Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-01
SENATOR FLINT BEFRlENDS
INDIANS
Asserts He VIII Seek to Secure Large
Reservation for Sequoias, With
an Agent to Look
After Them

of good Indians will be dead ones
before long unless the great father"
in Washington and his cohorts in con-
gress get busy and deal out to Lo some
of that square dear' that is so much
prated about.
And the senator ought to know, for
he has just returned from a trip out
among these good-but-still-allve red
men, in company with that friend of
the aborigine, Charles F. Lummis, and
what he didn't know about Indians in
Southern California before he, with
the active aid and abetance of Lum-
mis-. now has fully absorbed and di-
gested.
The senator leaned back in his Of
flee chair one day last week and talked
Indian-not the dialect, but the facts
He has some we'll defined notions of
what is coming to the red man and
brother and he proposes to impress his
theories on his compatriots during the
next session of congress in no uncer-
tain fashion.
I'm not claiming that I know all
abount Indians" said he. nor that l
know anything about what is good for
the Sioux or Apache. 1 don't know
anything about them.
Nor am L pretending to outline
theory for the solution of the Indian
problem all over the United States or
IN general terms.
Try for "square DEAL
But I do think that 1 know what
is needful for the poor devils in South
ern California and I am going to try
to see that they get that square deal
that we are talking about so much now.
1 have just been down amongst them,
have talked to them first hand and
have learned their needs. These are
not many, but they are imperative and
should be met.
THE Indians in Southern Califor-
mia are the remnants of many tribes.
among whom the mission fathers es-
tablished themselves some hundred or
so years ago. At this time these tribes
owned all the lands hereabout and were
rich. The padres taught them agricul-
ture as well as religion and on the
richer lands they raised good crops
and were never in want.
But they were a simple people and
had no protection. AS the white man
came in, he secured their better lands.
Grants were given to the white man
by the Mexican and the United States
Government. regardless of Indian
claims, and the result has been that
the Indians have been gradually forced
back from the fertile country into the
deserts and the wastes of the hills.
Now, they have nothing worth while
In the way of lands and are unable to
earn their living from the soil as they
once did and as they were taught was
their salvation.
Are Not WarIIke
None of these tribes is of a war
like nature; perhaps, had they been,
they would have secured something
more nearly their rights. They couldn't
fight for what was their due, so they
have been compelled to accept what
they could get. Not having the acute
ness of the white man, they have been
driven from here to there, till now
the little reservations on which they
live are too small to permit of agri-
culture to any extent. even If the soil
will produce anything.
The consequence is, most of these
scattered tribes-and they are really
separate tribes, for they speak differ
ent languages-are compelled to seek
work in the vineyards and on the
farms of the whites. Many of these
are thirty and forty miles from their
reservations. This works great hard
ship on them and they cannot keep
1t up.
Are Improvident
Indians, as a rule, are very inprovi-
dent. They have to be looked after.
They don't save; they don't seem to
understand that. They will look for
ward to having enough to carry them
through the winter and that is all.
They have no conception of anything
further.
Through the work of the Sequoia
league these scattered tribes have
been provided with corn for seed this
season and wherever their lands have
permitted, they have raised crops.
They are good agriculturists; they
know how to grow crops and they
will all have seed for next year. But
beyond that, they have no plans nor
are they seemingly able to make any,"
"Then what is your theory?" the
senator was asked.
''Well, it is hardly my theory, but 1t
is the result of observation and of
conversation with the Indians by both
Mr. Lummis and myself. Those In
dams are not beggars; they don't want
to be given anything. They are able
to make their own way and work out
their own salvation. il they have a
square DEAL