The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-02-15
A DwINDLING PROBLEM.
Caring for the Indian Wards Of the
Nation No Longer Troublesome.

Until recently congress every year de-
voted no little of its time to the Indian
problem and not an inconsiderable amount
of money was appropriated to take care
of the wards of Uncle Sam 1t cannot be
said that the government is ready TO turn
the Indian entirely upon his own resourc-
es, but a decided step has already been
made in that direction, and from year to
year we may expect the Indian to depend
more and more on himself
Several things contribute to this con-
dition The chief is that the Indian as
a race is disappearing. A high death rate
among the pure-blooded aborigines, who
Seem to droop under civilization, has been
one factor Then the Indian blood is rap
idly being assimilated The Indian as a
race appears to have much less prepoten-
cy than does the white race, and persons
with an eighth or even quarter Indian
blood in their veins appear usually as
white and are accepted as whites.
Not only is the Indian race gradually
disappearing, but education is doing much
to relieve the government of need to
treat Indians as wards. Only recently
the Carlisle Indian school in Pennsyiva-
MIA, which has turned out thousands of
well-traned artisans and farmers, was
abandoned as an Indian school and con-
vcrted into a reconstruction camp for
returned soldiers This school, established
/ in 1879, away from the reservations and in
the center Of an agricultural community
Of white persons, has since had many pro-
totypes scattered over the country, one
Of the largest of which is at Chemawa in
this state In all of these schools the In
niane bayn haay fannbt tpadqg and hay
4 been sent back to the reservations or in
to the world fairly well equipped to
meet conditions on an equal footing with
the white man.
! Public schools for white children are
United States and the doors Of none Of
these are closed to the Indians. As reser-
vations are being thrown open the Indian
children are being sent to the public
schools on the same footing as the white
children and the need for Indian schools
is therefore constantly diminished.
| The ret result OF the education of the
| Indian and of the many influences which
I are putting the redskins ON common
surate footing with their fair-skinned
brothers has been to reduce the Indian
problem to point which is negligible
1t cannot be many years longer tnat con
gross viii have to provide annually fol
the care of the people who once ruled su
premc throughout the length and breadth
Of North America. There will be obsta
cles to overcome, however, before the
emancipation of Poor 10 is complete. In
trenched at Washington we still have the
Indian bureau, with its long list OF eX
ecutiyes and its appreciate payroll. Thes'
holders of government jobs are not going
10 let. 60 without a protest. They vii
find many plausible reasons for continuing
the Indian as government ward, ano
for a time, doubtless. will succeed Blu
the time is coming. and it cannot he fai
distant, when the Indian bureau will fine
itself custodian Of the affairs OF a rae,
which like the Aztecs, has ceased to ex
ist.- 0regonian