Bisbee daily review., 1908-06-17
MARK SMITH
ON TREATMENT
Of THE INDIANS
Arizona Delegate Stirs Things
Up In Lively Style In Con-
gRess During ColIoquy With
Representative Gardner.

I WASHINGTON, d. c., June e
Dele gate Mark Smith stirred tailgs
up in lively style during the debate
on the Indian appropriation bill. am
! incidentally got the best of a spirited
eolloquy with Representative Wash
ingson Gareners of the App'r,p-attens
Committee. MIR. Smiths remarks were
cnaraete.isticaily vigorous ana spir-
ited, received close attention asd
were greeted with liberal applause.
lie opposed appropriati1g money for
The transportation IF am Indians
more than one hundred miles from
tier reservations, and gave, The
House some unva.nished FACES apt,,i,
| the real Indian fIe said: "T'ha ,,rt.s-
emf practice is an absolute al ,adyaA-
tage 10 the Indians, besides being an
unnecessary waste of money. I have
repeatedly decried the folly OF TAX
ing man from the tribe, raised in
a tepee, a blanket for his Sunday
elo9hes, vermin his constant asgoci-
ates and sending him,-without his
knowing one word of what gratitude
means in his anguage,-t:arough =
school. teaching him to sing How
Jesus Loves Me-. and other beauu-
ful and approp late Sunday school
songs, taking him to PHILADELPHIA, ex,
pecting that to make him a civilized
human being. when we all know, it
took thousand years to mako an
honest white man. You might ,.>
well attempt TO plant oranges ~
Maine fields as to produce civilization
in that way. One is just as impossi
Bile as the other. The quicker the
House breaks it up the better.
There is no sense in attemptihs ~
take any man out of absolutely bar
barrie conditions with the idea that
you can bring him up with the civil
ization OF the twentieth century Ey
sending him to schoolhouse. That
will have to be done by the slow p,o-
cess of eliminating those thugs that
tend to degradation9 You nave set
to do IL somewhere close to where
those people live and to raise and
educate them in an environment in
which education may be of scrle bc.!-
eft to them
What are you going to do With an
Indian when you educate him in as
tronoIny and trigopometry in Carlisle
Or Hampton? What greets MIN wiiei.
he goes back? Nothing except LHowl-
edge of having been raised on, -.
and having no place opened for him
where he is to live. What are yoH
going to do with him in Pennsylya-
mia? Is he to contest with those
ABOUT him. without anything thrown
around to him, and without any ao-
vantages open up to aim? Why not
confine the work to the precincts in
which these people live?
Take Ttgp fudja.1 cpbnTl at !
nix, which is within a few miles of
the reserva ton. When / first saw
the Indians there they were almost
naked in the streets. But now We
have got school of industry aau
there ought also to be a school of
books. There has been marked
Change in conditions there. But take
the case where the school is remUa
from the reservation. When the M
dian gets back he is only derided and
laughed at by his tribe. He soon goes
back to the degradation from which
ne sprung. 1t is the only way he
can keep on terms OF peace with his
people. It is an outrage and Ia,
ure to take the Indian away from the
reservations 10 hurts instead of
helps him.
1T is for the Indian / am speaking
Let us stop the enormous and foolish
expense of educating the Indians be-
yond any hope of help to tAemsei,es
or their tribes. The Indian in a bad
condition is as good as any other mani
would be in a bad condition. The
conditions are what keep him down.
and you are only helping keep him
down. If we can spend the money
ON the Indian at home, where lex
poets to live and die-and he longs
for home as much as you o. OF any
one with the animal instinct-the diff
Ticulty would be settled.
When the student who has been
graduated at Carlisle goes back to his
tribe he has no status The only
status he can get is to be the wors>
Indian on the reservation. As ~
what becomes of the girls I viii not
say. 1t is a shame, a great shame.
when I see these outrageous per
petrated on the indians in the name
Of humanity and justice, although !
remember to have seen the mangied
forms of many Of ny nearest i..-ads
torn beyond recognition by the blood
thirstiness of the tribes that sur
round u.s. l sympathize with, their con
dition and ask the House to quit its
foolishness, to strike out this appro-
priation and if the Senate puts it
back, to insist on keeping il ont.