The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1906-03-29

living American today: and he is an In
dian. III you would know "A man who
has been patriot. soldier. statesman.
executive: who has always ruled with
wisdom and foresight: who has been to
his country all that Washington and
Jefferson and Hamilton and the
AdamSes were TO this country In Its
beginnings. read or Diaz. I think II
was John w. Foster VINO recently de-
cIarcd Iinz and the emperor OF Japan
the two greatest rulers OF the world to.
day.
Mexico shows US what were On,
possibilities of the Indian. IL u
mistake To- assume that tho Indians &
Mexico, the Indians who arc now a.
backbone OF that nation. are csscntiall
different from our own. They are not.
4 know both the American and the
Mexican Indians. The difference r.
Just this: that while this country has
ruined the Indian by making a ward
81 him. Mexico has turned him out To
hustle for himself. and he has made a
good citizen of himself The policy OF
the United States has been calculated
To degrade the Indian.
Curious Citizenship.
Today there are thousands Of In
dian citizens In the territory. when
the new state OF Oklahoma In ad-
mitted they will be entitled To vote for
congressman and president: yet II one
OF these Indian citizens comes to
Washington on business with the gov
eminent he must first secure permits
sion from the commissioner OF Indian
affairs and II he fails to do so the
commissioner and the secretary OF the
interior will not give him audience
when he gets here. What do you think
of that SORT OF citizenship?
40 f., kIyt. anty ,nH cha
To- be n sclf-respecting citizen. the In
dian OF Mexico has developed. Made a
government ward. with the government
looking after his business. tho United
States Indian has been ruined. Today
the Indians In the territory want to
leave the country and go TO Mexico.
and they will be found doing Il just
as fast as they can after the tribal re-
lntions are ended. Some OF the tribes
are now divided between the territory
and Mexico. and IN every case the
branch that II I'm this country Is anx-
ious To- get To Mexico. IL II Just be-
cause Mexico knows how to handle
them.
Cross Breed q Failure.
The Mexican Indian In commonly n
full-blood. There are few OF them I'm
the United States You can ride across
Indian Territory. e:5 miles. and be
lucky IL YOU see full-blood Indian.
The government has encouraged white
men To- marry squaw wives by giving
them the property benefits Of such re-
lationship 20 the tribes. and as re-
suit the so-called Indians are half and
quarter bloods. The cross has been a
failure.
The tribes that were transported TO
Indian Territory were already well on
the way To civilization. The territory
printed there In the Cherokee language
almost as soon IA In Illinois. and long
before there were newspapers printed
iu English within the bounda. les OF
what IL now Iowa. There were schools
and churches and legislative govern
mcnts OF the tribes. The Indians would
have developed and become "A strong
and rich people II they had been let
alone. HUT they were not let alone
Down at Shawnee. Okla. last October.
work was begun on "A great school cs-
for trIbc ar Indians. near
H. all 81 whom are now In Mexico.
Dig institution for Ninety Children.
why was IL done? II the entire
number that theoretically belong To
that group were there instead OF In
Mexico. there might be ninety children
Of school age To US" these great build
ings that are being erected. But they
are not there. These buildings will
cost something like $4,000. Around
them will be constructed "A regular VIII
lagc OF structures for the superintend-
cut and teachers Nobody says "A word
about - the white people roundabout
smile and keep still. They know there
ere no Indians To use that big cstab-
Ishmcnt. and they calculate that one
day II will provide "A useful institution
for tn" new state"
Indian affairs have been OF unusual
interest iu Washington this winter be-