Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1893-12-15
THE INDIAN PROBLEM.

iops as the question Of the best
method Of dealing with the In.
dian. Many theories have
failed in practice, and tuition in
the dear school of experience has
been paid in the lives Of the
oraye9t, While politicians and
statesmen are Experimenting and
seemingly approaching little
nearer to the solution OF the
question, time and disease are
fast rendering all discussion use
less, Ahen & thousand indiyid-
uals are all that remain Of three
once powerful tribes, one can
see how rapidly the Indian, like
the deer and the buffalo upon
WINCH ne preyed, is passing from
the face Of the earth. However
smal Il may be the sympathy felt
lor the redskin, one cannot but
be touched with a passing sad
ness, as one watches the slow de-
cay ofpower. That a race should
have no resting place in world
theirs ages before the conquering
people set foot upon the soil, is
pathetic proof Of the constant
strife between feebleness and
strength, and has resulted as US
ual IN the survival of the tittest,
The savage required too much
room. As he scorned to labor,
it required too many square feet
OF ground to give him life. He
made the least, not the most of
his possessions, and the conse-
quence was, he was driven from
the land he would never have
improved, and the territory
which would support but one
Indian was cultivated and fur
nished sustenance to many
white men, while its original
owner was driven before the on
coming civilization.
He lives today supported by |
the bounty of an empire built
on his own ruin, an outcast and |
stranger in the very land whose |
forests were once his hunting
grounds, whose streams foated |
his canoe. He has been driven
from the mountains which were
once his impregnable strong
holds; cities, surrounded by fer
tile fields, flourish on the site Of
his battle grounds. Only on
few reservations is he seen in the
remnants Of his former barbar-
ism, and even his body is but
shadow of what it was. Disease
has accomplished its dreadful
work, and seldom indeed is it
that among the remnants of the
tribes is found presence justi-
tying the old romances. Among
the Indians on this reservation
are undoubtedly the highest
types which remain. Here may
be found braves who might be
handsome and fearful in war
paint; and in Motonic's wife
was suggestion of the beauti-
ful Indian maid, for whom, in
lays of yore, the youthful adven-
,urer, led in chains of love,
abandoned home and people that
she might become his forever
more. Everywhere can be noted
he superiority Of the Indian ov-
II the half-breed. They are
cleaner, less liable to disease and !
more intelligent, but perhaps
hat is less owing to the mix
,ure OF races than the low type
II white who will cast his lot
the barbarians. How
ost would be the brave who fifty {
years ago was gathered to his.
were he permitted to
,isit the scene of his battles, to
zee the land he contested SO {
,ravely gone from him, and his {
lncient enemy lord unquestion-
d of his plains, his mountains, {
lis rivers. Wherever or howev-
r one finds them, how pathetic {
re the results of defeat. Yet E
here is such a thing as necess- {
ry injustice. One may pity '
he decline of the barbarian, one ,
onno+ ha Hind enonob tO regret