Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-01-07

XVI Is likely to strike the trades as
I0-6EI the nautical persons would have
60 It. In the way of things to see at
the theaters. Up to the present the season
which began in September has been
rather tame one. Some good things have
come this way. just enough to be an ag-
gravation and not enough TO satisfy the
demand. Some very bad t.lings have also
been sent to us; IL is a consolation that
most OF these may be detected from that
of and that we have the privilege of stay
ing away from them. But unless all signs
fail, from this time on, Omaha people will
have chance to see some of the best.
The Robert Edeson visit was the beginning
of deal, and the promise is splendid.
From now until June the good things will
be dropping in at the Boyd with a regu-
larity that ought to please those who like
to go to the theater The choicest features
of the advertised list at the Orpheum are
yet to be displayed, the Krug will offer
steady run Of approved attractions and
the Woodward stock company at the Bur-
wood will continue its meritorious course,
so that the last end of the season is likely
to be as brilliant as any Omaha has had
in recent years.
'Strongheart" proved immensely success
full at the Boyd from the managers end,
and II the expressions heard on the out
side to be relied on It was equally
successful from the other end II may be
that Omaha folks are little too close to
the real Indian, but for some reason the
discussion that has been INDUCED in else
where did not get under Roadway here
Locally folks understand why the Indian
did not marry the girl and did not waste
any time in putting forth reasons why she
should. East of here much time and ink
hoc hnn, g,1 tn, h.
some have held with much earnestness
that Soangataha did right in sacrificing
his love and that of Dorothy, and others
with equal zeal insist that he was wrong
and that they should have married The
sentiment of romance, which dominates
the drama, argues for the wedding; the
matter-of-fact element of realism, which
is slowly winning its proper place on the
stage, says not Every good reason is
against the match, and only weak ones
be urged in its favor. II he was right
at no other time, Strongheart was right
when he told Miss Nelson they could not be
married. 1t was here that Mr.. Edeson
transcends the Indian character and gives
to 1t a loftiness of purpose with which we
are not familiar. 1t is admitted that he
was an exceptional Indian; such there may
be, but they are the exceptions.
For all practical purposes, the Indian is
as much OF a savage today as he was when
the first Europeans set foot on American
soil. The red men Lief Ericsson and his
hardy band of Icelandic voyagers discovered
somewhere on the Atlantic coast a thousand
years ago had made as much advance in the
arts of civilization as have those of the race
who have been left to their own devices.
The only steps forward taken by the red
man have been forced upon him by the
white man. Four centuries of neighborly
communication and association with the
superior race have taught the red man but
little beyond the rudiments of civlizatio
When left to himself today, he lives in a
tepee wickiup on a reservation, subsists
on government-issued rations, and under
takes no more useful endeavor than did his
ancestor most remotely removed. Many
have been brought under such restraint
and influence that they have taken on the
ways OF the white man TO the point that
they are self-supporting after fashion, but
these are only few when compared with
the whole. II is of interest just at present
to watch the experiment that is being tried
by the federal authorities, who hope to
compel the Indian to turn to industry, and
TO make himself of some use It has finally
ben forced upon the Indian bureau that
all previous efforts have been mostly fail
ures, and a change in methods has been
adopted. Commissioner Jones' order reuuir-
ing the bucks to cut their hair was but
one step, and IL is likely that Commissioner
Leupp will continue the policy, with the
object of giving a full trial on the reserya-
tons of the Pauline doctrine that "unless a
man work, neither shall he eat" 1t is
surmised by those best qualified to speak
that the undertaking will be but partly
successful. for the nature that has been
Nha
isn't TO be lightly changed. 10 has dis
covered that he cannot exterminate the
white man by warfare, and this removes
any likelihood of another Indian war but
he Is no more inclined to work now than
he was In the beginning. 1t may be that
patience will teach him, but one OF the
wisest and most observant of government
officers, who put in many years in the
Indian bureau service. said at the compile
ton of his term that the Indian could no
more be domestcated than the American
eagle or the grizzly bear.
Every now and then some sentimentaIist
lays against the White Man the charge that
he stole the Red Mans land. This is bosh
The white man took the land the red man
could not and would not use, and put II
into the service of mankind. The tears
wasted over the Indians lost land are of
the same sort those poured out when
some folks contemplate the extinction of
the buffalo. No doubt. the prodigality of
the hunter did destroy any chance of con-
tinuinR the sport, and that II the former
range Of the American bison had been care
fully preserved, and the beasts had been
protected by some such laws as surround
prairie chickens and quail today, we would
now have as good an opportunity to feast
on buffer" hump as In those bygone days
when Bill Cody was earning a living by
killing the animals to feed soldiers and
stage hands But did It ever occur to you
that in Nebraska alone are annually grazed
and fattened more tame cattle than the
largest number of buffalo ever known to ac-
tually exist on the plains? More than a
million head OF tame cattle alone were sold
on the market at South Omaha in the year
1876; more than two and quarter millions
OF head OF hogs and more than two mill
lions OF sheep were marketed there
during the same time. Two-thlrds Of
this enormous supply OF foodstun came
from Nebraska and all OF It from that sec
ton OF the country from which the Indian
and buffalo have been exterminated. More