Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-02-13

i have been asked to set forth what
changes are likely to take place in the status
Of the American Indians during the coming
century. 1t must be confessed that | have
considerably less confidence in my prophetic
ability than had before the last presiden-
tial election, but as no one of the 65, 900 900
people of this country will ever know
whether my prophecy proves true or false
may venture to indulge my imagination
with some degree of impunity.
The number of Indians at the present
time is about 100000. A hundred years
hence they will number a million or so,
the increase being due to the cessation Of
wars, the spread of intelligence and moral
ity, the improvement of hygienic condi-
tions, the disappearance of the medicine
man, the better food supply and the inter
marriage with whites.
Meanwhile some tribes will become who'll
ly extinct, leaving scarcely trace of their
history outside of the records of the Indian
bureau. Other tribes, like the Sioux and
Navajo, will rapidly increase and will re-
tain most of their characteristic traits. The
Pueblos of New Mexico, who are rejecting
so successfully the efforts of the govern
ment in their behalf, will continue to be a
favorite people for ethnologists and self os-
tracized journalists who find pleasure and
profit in barbarism.
There will be here and there wandering
bands of blanket beggars-aboriginal
tramps-perpetuating the absurdities and
enormities of Indian life either as a profess
sion or as q providential object lesson for
students of history, who will thus be able
to form fair estimate of the great work
that the Indian bureau has wrought in
helping to redeem the great mass of them.
The tribes will disappear and the agen-
cies become thing of the past, thus dis
posing of the much abused Indian agents,
whether civilians or army officers. The
friction between the interior and the war
departments will be produced by other
causes, and army officers, having no longer
an excuse for trying to run the Indian of
fee, will seek other fields for the exercise
of their talents. Further, the said Indian Of
hce-that ineXhaustible source of news
when all sources fail-will be forever
closed, the Indian commissioner will have
a rest, and the Catholics and penny liners
on mischief bent will have to hunt for other
targets
The great body of Indians will become
merged in the indistinguishable mass of
our population, and there will spring up a
new aristocracy, claiming distinction by
reason of Indian descent. To be able to
trace ones pedigree back to some great
warrior or big chief, or to have the right to
claim descent from one of the first gradu-
ates of Carlisle, will be almost as desirable
as to belong to New York's Four Hundred
Many Indians will achieve distinction as
orators, poets, financiers and inventors.
Some of the finest poetry ever penned will
find its inspiration and material in Indian
history, and whole generation of novelists
will win fame and favor by stories whose
leading characters are of Indian descent.
Chicago university will proudly boast of
an Indian laboratory devoted to Indian
life and language
An Indian will command the United
States army, and another will be our min
lister to Spain and have the honor of invit-
ing the royal party to attend the centennial
fair to be held in Denver in 1892
With the disappearance of the Indians
will disappear the Indian Rights associa-
tion, or it will turn its ever watchful eye to
the condition of the perhaps still heather
Chinee," and the army will gladly abandon
the plains and take up its permanent abode
in the ever desired haven of Washington
THOMAS j. MORGAN,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs.