The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-05-10
B1ockades to
Indian
Civilization
ByDR. CARLOS MONTEZUMA,
An Indian Physician Praeiieing in Chicago.

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knife and the tomahawk are more significant of great savagery than
the sword and Calling gun of the pale face. Can the Indian produce
such destructive and cruel implements of warfare as the monstrous
cannon and that de~ath-deaing explosive, the Lyddte? Yet this same
man will use every means to influence the government to appropri-
ate large sums OF money for the reservations in his state or terri
tory, as though he were actually the red mans almoner.
The white man looks after his own interest. Why not allow the
Indian to do the same thing?
THE SYMPATHETIC PLEA-"Poort lingsl Do not change
their custom all at once. Bring them into civilization by gradual
process" This sounds very much like the saint who cut his dogs
tail off little by little so as not to hurt the dear dog too much. This
kind and gentle ideal is a sham. Four hundred years of gradual
process have elapsed, and what are they? A Gagged being, worse than
his forefather ever dreamt Of Idler, beggar, gambler, pauper and
ruinl Let us stop this destructive process by the quickest way pos
she. For the sake of their future the Indian heart of to-day must
be broken.
THE CHURCH.-To Chrisdanize the Indians we must seclude
them by themselves, away from the vices of civilization, and send
missionaries to them" A prominent divine has said: IF l were the
devil and wished to do the most deviish thing, I would not destroy
the churches, but l would corrupt them" The reservation is a devil
ish method of Outstanding my people.
| believe in missions. Not one missionary to thousands of In
dams, but thousands of missionaries to one Indian, which they would
get in the midst of civilization.
THE EDUCATORS VIEW-"Build more schools N reserva-
tons, SO that the Indian pupils may be an object lesson for their
parents, to convince them of the p~racicabiiy of education"
With a shake of my head l would say, very few Indian schools
are needed in the United States. Or, I might go SO far as to say, no
Indian school is necessary especially when the public school is the
anchor of our educational system. To me to deprive the Indian chill
dren of this anchorage is an insult. You may as well say: "You
are an inferior race of children; we do not want you in our public
SCHOOLS. In Indian schools Indians teach Indians. When you al
low their ignorant parents to decide for their ch1drens welfare, you
only encourage the blind to lead the blind, and Indians will remain
Indians for ages to come. My plea is, if the public school is good
enough for all races, who not for the true American children.
THE SHOW MAN AND THE ~OPOLO
Leave the Indians alone. 1t is beautiful to preserve the true chill
dren of nature as object lessons to study FROM By binding the In
dians Buffalo Bill has wrongly educated the public. To leave the
Indians alone as curiosies and studies may be well enough for the
show man and the anthropologist. But what about the Indian? The
standard Of a splendid race is degraded by it. He deserves a bet
ter fate than to be decked with savage attire, only to be ridicu1ed and
ieered at for mercenary and scientific purposes. Do away with your
ignorance of the Indian. Help him to escape the deadly fate of the
reservation system, Learn of him, as he will of you. Then YOU will
develop the man and not the savage, the citizen and not the pauper
This is all I have to say for my people.
O01A0 MoLezN11~