The herald., 1898-10-16
INDIAN CONFERENCE
DISCUSSES THE TREATMENT OF
THE INDIAN
ALL PROTESTS TO PRESIDENTS
Proving Unavailing an Appeal Is
Now Made to the Press and
the Public
Associated Press Special Wire.

LAKE MOHONK, Oct. 1b.-At yester-
DAYS session of the Indian conference Hev.
DR. Lyman Abbott, chairman OF the BUSH
ness Committee, presented the report OF
platform for discussion ana aooptioh ny
the conference, as follows:
Great progress has been made IN dealing
with the Indian race in our country. Inc
nation no longer regards them as hostile
people nor even as foreign people. Inc
reforms inaugurated under President Grant
have been carried forward towards their
logical results; the policy Of discontinuing
the reservation system had been accepted.
and in many of the reservations the Iano
has been allotted in severalty and the sur
MUS land sold for the benefit Of the Indians.
Less money Is expended In rations Which
pauperize and much more In schools wnicn
prepare for self support. The government
has recognized the value of the education
of the Indian women, in their homes, IN the
domestic arts, and has appropriately In
creased sums to carry on this Work. The
anomalous partnership between the nation
and the churches has been discontinued,
and now only one denominational BODY
looks to the government for aid in support
of its schools. The schools Of the other
denominations are supported by them
selves. and the government itself has Or
ranized and is carrying on with compara-
five efficiency the work Of the similar edu-
cation of all Indian children of school age
in the reservations. Nevertheless, the In
dian problem is still far from solution.
needlessly expensive system Is MAINTAINED
nominally to care for the Indian, and in
a large measure to care for party and po-
litical favorites The schools, the clerks
in the bureaus at Washington and the
agency physicians have been brought un-
der the civil service law, but with these
exceptions the Indian Bureau remains
rOittical machine, subject to change in all
~ al or Presidential eIon.
tion. BY both Democratic and Republican
administrations men have been put at the
head of the Indian Bureau who are neither
familiar with Indian affairs nor acQuaint-
ed with methods of education. indian
agents and Indian inspectors have been ap-
pointed without training or any evidence
OF their fitness for the Office. In more
than one instance drunken officials have
Heen appointed In the reservations, and
xvnu authenticated complaints have failed
10 secure their removal or have resulted
only in transfer to another field with an In
creased salary. In those cases in which
the reservations have been discontinued
and the land has been allotted in severalty
the entire machinery Of the agency has
been retained, though no considerable ser
vice is required and the retention is clearly
against the spirit Of the law. These evils
have shown themselves alike when the ap-
pointments have been left with the indian
SOuIulSSlOHeT OF WHeu Luct hdSO OScA ~
served by the Secretary Of the Interior to
himself, and when they have been prac-
tically left to local politicians. Some ex-
cellent officials have been appointed, and
Eome excellent work has been accom-
plished, but 1t is not because but IN spite OF
the system. Two illustrations of the evils
of this system have been afforded during
the past year. The first Is the removal OF
DR.. Hallman, notwithstanding his splen-
did record as Superintendent of Indian
Schools, attested by protests against his
removal by men Of all parties and SEQ
tions who were familiar with his work In
Guiding many educational experts. The
second is the outbreak of the Chippewa In
dams, whose valuable pine timber the gov
ernment by the agreement of 1859 covenan-
ted to sell for their benefit and Is Still ap-
praising and reappraising as preliminary
to such sale. Two successive appraise-
ments extravagantly conducted have al
ready been set aside as worthless, with a
third appraisment In progress. We have
applied to successive administrations to
remedy these abuses. and the abuses still
continue. We now apply to the people of
the United States to demand Of their gov
ernment that the Indian Commissioner be
no longer treated as q political officer to
be changed with every change of admin
istration, and that the work of the bureau
be intrusted to experts and left in their
also appeal to them to demand of Congress
that 1t set on foot a once measures to bring
the Indian Bureau and Its work to an
early close; that 1t expedite the dissolu-
tion of the reservations and the allotment
of the land in severalty; that it give all
Indians everywhere right to apply to the
courts and render all Indians everywhere
accountable to the courts, and that it thus
prepare the way for the adjustment of a
costly policy, unjust to the Indians, inju-
rious to the whites and an imped!ment to
civilization.
This platform, with slight verbal amend
ments, was adopted.
The following resolution was adopted:
Resolved that a committee of seven, of
which the chairman Of the conference shall
be the charman, and which shall have
power to increase the number, be appointed
by the chair to prepare during the next
year a scheme adopted to carry out the
policy outlined in the platform and appeal
and propose to the next conference for Its
action.
The committee is also authorized to gather
in the interim between the next confer
ence the facts concerning defects in In
dian administration, and in behalf of this
conference, in their discretion, to present
them to Congress, to the Executive and
to the press.
A Council Held
WASHINGTON. Oct. 15-The following
dispatch has been received at the Interior
Department:
"Walker, Mimi. Oct 15.-Held council TO-
day Several of Indians for whom warrants
are issued are ready to give themselves up.
Think all VIII do so by next Wednesday.
"W. A. JONES, Commissioner"
-o-sS
STERNBERG OBJECTS