The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-29
WARDS OF THE NATION.
SUMMARY OF THE GOVERNMENTS
INDIAN SYSTEM.

AOke smith, secretary OF Alt AAttllbAt AZ
the Youths Companion
We are all, old and young, I think,
Interested in the Indians. From the time
Columbus discovered America and thought
he had found the East Indies-the coun-
try on the other side OF the wOrld-our
history has been closely connected with
their history. We are even now max
ing treaties with them for their surplus.
lands; and Of the last few states 10 be
added to our number. one. at least, will
be formed from lands which but three
or four years ago belonged to them.
Naturally every one has a curiosity
10 see the people who have become strange
10 the Atlantic and Middle states. but
whose faces were once only too familiar
10 our forefathers. And so when parties
of these people come TO Washington to
talk to the commissioner of Indian af-
fairs, or to the Secretary of the Interior.
or sometimes to the President they re-
ceive the attention Of everybody. If they
visit the department of the interior they
are surrounded by small crowd q
clerks, and when file OF them stroll
into theater the audience almost for
gets the play TO watch the western Wis
We all know how the red men have been
gradually driven from their hunting-lands
in the east, until nearly all OF them
have crossed the Mississippi Now com
paratively few are to be found on this
located in New York, North Carolina,
Mississippi, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Even in the west they are no longer
permitted to hunt where they please, but
are confined upon tracts of land set apart
from the public lands of the united
States. These tracts OF lana are called
Indian reservations. They vary from the
size of Rhode Island to the size Of
New Hampshire and Vermont put To-
gether.
dians son reservations are prevented from
ever leaving their reservations. Many
have reached condition OF civillzation
which justifies their being permitted TO
go wherever they please.
There are about one hundred lndlan
reservations. the chief OF which is IN
position in law, different from all of the
others. 1t is the home of the hve civil
lied tribes-the Cherokees the creeks,
the Choctaws, the Chickasaws and the
Seminoles. A number of railroads nave
been built through this territory, and
small towns and cities are located along
Each of the FIVE civilized tribes is known
as a nation" and has a governor, a leg
islative body and judges, selected by the
laws are printed in book form ike the
laws OF a state, and their courts, IN a
rude way, are modelled after our courts.
Members of these tribes have been ad-
mtted to what we call the learned pro-
LESSONS, and are lawyers and doctors.
Some of them manage banks ana mer-
camille houses, and other business enter
prlses. -. 20 +,,osa e,,a
tribes whose appearance would not Sug-
Rest that their ancestors were red men.
III is however, true that a majority OF
the people do not speak English, and
would scarcely be capable OF handling
property as individuals. The land is con-
troled by the tribes, and no single per-
son owns his own home or farm. AS each
al.aW tG "a
Indian nation to which he belongs, incen-
five to energy and work does not exist,
and 1t is probable that very many OF the
Indians make no effort at all toward adj
vancement
all respects, under the control OF the
United States government.
An agent is placed in charge of one or
more reservations. He is assisted by
force of clerks, farmers, blacksmiths ana
carpenters, whose duty it is to do all that
is possible to make the Indians live ike
white men. Doctors, also, are appointed
and employed by the United States to visit
them and give them medicine when sick.
In most cases the Indians hold the right
to occupy their reservations by virtue OF
treaties with the United States. These
treaties are very solemn AFFAIRS, made Dy
representatives of the government of the
United States on the one hand, with the
representative men of the Indians on the
other. They are ratified by congress- and
they cannot Justly be changed without
the consent of the Indians themselves.
The reservations are too small to permit
the old, wide-ranging Indian habits, and
the red men are compelled TO live IN To-
calities entirely unsuited to the wild Gus
toms of their forefathers. Through TINS
changed condition, it has frequently been
said, the Indian will rapidly die out; but
information received at the Indian bu-
reau shows this is an error; There are
now about three hundred thousand In
dams in the United States, and il is evil
dent that they are increasing in numbers.
People may differ as to past treatment
80 ~ T,,1f nd aE IN hat
right to take from them the vast empire
now occupied by millions of thriving, in
dustrious whites, but it has been done,
and no one can doubt that now duty
rests upon us to give the Indian an occu-
patton which will take the place of that
former rowing life which he has lost.
We have compelled him TO make way Tor
civilization; he must be civilized in order
TO become self-supporung in the condi-
tons forced upon him. Among the things
which we give him are schools in which
$4,000 Indian children are now being
taught. These schools are of three kinds
characterization boarding schools, res
ervation boarding schools and day schools
Chief among the non-reserVation board
ing schools is the large school at Carlisle,
Pa. Here $50 Indian boys and girls are
taught those branches which our own
children learn in grammar and high
schools. During portions of the year these
children are hired out to the good people
of Pennsylvania in places where they
are required TO work on farms and in prI-
vate families.
This, Of course, is a great help to the
young Indians. 1t gives them an insight
into practical life, and teaches them how
to act for themselves. The children in a
school like this are fitting, not simply to
go back on the reservations but to scat
ter throughout the United States and take
their chances with the rest of our citi-
zens. They are taught how to work and
support themselves by labor, and this is
lesson which every child should learn
whether red, white or black.
The reservation boarding school is lust
what its name implies. 1t is a school on
the reservation at which the children of
the reservation are gathered together and
Kept under the supervision of matrons
as well as teachers. and in which they are
taught to speak English, to read and
write, and do practical work the girls
sewing and cooking, the boys farming. car
pentry, shoemaking and labor of similar
The reservation day schools are found
scattered over many reservations Usually
such school is managed by a man and
MS wife. Here are to be seen children
some of them still almost savage, gathered
together each morning and allowed to go
home at night.
, The Indian police are often sent out to
bring them in, because in these cases they
will not come unless compelled to do SO.
These Indian children go to school at
about the a c white obi