East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-10-25
DUTY OF THE NATION
TO INDIAN WARDS
MOHONK LAKE CONFERENCE
ANNOUNCES PRINCIPLES
Tribal Government Must be Aban-
doned and Individual Rights Sub
stituted for Tribal Rlghts-Self-
Government Is Urged.

Mohonk Lake, New York.-The
platform for the Mohonk Lake In
dian conference, presented for adop-
ton at the conference, follows:
Twenty-seven years have passed
since the first Lake Mohonk confer
ence was assembled. Then 1t was the
policy Of the nation to push the In
dians aside when they were an i'm
pediment to national progress; now II
is the national policy to incorporate
the Indians in the nation and enable
them to contribute to the national
progress. The most important Of the
reforms advocated by the conference
have been accepted by the nation, es-
peclally the abolition Of the reserva-
tion system, the establishment Of a
federal public school system for the
education of the Indians, and the ap-
plcation to the Indian service Of the
civil service rules. ..r
We affirm certain fundamental
principles, which the nations failures
and successes in the Indian service
have illustrated and enforced. The
duty Of the American people to es-
tablish liberty and justice is the same
toward all its non-citizen subjects.
Keeping this end ever in mind, 1t
is the duty Of the nation to give to all
under its authority whether personal
or communal; government by law, not
by the will Of a personal ruler, mill
tary or civil; courts of law, not by
the will of a personal ruler, military
or civil; courts Of law accessible to
the poorest and humblest; processes
of law prompt, economical and equal
in their operations; taxes no heavier
than the expenses of their govern
ment, economically administered, re-
quire; sanitary provisions for the pre-
vention Of disease; schools that shall
furnish industrial and moral as we'll
as academic instruction, and the in
spiration of a religion founded, not
on fear but on the love of God.
Tribal Government Doomed.
This means. to the great North
American Indian the abolition of the
tribal relations, in which the funda-
mental rights of the individual are de-
MED; the substitution of personal for
tribal property, the recognition of the
Indians right to travel freely and
peaceable and to buy and sell in the
open market and his ultimate admis-
sion to American citizenship. 1t
means for the Filipino opening to
him the American market, as it has
been to the Hawaiian and Porto Ri
can.
1t means for the inhabitants of the
insular possessions the maintenance
of local self-government as a prepara-
ton for future insular self-govern-
ment, and the complete development
of an Anglo-Saxon system of courts
and procedure. And it means for all
North American Indians, native races
Of Alaska, Porto Ricans, Hawaiians
and Filipinos the vigorous prosecution
and condlgn punishment of all men
engaged in lawless endeavors to de-
prive the people of their public or
private property, the establishment
by law of efficient police regulations
TO safeguard the people against the |
vices Of civilization, and the improve
ment of their industries by providing |
industrial training, developing their
resources and promoting easy access |
to profitable markets.
Self Government Is Urged.
Finally it means securing we'll
paid agents of unquestionable integrity |
and proved capacity to represent the
nation in its work for the betterment
of these people. 1t does not neces-
sarily mean either eventual statehood
or eventual independence of our is
land possessions. 1t may mean self
government under American protec-
ton and subject to American sover-
eighty.
But whatever relationship may be
between America and her
insular possessions in the future, just
government under American protec-
ton and subject to American sover-
eighty.
But whatever relationship may be
established between America and her
lnsular possessions in the future, just
government must mean for all peoples
under her protection and subject to
her sovereignty government for the
benefit of the governed now-that is
iustice-and eventual self-govern-
ment, which is the consummation of
liberty