The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-06-16
THE FAST VANISHING INDIAN
THE VICTIM OF CIVILIZATIONS
MERCILESS MARCH.
May Erect a Heroic Statue to Dying
Race at Entrance to New York.
A Tragic Story.

A Tragic Story.
Already the story of the American
Indian is "as a tale that is told.
1t is history. that does little honor
to this nation. The passing of the
aboriginal race, perhaps, was in
evitable. The march of civilization
is merciless, and whether by means
of massacres, like those of the AZ
tees by the Spaniards, or by the in
PRODUCTION of diseases and vices
which to the civilized races have be-
come comparatively innocuOus, but
which are deadly to men of the
woods, the worlds progress seems
often to compel the obliteratiOn OF
primitive races incapable of adap-
ton to modern civilization, says the
Philadelphia North American, edi-
torially.
But even acceptance of the theory
that such racial extinctions are stern
necessities does not lessen the poign-
ancy of the tragedy. Nor can any
| honorable American shirk his share
of responsibility for this being the
sentiment of a passing people, as eX-
pressed recently to Emerson HOugh
by an aged full-blood in the Antlers
district of Oklahoma:
''YOu do not understand the In
dian heart. We are discouraged
When an Indian loses his heart he
dies. We do not have so many chill
dren now. Those of our children
whom you see out there in the graves
l., HI 4
and dress the way we used to- and
our children are not so strong. |
cannot explain it to you, but the In
dian feels that there is no use for
him to try or for him to live. For
this reason l think that a great many
of us are going to die, and that be-
fore long there will not be a great
many Indians left"
The localized Indian.
Now, we do not exalt ''the first
families of America" above their de-
serts. We do not believe that such
perfect beings as the noble red
men" of Fenimore Cooper ever lived
on land or sea. If ever there was an
Uncas such as Cooper describes, he
was not only the last" but the first
of the Mohicans or any other tribe.
We believe that writer's of the Helen
Hunt Jackson school told much val
liable truth. But they were so deep
ly stirred by honest Indignation at
the Indians grievous wrongs that
unconsciously they idealized their
heroes and heroines into fictional
types as unreal as the friends of
Misunderstanding.
Such idealization is as wrong as
acquiescence in the old frontier the
DRY that the only good Indian is the
dead Indian" knowledge lof the
awful barbarities of the Apache tor
lures and memories of desOlated
homes and butchered babes and wo-
men in the Sioux country should not
destroy our admiration for the In
dams stole courage, indomitable en-
durance, truth and fidelity to those
he counted friends, and dignity of
Oratory.
The vices that have degraded the
finer traits of so many of his people
cannot be charged to his account.
Apart from the drunkenness and dis
ease that, with poverty, nave been
the gifts of a christian people, his
nature always was a blend of the
primal virtues and the barbaric vices
which have characterized every
strong aboriginal people since the be-
ginning of history.
An Impressive Figure.
For two reasons he towers today
a more impressive figure than at
any time since his tribal hunting
grounds were bounded only by the
borders of the continent. One rea-
son is that a dignity always attaches
to the coming of death. And his is
dying race.
The second is that Americans, to
their sorrow, are gaining a clearer
understanding that the relations of
their government with the Indian
have been a well-nigh unbroken sue
cession of breaches by the United
States, of governmental sanctiOning
of cruel treachery, plumber and ex-
plOitatiOn.
With comprehension of that record
of utter shame comes the disposition
to give a fair measure of honor to
the ancestors Of the American nation.
Therefore we think that the sug
gestiOn that there should be erect
ed on Governors Island, at the gate
way Of New York harbor, a heroic
statue by some great sculptor will
meet with widespread approval. We
should think that certain, if for no
other reason than the hearty APP
prevail of the idea by distinguished
group of army officers, including
Gen. Horace Porter, Gen. Nelson
Miles, who was rivaled only by Crook
as our greatest Indian fighter, and
Gen. Leonard Wood, who followed
Lawton in the famous chase of &C.
ron mo.
There would be a fine symbolism
in the placing of that tribute of
honor and farewell to the past where
lit will be seen by every conner to
America before he passes on to the
vision of Americas future embodied
in the Statue of Liberty.
But apart from all such consider
ations, it should do more than COM
memorate. 1t should suggest the
fcrooO1pOt Df aO1rita llo 4roo