Arizona silver belt., 1904-09-29
CIVILIZlNG THE INDIANS

| sCuoui ht OuriiSic, I a.s Hbciy tuauo uu
 address at Chautauqua on the proper
 policy of dealing with the Indians that
 has attracted wide attention. The Bos.
 ton Herald, commenting on the ad-
 dress, says: General Pratt is a per
 son of much independence of judgment
 and of brave speech in declaring his
 opinions. He does not agree with
 some of the ideas and methods of the
 Washington bureaucrats, and his criti-
 oism has been so uncomfortable that
 not long ago he was removed from
 charge of the school that he had built
 up. His experience Is so large that
 whatever he says on the subject of
 dealing with the Indians is entitled to
 serious consideration.
 The fundamental proposition of his
 policy is that the segregation of In
 dians in communities by themselves,
 under guardianship of gover ment of
 6cials, is wrong course, calculated to preserve and perpetuate the traditional habits of Indian life and prevent the proper training Tn, and experience of, the modes of civilized living. It was Gen. Prstt's practice in the conduct of the Carlisle institution to disperse his pupils for part of the year to live in white families and work with white men and women, so that they might, more rapidly than in any school, ac- quire the point of view and the spirit and customs of civilized life. He does not believe the reservation system IS adapted to civilize the Iudian youth, or to conserve the teaching of such In- stitutions as Carlisle and Hampton Sending the schooled and reformed h. dian back to the life of the plains and the mountains. where there is little op- portunity to live the life or engage in the trades to which he has been trained, has proved in too many instances step that invites to relapse. The pupil has not the moral or intellectual yigor to withstand the influences of idleness and racial environment.
 His formula for civiliaing the Indian Is to bring him in contact with oivlliza- tion in youth nader proper guardian ship, train him systematically and thoroughly to live as white men live, by the manner of work that white men do, and then to keep him under simi. lar influences aud Inducements and watch over his progress as may be nec. essary until he has established his man hood and matured his habits. The gov. ernment system is immensely expen. siye, and by it's methods it preserves and perpetuates its need. In the way we are going there will always bs an Indian bureau, and what General Pratt regards as it's twin extravaganza, an ethnological bureau interested in pre- serving for purposes of alleged scien. tifc study all the native peculiarites of the race.
 General Pratt very pertinently says: "We ought to quit talking about civil izing the Indian, or else give him real chance to become and remain civ. ilized-to quit talking about citizen ship for him, or else give him real chance to become a citizen-to anit talking about educating him, or else give him real chance to become edn- cated. Civilization, citizenship, edu. cation, industrial usefulness are in every case individual accomplishments. Both experience and common sense | prove that segre egating on race lines is | an enemy of the nation, and of the | race so segregated, and that wide op. portunity and wide contact are abso- lutely necessary to secure the best de- velopment. Special industries, spe- cial methods, and even special schools, obstruct uni6cstion and highest devel. opment by producing segregation. Special Indian schools cannot possibly be made to accomplish the best results In the development of Indian youth, Tor the reason that they can in such schools only compete and compare their abilities with each other. They cannot. therefore, through purely h. Han schools. rise to the competitions of our civilized life."