind in defiance of historical and
statistical truth.
From the foundation of the government
to the present time an average of over a
million dollars year has been paid the
Indians for the REIMBURSEMENT of lands
that became valueless to them in their
nomadic condition; in addition to which
extensive and valuable tracts of the public
land were set apart for them, generally
in places of their own choice, only to
be occupied by them until the game
was exhausted, and then sold back
to the government when another ces-
sion and removal became necessary. AL.
though these vicissitudes must have had
some hardship in them when they oc-
CURED, the ultimate results have been
and still are. of Unreasonable benefit to
the Indians, for some of these tribes have
now per capita wealth more than double
that of any of the states of New England,
derived entirely from the sale of their land
to the government.
1t is not denied, of course. that grave in
justice has been done some tribes in their
bargains with the representatives of the
government, but the cases are compare
lively few in which any evidence of bad
faith on the part Of the latter is apparent
or probable. Indeed. with possibly few
exceptions, the guarantees given the In
dams of the permanance of their agree
ments and the security OF their tenures
were given with the belief. we'll founded
at that time, that the government
would and could maintain the integrity OF
its promises. That this was not done was
due wholly to causes that could not be
foreseen and provided for. and which,
when they came about, could not be
averted; and while it is admitted that in
evitable hardship aid injustice befell some
tribes, 1t cannot be shown that the gov
eminent did not make adequate repara-
ton for both the direct and consequential
sacrifices demanded Of the Indians, while,
on the contrary, it is doubtful that there
ever was a treaty or agreement made with
an Indian tribe that was not evaded and
violated by the Indians themselves when
eyer their interest or policy prompted it,
often wantonly and without provocation,
when it could be done with i'm
punity. Moreover. when the nation be-
came involved in war they unhesitatingly
broke all pledges and took the side against
the government, the Northern Indians
with the English king and the Southern
Indians with the Confederacy, and al
though the government, with character
lstic generosity. condoned and relegated
their perfidies to Oblivion-a magnanimity
no other government is capable Oft has
been requited with ingratitude and heredi-
tary disatfection.
But while all honest-minded people
must admit and deplore that injustice has
been done and is still being done the In
OF it will show that the government, con.
sidered in the limited sense-the national
authority-is wholly free of direct respon-
sibi.ity for the uncomfortable destiny
that has driven the Indians to the re-
hottest parts of their own country, and
left them, though unconquered, legacy
of misery and degradation to the
most powerful and the richest nation on
the earth. and that those causes are still
active, and will continue to be so until
other political and economic conditions
supervene, and the relations of the In
dams to the general government and to
the governments Of the states in which
they reside have altered sufficiently to
permit the Indians to be brought under the
persons with natural and statutory rights
and obligations.
The pressure that the Indians have here
tofore felt from the movement and settle
ment of the white race upon their confines
and territory, and the fear and animosity
that it has inspired in them must in the
near future be greatly intensified by inter-
nal development and the extension of the
fields and Industries of the superior peo-
pie. No part of the country is now
so remote or obscure that the home
seeker, the ranchman and the miner have
not invaded it and made it their pos
session, and now that all that is valuable
of the public land has been taken by
actual settlers or syndicates, the partition
or invasion of the great tracts now re-
served for the Indians cannot be long de-
ferred. Considering the burden of griev-
ance, real and imaginary, that some of the
tribes are now bearing, it must be appar.
ent that provocation of this kind will
meet with resentment from them, and
that the recurrence of war and turbulence
on and about the reservations in the fu-
ture is contingency as inevitable as it
has been heretofore.