The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-20
THE RED MANS FUTURE.

THE RED MANS FUTURE.
The Indian problem has never been
solved, and it probably never will he as
long as there is redskin alive. Report
after report has been made from the be-
ginning by very learned officials concern
ing the Indian and his moral and ma
teriaI reclamation; but the old story re-
mains just the same to be retold. Sta
tistics may be very instructive ordinarily;
but IN reports of Indian officials they
lates to the ratio in which the race is
disappearing from off the earth
The latest report about the Indian, the
expense of printing which will be paid
by the government, is that of Commits
sioner Jones. It does not differ ma
terially from hundreds of other reports
on the same subject which have preceded
1t. 1t proposes to educate" the Indian,
and, Of course, reclaim him. The process
? of education ard reclamation has been
going on long; but the result remains IN
seems to be the one which will compass
his total disappearance The Carlisle
school and other like institutions are
maintained. If any one can show a dozen
Indians who are engaged in active in
dustrial or commercial pursuits in any
one community in the United States as
the result of the training which they re-
ceived either at Carlisle or elsewhere. or
of the reclamation which Indian agents
have been securing for them for the past
fifty years, or over, it would be encour-
aging to just that extent But no such
sight is to be seen; and no such sight
ever will be seen, let our officials phil
osophize as they may, and let the in
terror department plan and act as it
Will
The remnant Of the race that remains
must be taken care Of The making of
an American citizen out of the red man
has proved to be a very tedious process.
The success achieved in the undertaking
has not warranted much of hope Of fu-
ture results. The tanning and domestica-
ton OF wild animals may go on, and
time and thought may be bestowed on
the task. without limit, but the final re-
suit is more than likely to be the return
Of the animal to state of nature Has
this not proven true in the case of the
Indian?
No doubt our methods have not been
the best, and as a people we are much
to blame for the tragic story Of Indian
life. But natural forces, over which hui
man endeavor has but little influence,
furnish the explanation of the virtual ex-
tinction of the Indian in far greater
measure than is provided by our lack of
wisdom or humanity
There remains to be tried the plan of de-
stroying existing tribal relations, abolish
ing the Indian reservations and throwing
the American aborigine on his resources
as an individual. Does any man who has
studied the Indian at close range think
that such remedy Will help the Indian
or help this people to get rid of the In
dian problem? What has the plan for
the individual ownership of realty by the
Indian done toward his reclamation?
When the plan was decided on there
were many assurances given that it
would result in great benefits. But
there was the suspicion in many minds
that it would operate principally for the
purpose Of promoting the more easy con-
veyance by the Indian to his white bro.h h.
er of the land thus acquired.
Our entire Indian policy is a piece Of
patchwork. We ought to adopt some
specific course and pursue it. No mat
ter what the course may be it cannot
work more hardly on the Indian than our
past policy has. The recommendations
of Commissioner Jones are all in the line
OF humanity. Theoretically they are all
right. He states them with marked
force and conviction. They may do the
young Indian good. It may make a
civilized man and woman of the present
Indian boy and girl to take them awav
from the tribal life and the parental in
fuence- But so far as the ordinary OBJ
server can see beneath the surface there
Is not much greater chance. as mat
tiers now stand, to save the North Amer
lean Indian from extinction than there is
TO reproduce the herds of his contem-
porary. the buffalo, which hIackened the
surface Of the continent few years ago.
The Republicans claim thew captured
Otah by political coup d'etat. A bar
gain was made with the Mormons pro-
Vlding that if they would vote the Re-
publican ticket and turn the state over
to the Republicans there would be no
further anti-Mormon legislation. suffi-
Gent guarantees were made to satisfy
the Mermons, who fulfilled their part of
the agreement, and the state. to the sur
prise of all, went Republican. With the
administration making treaties with the
sultan of Sulu, and his agents making