The times., 1899-08-08
CHARACTER OF INDIANS
Gongenial Work Suggested as a
Preventive Of Outbreaks.
Ii Is Maintained That the American
Aborigincs Are Not by Nature In
Observation-Disclosures of Red Men
Alleged to Be Due to Encroach-
ments-rhe Sun and Ghost Dances.

huch pio6ieSS Aas certainly Deen made
within the last thirty-fiye years in adapt
ing the American Indians to the changed
conditions of their environment and person.
al relations occasioned by the spread OF
white population and the introduction OF
civilization. Nevertheless, discomfort and
restlessness, it is said, prevail among them,
and at times "risfngsH take place which
give trouble to the troops and the Indian
police, and occasionally result in the loss
of many lives. These incidents are to be
deplored, and if they can only be prevented
by sagacious methods. the country will owe
a debt OF obligation to the mind which sus,
gests them.
Undoubtedly the best preventive for that
re5tlessness and discomfort, which are
periodically manifested in ghost dances,
Messiah crazes, marauding expeditions,
and clandestine hunting parties, would be
congenial employment. Divert their minds
and occupy their time by giving them as
many diversified occupations as is possible.
This is the panacea. Under former condi-
tions the Indians had no aspiration and no
stimulus to improvement. Uncertainty OF
the future and idleness have rendered them
apathetic and Indifferent. Subdued and re-
signed, they have been stoically waiting
for twenty years to be wiped out and exter-
minated; to be fed first and then sac
rificed to the gods. They hoped for moth
ing from the conquerors. Their wisest men
could not see their way clear No rift of
daylight cleaned behind the cloud. Games,
dances, and open-air fetes, for the most
part grudgingiy permitted by the Govern
ment agents, alone varied the ennui which
stif1ed and oppressed them. They have seen
their ancestral domain rapidly diminish
under persistent encroachment Of the
whites, the game on which they had sub
sisted rapidly disappearing, their hunting
privileges restricted by the imposition of
close seasons, and ultimate starvation and
death looming up before them.
Need 1t be said that the first dawn of
hope appeared when the land n-severalty
movement was installed. Because, though
novel, there was something definite in the
plan. The limit of authorized plunder was
prescribed and the magic line drawn with
in which no trespasser or interloper could
enter; not even a ''squaw man." With a
stated 1ife income assured to them from
gilt-edged investments, with reliable guar
iians and trustees, and synchronous per-
sonal liberty land implied responsibility
guaranteed, they hailed the radiant prom
ise, aroused themselves from their apathy,
and came to the front with commendable
and unexpected alacrity, ready to work
and to accept the duties of the new regime.
By one shrewd and polite stroke the In
dian question was settled At least it
seemed to be. That full measure of be-
neficent results has not followed is not
due solely TO the red mans failure to per-
form his part of the contract.
Energy of the Indians.
Let us premise that the Indian, as race,
is not the natural drone which he is rep
resented to be. His nomadic habits show
this; likewise his restless disposition. Be-
fore his subjugation. he was systemati-
cally occupied with the fall and summer
hunts and the winter trapping, while much
leisure time was filled up with foraging
expeditions and reprisals on hostile neigh
bors. In the off-seasons the squaws
dressed buffalo robes, and the more squaws
big chief possessed, athe more peits he
could market, and>the richer he became in
blankets, ponies, glass beads and ammu-
milton. One wife could make ten robes
a year. l the absenceeof buffalo, polyga-
my is likely TO decrease. Keep these red
men busy, instead OF permitting them to
rust on the reservations n they will not
be victims of fanaticism and mischieyous
tendencies. s
Men who understand Indian character
and are familiar with tribal idiosyncracies
and chronological traits were at once pre-
pared to designate intelligentiy what en-
ployments were most suited to their tastes
but their good purposes have been unfor-
tunately obstructed to a degree by pseudo
phiianthropists who insist on special lines
OF work, as well as by those cold -blooded
pessimists who insist that we have no use
for the Indian, andrthat the only good In
dians are dead ones. 81
One spook has always stared the major
ity OF Indians in the face, and that is hus-
bandry Communism among the red men
Is not favorable to agriculture. Few peo-
pie like to SOW for others to reap. and,
while considerable proportion even of
plains Indians have always had small gar
den patches which the squaws cultivated a
moiety had no more taste for agriculture
than an Eskimo. They could herd cattle
and ponies, ride horses, play the jockey.
fish and hunt, track fugitives, assist sur
yeyors and mining prospectors, tan hides,
make baskets, moccasins, and pouches.
hive wild bees. gather medicinal herbs,
chop trees. pick hops and berries, drive
logs, build and navigate boats and canoes,
attend mills, serve as soldiers and do
scouting and police duty, but they could
not dig potatoes or speed the plow, and
in these characteristics of proelivity they
do not differ from other peoples, be they
white, yellow. or black; so that the most
vital factor in the Indian equation bas to
be treated from an chronological stand
point, involving antecedents of origin, cli-
mate and tradition, which are as widely
different and diverse as the broad ex-
panse OF the continent. Some tribes have,
and always had, fixed abodes; some were
nomadic, and others migrated with the
. b. ,al- aal k;~lo
ciety people of the present period. Some
were agricultural, others pastoral, and
some were devoted exclusively to the
chase. Some lived in the mountains, some
on the arid plains; some dwelt by the
riverside and others on the coast
Philanthropists make the same mistake
in handling the negro problem. They treat
them all as of the same mental character,
not differentiating their race characteris-
tics and capabilities. In intellectual ca
pacity the Anglo-African is anything but
unit The same is true of all men.
The Ghost Dance.
Sporadically there is disturbance
among the Indian reservations 1t is as nee
essary to their vital comfort as vent is
to a volcano. Sometimes it is purely local,
and again it involves agencies and sta
tions which are geographically wide apart,
occurring simultaneously and with appar-
ent spontaneity. Usually these manifesta-
tions occur in the summer months, when
the traditional festivities of their ances-
tors are due TO arrive, and most of which
they reflect or reproduce, with some modi-
fications. A few OF these are heroic, like
the sun dance occurring in June, which
tests the physical endurance Of
the brawniest braves to the ut
most, the devotees being swung UP
by hooks in the muscles of the back, at
tached to pole by ropes, and reyoiyed at