The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-24

L
1.-THE Indians of Today is the title of al
interesting and historically valuable worl
| by George Bird Grinnell, Phi D. autho,
OF "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales,
"Blackfoot Lodge Tales" and other book:
treating of the pre-Columbian American il
his primitive day.
In the present volume, which is Illus
trated throughout with full-page portraits
of living Indians the writer presents the
red man in his character as a ward Of
the nation. He believes that the Indian
Congress at the Omaha Exposition ere
ated among those who attended it and
the thousands of intelligent people who
read of it, desire to know more of the
race, of their past and their present. and
the outlook of their future. II was to meet
this interest and supply this information
that Mr.. Grinnell has written the book.
For the general reader, perhaps, the
most interesting points presented are those
which deal with the advance of the yari-
Gus tribes toward civilization in respect
to self-support and the education of the
rising generation. The Indians of the
United States, exclusive OF Alaska, num-
Der 2G2 9G5. They are divided among III
reservations and are under the care Of the
Indian Bureau, which attends to their
lands their money. and their general well
fare From personal observation. aided
by information obtained from the Indian
Bureau. the author has been able to make
q thorough Investigation of the conditions
prevailing at each of these reservations.
and the result is to give the reader a
graphic and perfectly honest statement
Of the subject in hand: THE Indians-of
Today
His individual estimate of the charac-
ter of the Indian is expressed in very
few words:
He possesses strength, endurance and
industry On the other hand he is easily discour-
aged. and hesitatCs to throw himself into unac-
customed labor because he is doubtful whether
the results vii! be commensurate with the effort
put forth. Ii he can be convinced that his
ertiuus will receive adequate recompense he is
at the present dly-as willing TO work as in the
old days he was ready to toll at his hunting or
to undergo the manifold hardships OF the war
path
Mr.. Grinnell does not think, for ono
thing. that the Government has given the
Indian a fair show. He claims that it is
not enough to furnish a tribe with sub
sistence and place over them an agent as
sisted by a few white employees. No tribe.
he asserts will ever make much progress
In the field service Of the Indian Bureau
shall be sufficiently intelligent to under
stand the mental attitude OF the Indian
and interested enough to give special at
tontiou to his advancement. He recognize,
that the agents Of today are a great i'm
provement on those of former times. yet
even now there are too many of them who,
while not actively bad. are anxious to get
along easily and earn their money with as
little effort as they can.
On the majority of the reservations the
land. for one disheartaning reason or an
other, IS totally unfit for agriculture
When climate and Soil make crops posi-
BILE there are grasshoppers and other de-
.vastating plaques. Everywhere, in the face
of obstacles that might well deter the most
energetic white man, the Indian raises
stock and many Of the tribes. whenever
..--- "a ths barest chance for demand,