The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-08-12
VULGAR INDIAN DANCES.

an Indian dance can OF CANNOT Do AZ
decent, it is well to look upon the matter
in another light.
The Indians have been given the priv
ilege, by the government, of governing
themselves. They have recently been
Boosting of great civilization in their life
and conduct, and several people have
been misguided enough to believe them.
As long as the Indian is partitioned
off to himself he is going to be incapable
of governing himself. He Will simply
remain ar Indian with an Indians right
and an Indians inclination to act By
himself IN every thing, and carve the
individual who objects. II the Indian
| Territory were part of Oklahoma, and
they met with the rustling pale-faces in
business competition day by day, the
laggard ways of these government pets
would soon disappear. The Indian viii
improve when he is mixed with white
men at a ratio of about 800 10 /.
Many Indians have been improved.
| They have been sent 10 Carlisle and
crammed with trigonOmetary and
/ logarithms. and mime pies and society
manners and fred back on the reserva-
ton. In about q week after their ar.
rival at the tepee of their unCivilIZed
old daddy, they get out OF the influence
Of society manners and mince pie and
they couldn't tell a logarithm from a
paralellogram if they should meet them
tagged on the open prairie.
No matter how thoroughly educated
the Indian NAV be, he can not resume
the ties to his neighbors ana friends with
out forgetting all he ever knew of civil
liZatiOn. And so it is that the Indian
particularly loves to surcharge his skin
with liquid enthusiasm, throw off his
clothes and discharge his naked heels at
the moon and shock the nation with his
immodest antics.
The Indian is supported in idleness by
the government. He has nothing to do,
nothing to think about, nothing to hope
for, and it is little wonder that he likes
to fill up with liquor and Join in the
dances which are being pronounced
vulgar and indecent. 1t Is not the
Indians fault. 1t is the governments.
The governments policy of dealing
with the Indians has always been unsat-
lsfactory. 1t makes no improvement in
the Indian. 1t Is strange that his long
term of idleness and wardship has even
robbed him of being good fighter. He
was once considered a fine soldier
1t is a fact probably unknown to a
majority of people that there are more
than 2, 300 pensioners of the civil war in
the Indian territory, exclusive of Oklaho-
ma, and tina. the amount paid them last
year was 1912, 900, the sum contributed
to residents of Oklahoma in the same
year being 1928, 900.
At the beginning of the civil war, it
seems to have been the opinion of many
persons that on account of the generally
warlike character of American Indians
they were well qualified to take an ac-
tive part in the contest.
In May, 1861, the Confederate congress
adopted aresolution including the whole
of the present Indian Territory and Ok (
Ia homa, too, with the Confederacy, and
especially among theCherokee there were
many recruits from the Indian tribes to
the southern army, but they maintained |
an Independent organization and cut
actually very little figure in tine fight.
The war department at the beginning /
of the war, appeared to attach great I'M |
portance to the Indians as auxi!iaries of
the Union forces, AID considerable effort |
was given TO assist in their organization. |
but without very much success. The |
total number of Indians enlisted in the |
northern side, between the years 1861 !
and 1860, was 5000, but a considerably |
larger number served ON the other side. |
and offset the efforts of those who were /
Unlonists, or, rather, who attached |
themselves TO the Union side. for the
knowledge of the issues involved in the
war of the rebellion were at no time
very clearly understood by any of the
Indians, and some instances were well
in which Indian stroops
fought during the war on both sides.
1t seems strange in this day that ca
pSiDic LuiiIldIS 1tdueTS, skilled IN the
science of war and familiar with the
position of the border state
in which the battles Were to be begun if
not decided, should have fallen into the
error Of supposing that in a country ca
pable of furnishing more than .. 900 600
few semi-Savace aIorig-
ines, practically restricted to the plains
Of the west, could be a formidable factor
IN conflict SO extensive, but
the fact must be recalled that
the only military traditions that
were possessed in states and territories
beyond the Mississippi related to the
previous conflicts with Indians They
were the only hostile force which the
local militia, where there were any. had
known, and the part which they were
popularity supposed to have taken in the
revolutionary war seemed TO qualify
them for active service in withstaudiny
the movements Of southern troops in the
The present population Of the Indian
territory, since the establishment of
Oklahoma in 1890, is less than $50. coo.
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ROWLING y FINE ART.
At least, the great bowling. dis