The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-27
MAKING 4 HAN Of 10
Major WOOdson Has Proved
That This Can be Done
EVEN UNDER THE SYSTEM
On Which the Wise Men of
the East Knock.
EVEN UNDER THE SYSTEM

emotion to lieutenant colonel, will add t
. a discussion now prevailing in the east
(which was induced by a signed articl,
by Senator Dawes in defense Of the In
titan policy Of the government.
The friends of the Indian in the east
HAT is. the friends who make it a bust
mess to weep over the woes of the red
man, affect to believe that the govern
ment policy is all wrong. Dawes says
mot, and has called down the wrath OF
khe Indian cranks on his head.
The connection of Major woodson's
work with this controversy lies in the
.kact that Major Woodson actually did
Improve the Indian. In the first place
Major WoodsOn is a disciDIinarian. He
stood mighty little of the childis nom
sense which is so characteristic of the
aborigine, who, If encouraged soon de-
generates into a "knocker" of the most
vicious type. Major woodson gave the
Indians to understand that the must be
pbeyed
AS result of his labors the Cheyennes
farmers of really surprising proficiency.
In the first place. they are living on
Farms. not in huddled groups of wig
vans. They have abandoned polygamy
at Woodsons' order. They have given up
the indiscriminate use of mescaI and fire.
water. An account Of a druken Chey-
.enne or Arapahoe is a rare thing. Major
iWoodson shut off on the brutal beef
Issue, which consisted in turning a beef
SOose and sending the Indians pell-mell
lafter him with a rifle to kill him. Under
Major Woodson the beef was issued from
lthe block. Farmers were laced among
The Indians to instruct them in agricul-
,fure. Children were made to go to school,
and no specious excuse from the parents
MAS accepted. The medicine mans orgies
were prohibited.
The advancement made by these wan
hering children Of the prairie has attract
ed attention in Washington. 1t was
probably these tribes that Senator Dawes
had in view when he defended the gov
ernment's policy.
However, 1t will be interesting to hear
what the sentimental friends of the In
u
TO the condition OF the red man. They
surely cannot know OF the situation in
The Cheynne and Arapahoe country.
The sentiments OF the eastern Indian
advocate are best represented by the
New York Evening Post, which is their
organ In regard 10 Senator Dawes
assertions it says:
Ex-senator Dawes has done so much
good public service, and has come to be
Recognized as so much of an expert on
matters affecting the North American In
dams. that it seems a pity to see him
now quoted as he Is on the strength Of
his latest Atlantic Monthly article. The
newspapers which have been insisting
that II was our business not only to
tabe but to keep the Philippine Islands,
so as to bring our splendid machinery
a missionary nation to bear on the ma
tives there for their eternal good, lnow
claim the senator as an active champion
using his very name as a weapon, be-
cause what he hays about the Indians
and the success of our government in
governing them is said I'm the tone of
sudge rather than a witness.
When Mr.. Dawes undertakes to show
that the government policy with the In
dians has been a success he lays his
hand to very large contract He calls
attention to the fact that the Indians are
Increasing in numbers, as IL this bore
upon the question of our success with our
red wards. 1t seems not to have occurred
TO him that IL we were to permit the in
habitAnts Of our poorhouses to marry,
and were to undertake to support the or
spring Of such marriages as literally as
we support the adult paupers, we should
see a marvellous growth in te element Of
our population which lives without work.
To leave the Indian a war-making nomad
would have been, as Mr.. Dawes properly
suggests, intolerable. BY shutting him
up on reservation. giving him food,
clothing, and shelter for nothing. allow
ing him to exercise absolute freedom in
social and domestic matters, and taking
care of his children as we take care of
him and his souaw. we have vastly i'm
proved his chances of life and the chance
of his race for multiplication. But does
St follow from this that we have improv-
ed him? Mr.. Dawes evidently believes
that it does not. for he was one of the
most persistent and successful advocates
of the policy OF throwing open the reser- |
vations, giving the Indian his allotment
of land for his own, and requiring him
10 take care of himself and family like |
other people. This policy was adopted |
with a view to making him a part. by |
absorption. Of our civilized life. The |
question. therefore. reverts to our sue
cess IN attaining this particular end. |
Have We succeeded in the civilization OF |
the Indian by absorDtlon9
There are. in round numbers f5lOaO /
Indians more or less under the care OF /
the government. For the sake of ease
in calculation, we may call the total
population of the United States proper
75.OooOoo. This would give Us one Indian /
TO every 800 of our population. II every
community had its due proportion the
city Of New York would contain. say
10000: there would be 1900 in the state ~
Massachusetts, and so on. In stead of
that. the bulk OF our Indian population
IS scattered through certain states and
territories Of the west. where their pro-
portion to other races must be very
greatly increased.
Mr.. Dawes has been a good Gal OF a
traveller. and It would be curious to
know how many Indians he has ever
found settled among the whites Of the
west and forming in any proper sense a
part OF the local population. On the con-
trary. has he not found. except In rare
individual instances. that even where the
reservation lines have been thrown down