New-York tribune., 1909-10-21
MOHONK MEETING
Dir. Smiley Welcomes Friends
of Indians.

Mohonk Lake. n. Y, Oct. 2o.-Albert X
Smiley opened the twenty-seventh annual
meeting of the Lake MOhonl Conference
of Friends Of the Indian and Other De-
pendent Peoples to-day with reference 10
the changed attitude of the American peo-
PIE toward the Indians in the last thirty
years, snce he became an Indian Commits
sioner.
The Indian problem. Mr.. Smiley said,
was nearing a solution, and he hoped 20
live long enough to see IL entirely re-
moved from discussion. the Indians having
In truth become part and parcel OF the
body polite. being treated as men and
not as wards of the nation.
Vice-P President Sherman was named as
chairman of the business committee of the
conference. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Com
missioner of Education for the United
States. was chosen president; DIR. Charles
F. Meserve. of Raleigh, N. c., secretary;
H. c. Phillips. of Mohonk Lake. corre-
spending secretary; z. NJ. Widar. Of Phila-
delphia. treasurer: Daniel Smiley, of Mo-
hOnk Lake. chairman of the publication
committee. and Dr. John Bancroft Devins,
of New York chairman of the press COM
mittee.
DR.. Brown in accepting the office of pres
ident made a brief address on the work
being done by the Department of Educa-
tion among sthe Alaskan Indians. He
pointed out some of the immediate needs
of the service in that territory. and re-
garded as of paramount importance the
adoption by Congress of an effective school
attendance law. Second only in impor-
tance to this step, Dr. Brown declared that
rov,F4o Of
law should be put into effect. This exten-
sion in the programme for development
among the natives, he predicted. would
blaze the way toward a condition in which
they ultimately would be ready for free
and self-directed citizenship.
r. C. Valentine, United States Commits
sioner of Indian Affairs. made his first
speech in his new Office, and then intro
duced nine officials in the Indian service.
who told Of their lines of service. Com
missioner Valentine said IN part:
It is possible to do only two things with
the Indians: to eXterminate them or maye
them into citizens. Our present course is
a cross between determination and citizen
ship If we would escape disgrace
greater than any which has attended this
Indian business vet we must stop at the
beginning of this twentieth century and
think clearly about the Indians and set
high courses. The whole American people
must do this thinking, and this course.
which the thinking Of all the people Will
make clear, demands OF us more than would
be demanded in the case of the backward
among our own people, or in the case OF
the immigrant.
Referring to education. Mr. Valentine
said all Indians should be taught to speak
the English language. TO read easily, to
speak effectively. to write clearly and to
figure easily. In closing he said
If IL is possible to bring these three prin-
ciples of health. schools and industry to
the front the Indian service will waken
into full consciousness and intelligence.
Finally. 'one great force. perhaps above
all others, must be met and overcome. II
seems as if in many white men there
existed different moral code among them
selves and between themselves and the
Indians Men who would not think Of
stealing from white men apparently con-
slider 1t no crime to steal from Indians
This must be corrected.
Vice President Sherman. for many years
chairman OF the Committee on Indian At
fairs of the House Of Representatives.
steps in advance taken on behalf Of the
Indians in the last thirty years. and fol-
lowed with an outline of what. in his opin-
ion, the government may wisely do in the
next decade. He believes that the Indian
should be treated as an individual. not in
his tribal relation. The government should
study the members of each tribe and give
them their lands or their money, or both.
as a careful consideration of the capacity
of each Indian seemed to indicate.