Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-11-04
10, THE POOR INDIAN


 who had to battle for their lives that ''the only good Indian was dead Indian" seemed to threaten to become automatic, and yet with the years there has come a change. It has come about so subtly, and perhaps so naturally, that it has hardly been noticed, but it is here just the same, and Lo, tho poor Indian, has gone to work.
 The change Tn the manner and habits of tho Indian has been investigated by tho Rev. William J. Harsha, who sets forth some interesting facts on the mat ter in the current issue of the Southern Workman. Much provress has been made in the industrial education of tho Indian, so that he is able to indulge iu profitable work, and the government gives him the employment.
 According to the government reports which Dr. Harsha has verified by per- sonal investigation, the Indian is now being prohtably employed on the farms, ranches, and irrigation projects of the country, and during the summer over 5000 Indians have been engaged in var ious lines of work in the West and Southwest. In the Colorado beet fields 800 of them have found employment Tn Now Mexico the Santa Fe railroad is using 400 Indians in railroad con- struction work. To protect the railroad from flood of the Colorado river, HOO Indians were employed, who drew in wages over s1o0,00o in few months. In Colorado and Arizona, in the Canta- loupe fields, most of the work is boing performed by Indians, and the ranch men of the west prefer the Indian her ders to all others. Then, in various sec tions of the country, the Indian is talk. ing up and working successfully farm. ing land, and in the White Earth res: eTvation in Minnesota over 5000 al lottments have been taken up by the Indians.
 Irrigation work in the west seems to be particularly inviting to tns Indian, and this is, perhaps, because bit by bit they have been forced farther back ward, until now many of them are 10. cated in those arid regions that without water are quite hopeless, Irrigation is making these lands of the Indian bloom as they have never bloomed before, and the government is taking especial care that in country where water is so valuable, the Indian is protected in his water rights. The result of the justice with which they have bean treated is shown in the enthusiasm with which the Indian has adapted himself to the new order of things and Is becoming finely industrious. Dr. Harsha says that the power of water and justice is doing what all the attempts of the lawmakers, law executors, soldiers, and educators have failed to do, and with the care that the government is taking over IT, rigation he looks for the suppression of the blatant and thieving white man and the encouragement of the Indian to lift his head in something more than rebel. lious pride. Irrigation, in short. is the real wonder worker that has changed che temper and the hopes of the Indian. All of the mara ping affected for the better--the Blackfeet and the Crows of Montana, the Pi1nas of Arizona, tho Fort Hall Indians of Idaho. the sho. shones of Wyoming, and the Mission of California--the change is stealing over all Of them.
 Nor can this change be attributed to the paternal care of tho government; on the contrary, it results from precise. Iy the opposite cause It was when the government decided to cease issuing "a. hcns to Indians except in extrcine cases, when it gave them their allot- nents and threw them on their own re. Sponsibility that the change began. Thus 1t was the Indian learned respcn ability, the value of labor, and the in- law that a man must work out ,is own salvation, be his skin white, black, or red. This lesson the Indian is low learning rapidly, and the country 1t large will benefit by the change.