Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-12-06

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made for the preservation or such 9
herd. believe that the scheme would
be Of economic advantage, for the robe
of the buffalo is Of high market value
and the same is true Of the robe Of the
crossbred animals.
LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.
1 call your especial attention to the
desirability of giving to the members
| OF the life-saving service pensions
| such as are given to firemen and police
men IN all our great cities. The men
III the llfe-saving service continually
ana IN the most matter of fact way do
DEEDS such as make Americans proud
OF their country. They have. no
polticai influence; and they live i'm such
remote places that the really heroic
| services they continually render re-
| ceiVc the scantiest recognition from the
| puDilc. 1t Is unjust for a great ma
tioh IKE this to permit these men to be.
come totally disabled or to meet death
| III IN" performance Of their hazardous
| duly and yet to give them no sort OF
| reward. If one Of them serves thirty
years of his life in such a position ne
should surely be entitled to retire on
nan pay, as fireman or policeman
does, and il he becomes totally in
capacltated through accident or sick
ness or loses his health in the DISCHARGE
of his duty he or his family should re.
ceive a pension just as any soldier
should. l can your attention with es-
pec1al earnestness to this matter he
caus. 1t appeals not only to our judg-
ment but TO our sympathy; for the peo-
pie on whose behalf 1 ask 1t are COM
paratively few in number render in
calculable service of particularly
dangerous kind, and have no one 10
speak for them.
INDIANS. stt
During the year just past. the phase
OF the Indian question which has been
most sharply brought to public atten-
ton is the larger legal significance of.
the Indians induction into citizenship.
This has made itself manifest not only
in great access of litigation in whichS
the citizen Indian figures as a party
defendant and i'm more widespread
disposition to levy local taxation upon
his personality, but in a decision of the
United States Supreme court which
struck away the main prop on which
has hitherto rested the governments
benevolent effort to protect him against
the evils of intemperance. The court
holds in effect. that when an Indian
becomes by virtue of an allotment Of
land to him, a citizen of the state in
which his land is situated, he passes
from under Federal control in such
matters as this. and the acts Of the
Congress prohibiting the sale or gift to
him of intoxicants become substantial
ly imperative. 1t is gratifying to note
that the states and municipalities of
the West which have most at stake in
the welfare OF the Indians are taking
up this subject and are trying to sup
ply, in a measure at least, the abdica-
ton of its trusteeship forced upon the
Federal government. Nevertheless, T
would urgently press upon the atten-
ton Of the Congress the question
whether some amendment Of the in
ternal-revenue laws might not be OF
aid in prosecuting those malefactors,
known in the Indian country as "boot-
leggers.' who are engaged at once in
defrauding the United States treasury
of taxes and, what is far more impor-
t"nt, in debauching the Indians by
carrying liquors illicitly into territory
still completely under Federal jurisdic.
ton.
Among the crying present needs OF
the Indians are more day schools stu
ated in the midst of their settlements,
more effective instruction in the in
dustrieS pursued on their own farms,
and a more liberal extension of the
service which means the
of the Indian women in the
arts of home making. Until the moth,
ers are well started in the right direc-
ton we can not reasonably, expect
much from the children who are soon
to form an integral part of our Ameri-
can citizenship. Moreover, the excuse
advanced by male adult
Indians for refusing offers of remuner-
ative employment at a distance from
their homes is that they dare not leave
their families too long out of their
sight. One effectual remedy for this
state of things is to employ the minds
and strengthen the moral fiber Of the
Indian women-the end to which the
work of the field matron is especially
directed. trust that the Congress will
make it's appropriations for Indian day
schools and field matrons as generous
as may consist with the other pressing
demands upon it's providence.
THE PHILIPPINES.
During the last year the Philippine
Islands have been slowly recovering
from the series of disasters which.
since American occupation. have great
ly reduced the amount of agricultural
products below what was produced in
Spanish times. The war. the rinder-
pest. the locusts, the drought, and the
cholera have been united as causes to
prevent 4 return of the prosperity
much needed in the islands. The most
serious is the destruction by the rinder-
pest of more than IS per cent of the
5raft cattle. because it will take several
years of breeding to restore the neces-
sary number of these indispensable
aids to agriculture. The Commission
attempted to supply by purchase from
adjoining countries the needed cattle,
but the experiments made were unsuc-
cessful. Most of the cattle imported
were unable to withstand the change Of
rlipnat and the rip0rS IF tho yououo