The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-09
AN EXPERT OPINION.

Charles Gibson, one of the most ob servant and forcible Indian writers in the Territory. discussing the policy of the Government towards the Indians. says:
 some must 20 down while others rise. Nature will not haze 1t otherwise and the law applies to all Iwhite. red and black. The authorities may lay hold of the In- dian's collar and pistol pocket and yank him to the front and hold him there. but he will fall back out of the push when he is released.
 Truer words were never spoken. At the close of the War between the States the Federal Government took the colored race of the South by the collar and lifted it to place alongside the whites, and. in some instances. placed the colored above the white race. The effect was disas- trous at first to the white people, who suffered untold indignity and humiliation because they were not in a position to help themselves, but in the very nature of things and in accordance with the de- crees of Nature herself, such conditions could not possibly last. It was never ln- tended that the white race should be ruled by the black, and soon the pendulum na- turally swung the other way. Then it was that the ill-advised, or the deliber- ately mischievous. policy of the Govern ment reacted on the negro and he went down under it. In many cases his condi- tion was worse than 1t was before. and the negroes. as a race. have not recov- F cred from the bitterness and antagonisms aroused by the efforts of the Government to yank them to the top of the social and political system.
 Something of the same kind has fol- lowed the efforts of our Government to .civilize" the Indians before they were ready for it, or faster than they could assimilate 1t. We are not comparing the red to the black race, because there is no comparison possible, but are speaking of the results of our Governments mistake Of all races on earth, the red men of America are perhaps most devoted to the customs and habits of the.r ancestors and least inclined to change. What was right and proper for their fathers is considered good for them, and whenever it is at tempted forcibly to change their habits, good results rarely follow.
 Strange that the white race should per- sist in a policy, however varied in form, which has been tried for almost four centuries, and never with success. Pi- zarro in Peru, Cortez in Mexico and De Soto in the Floridas, all tried to "con- vert or to enslave the Indians with whom they came in contact, but both converts and slaves were corpses. The stern and stony-hearted Puritans, who landed in New England while Cortez was devastat- ing Mexico pursued very little more prudent or merciful policy than did the first Spanish invaders. To the Puritan all Indians were heathens and to "spoll the heather" was considered doing God service. Those who refused to be con- verted were killed or driven out
 Our Government has in some respects pursued a course but little better than that of Spaniard and Puritan. We do not mean that it has tried to force any form of religious belief on them, or to convert them by force. but in various ways it has tried to yank them upward before they were ready. and few good results have been obtained. A little more pa tience, a little more tolerance. and a little more effort to lead the Indians from saw agery to civilization. would have scored more and better results. Gibson knows them and knows what is best for them.
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