The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-05

address of Thomas ]. Morgan, commits
sioner OF Indian affairs. The subject of
his address was: "Our Indian Fellow Citi-
zensn
One great problem that constantly contronts
the proper administration Of Indian affairs is
how to protect the Indian from spoliaton by
white men. Congress has found 1t necessary
to insert In the patent by which the Indians get
their homes a clause that makes the land In
alienable for twenty-five years, restriction
which was necessary to keep the white men
from getting it away from them.
The white men with whom the Indians come,
perhaps, most frequently in contact, are those
who furnish them with whisky, and who, by all
| the arts known to the trade, urge 1t upon them
One of the wisest men among one OF the most
conservative tribes stated as reason why he
was unwilling his children should attend our
| schools, the fact that white men gave his young
men whisky and made them drunk, and he
concluded that all white men were dishonorabe
alike.
Another representative of our civilization.who
Is found everywhere among them il the ''SQuaw
Man. white men married to Indian women,
and while among these there are honorable ex-
ceptions it is not too much TO say that their
characters and methods Of life are not usually
such as to warrant the Indians In readily eX-
changing their own habits for those OF these
| supposed representatives Of the white mans
civilization
Certainly the Indians have Just ground Of
complaint against us for the manner In which
they have been pushed back from their original
settlements, further and further into the unoc-
cupled portions of the country. There is, per
haps, no sadder story in all our history than
| that which records the enforced migration OF
the Cherokees. aRd our Indian annals viii fur
| nish abundant material for many story like
that Of Ramona
When we urged upon them the acceptance OF
our civilization in lieu of their own, IL Is not sur
priSing that they should in some instances mis-
| take our vices for virtues and adopt them,
| supposlng that they are thereby becoming like
white men 1t is easier, apparently. to adopt
| new vice than to initiate new virtue.
There is much to be said in favor OF the pres
emit policy of the United States OF conterrlng
citizenship upon Indians. In the first place
when consummated this policy will utterly
destroy the reservation system, so that the
| Indians, instead of being shut up on q limited
| body of land and excluded from vital contact
with our people, will be brought into personal
| relationship with US and be enabled IN that way
to feel the full influence Of whatever is good in
our mode of life. It will destroy the tribal rea
ton and lieu Of it will establish ndividualism
SO that the Indian will stand alone, each man for
| himself. While undoubtedly many will
go down under this ordeal there can
| average OF manhood among them will be much
improved. For communism with all its de-
grading influences, there will be substituted the
home and the rights of Individual property,
with all its stimulus and encouragement. The
agency system will cease to exist and In lieu OF
| ssmi-despot, exercising in some cases at
least, irresponsible power, there will be the duly
constituted officers of the law and the recog
nized civil authorities, and each individual
| Indian will have the protection of the courts
| and be subject to the laws and customs OF
| once and forever the anomaly which has 30
| long obtained. aud subjects the Indians to the
| same treatment to which all other nationalitiss
have been subjected and accords than the same
rights aad privileges and lays upon them the
same duties and obligations.
This discussion suggests few practical con-
sideratiens The first is that the Indians them
| selves should be made to understand by agents,
| teachers aad all others who come in contact
with them, that this policy Of the government
| has been entered upon deliberately and that
| the wise thing for them to do is to accept and
adjust themselves to it as to the inevitable.
| Whether 1t commends itself to their wisdom in
| all respects or not, tt must OF necessity pre-
vail and those who resist it will simply be
| crushed while those who accept it in good faith
and with intelligence adjust themselves to it.
will derive the inestimable blessings that hew
OUT of it,
AS for ourselves, having determined upon so
radical q change of policy as is involved in the
idea of enforcing citizenship, we should be pre-
| pared to accompany 1t with whatever measures
| may be necessary to insure its complete
| triumph. We are dealing with people who
are very far below us in point OF civilization,
| and we must recognize that from the very nat
| ure of the case it is impossible for them
| people to accept and adopt a strange civilza-
ton imposed upon them by forces from with
out. Peoples are not regenerated in that way
The growth must be from within. They cannot
at once adopt our civilization instead OF their
own, but they must be brought into such
relations with us that they shall ac-
| qure our consciousness, our desires, our
hopes, our spirit. This is only possible by
bringing their children at very early age into
such relations that from their earliest recollec-
| tions they will be familiar with the ideas that
| underlie our civilization. The great truths OF
| the Bible, the fundamental conceptions of lib
| erty, the homely proverbs of thrift and indus
| try the sacred regard for the home and the
purity OF tae family, self respect, independence,
! an eager thirst for knowledge and Just ambi-
| ton for power. should be instilled into the
| young Indian mind In its earliest years, and
| boys and girls alike should grow up in our
| schools surrounded by the choicest influences
which our civilization can bring to bear on
them. They should 20 OUT from those schools
| not Indians but Americans, not saVages but civil
| lied beings not pagans but Christians.
| The work OF the schoo should be supple
mented by those sweet influences which Chris
tlsnity, in its organized missionary efforts and
| philanthropy, in It's personal, self sacrlnclng
devotion can supply 30 that they will be made
| to feel that they are indeed part OF us, &C
| cepted by us as fellow citizens, treated by us
with Christian fellowship and assisted by us in
| all those WAYS by which We are accustomed to
assist our own children in the struggle for ex-
istence and the strife for excellence.
1t ought not to bs considered O great task for
| a mi .hty people like ourselves to bring to bear
| upon the $4,000 young Indians who are now
| growing up such influences as will completely
| transform them. Making all allowance for
heredity, il ia not too much TO soy that the
| formative influences OF education and environ
| mept sufficiently strong to develop the
| common human nature which the Indians with
| us ia such lines that the difference between us
will be reduced TO a minimum, and we may ex-
pect that the second and third generations. at
| the fArthest, will retain mere trace OF the
| original Indian type of character. l. goes with
| out saying that in all our dealings with them we
| should as the stronger superior race, be scru-
| pulously honest in fulfilling our OBLIGATIONS,
| lust in our bargains and in the administration
| OF law, generous in our sympathy. and in our
| representatives we should illustrate TO them
| the superior excellence Of our civilization.
| Living in close communion with nature the
| Indians retain much Of the simplicity OF lie
| which we have lost. AS a race they are proud,
| self-respectng, brave and generous. They have
| fortitude patience and hospitality. and are not
wanting in fidelity and honor. There is much
| in the Indian nature which is admirable. The
| infusion Of this small element into our national
life will not only do no harm, but viii, so far
| as it goes be q substantial and valuable contrl-
| button to our national character.
! on this our natal day while we are rejoicing
| as a nation in all tine achievements OF the past,
in all the privileges Of the present, in all the
hopes Of the future, recalling what The Indians
| we're 400 years ago when Columbus found them
full possessors of this vast continent, and seeing
| what they are to-day, contrasting our greatness
| with their feebleness, our wealth wltn tnel