Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-11-07

the Indians made up great nations, but
now they have gone never to return.
We have got to give up u old ways
and take on those of the whites. There
are only a few of us left, and we are
herded in like a lot Of sheep, So that it
is foolish to 60 to war. The young men
of the tribes will never know anything
of war, except as the tales are told by
the old men.
81 have neve been in Minnesota, but
I hear that up there and for hundreds
Of miles beyond the white men are as
many as the blades of grass. If that is
so, what can a few poor Indians do in a
fight? They are making a great mistake
and are very foolish. For years l fought
the white men, thinking that with my
few braves I could kill them all off and
that we would again have the land that
our Great Father gave us and which he
covered with game. / thought that the
Great Spirit would be with us and that
after we had killed the white men the
buffalo, deer and antelope would come
back. After I had fought and lost and
after I had travelled over the country in
which the white man lived and saw his
cities and the work that he had done
my old heart was ready to burst. I
knew that the race of the Indian was
run and that there was nothing left but
to submit to the law.
"When 1 discovered that we were
Lono1occ1xy Infon+a1 fold s,,V, paop1a
that we would give up tho fight and ac-
cept such terms of peace as we could
get from the whites. While I am a
prisoner Of wal and have been for years
/ feel that I am better off than most Of
the Indians of the country. The govern
ment has confidence in me and has ap-
pointed me a scout, which is the same
as an Indian police in the northern
agencies. I expect to end my days in
peace and leave my family something of
which the members will be proud--a
good name"
When asked what he thought would
become of the North American Indian,
Geronimo hesitated a moment and then,
pointing to the west, replied:
"The sun rises and shines for a time,
and then it goes down, sinking out Of
sight and is lost. So it will be with the
Indian. When I was a boy, my old IA
ther told me the Indians were as many
as the leaves on the trees, and that
way off in the north they had many
horses and furs. I never saw them, but
I know that if they were there they
have gone now, and the white man has
taken all they had. 1t will be only a
few years more when the Indians will
be heard of no more except in the books
that the white man writes. They are
not the people that the Great Father
loves, for if they were he would protect
and care for them. They have tried to
please him, but they do not know how.
Schools are good things for the Indian,
but it takes many years to change his
nature. If an Indian boy goes to school
and learns to be like a white boy, he
comes back to the agency, and there is
nothing for him to do but put on a
blanket and be like an Indian again.
This is where the government is to
blame. When it takes our children
away and educates them, it should give
them something to do, not turn them
loose to run wild at the agency. Until
that time comes, educating the Indian
is throwing money away. What can an
educated Indian do out in the sage
brush and cactus?
II am an old maj and can't live
many years, SO this don't trouble me
much, but before I die I should like to
see the Indians have the same chance
as the colored people or the poor whites.
There will be no more big Indian wars.
The Indians fighting days are over, and
there is nothing left for them to do but
to be beggars and live Oh charity around
the agencies. New York Sun.