Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-04-05

N9Nt WIN
theIn a priceless mine of informa-
tlon about barbaric life and art.
All or these people want the In
dlans kept as they are. They do
not want them made into citizens
II lost in the general mass of the
populatlon. They regard the Pue-
bios just as nearly all Am orleans
nave come 10 look upon Yellowstone
Park, n the big trees of Califor-
MA and the remnant of the buffalo
herd-as treasures for art and sci
ence which should be preserved for
posterity.
Indians Want TO Be Let Alone
IN addition to the undeniable ad-
vantages, from the scientific and ar
tlstic viewpoint of keeping the In
dams as they are, the advocates of
this policy have two other strons
arguments on their side. One is that
the Indians want to be allowed to go
their immemorial way, and the other
is that they are not really fitted by
nature to go any other way. They
have no gift for business, or do not
stand confinement. Give them land
and assure them permanent possess
sion of it, and they will take care
OF themselves, asking nothing OF
anyone. But let them compete with
the white on equal terms, and most
of them will starve, or die of the
white mans diseases. Therefore the
Indians friends ask that they be
given abundant land and left alone.
After all, the lands belong to them
by rights, and are but a tiny patch
on the vast expanse of the South
west. -
Now, whatever may be the truth
about the charge of a political land
grabber plot, and whoever NAV be
responsible for it if there is one,
the United States government has
always pursued a very different pol
Icy with regard to the Indians from
that outlined above. 1t has es-
tablished schools for the Indians,
given them modern farm machinery
II tried to make them into thrifty
American farmers. The idea has
always been ultimately to make the
Indian a citizen. 1t has contem-
plated his absorption into the gem
eral population.
The Pueblos than any other
Indians, have resisted this effort to
Americanize them. Many of them
do go to the Indian schools, but
when they return to the pueblos they
put on their blankets again and let
their hair grow and revert to their
former comfortable and picturesque
condition. They go to church on
Sunday, and on Monday perhaps
they hold a pagan dance in honor
Of some wierd god, and hundreds of
tourists gather to witness it. AS
far as possible, the Indians stick to
the methods of agriculture they used
before the time of Columbus. They
decline to be reconstructed,
This is most discouraging to the
government officials, many of whom
are honest, competent and sincere.
They feel that they are doing their
best to bring the Indian the bless.
ings of American civilization, and
that the Indian does not appreciate
them. Now these artist fellows and
poets and scientists come along and
give the Indians aid and comfort
in their passive resistance to the
one-hundred per cent American doc
trine. 1t is most irritating to every
body, including the Indian.
One or the other of these policies
1t Is clear, must win and be recog-
nized, for they are fundamentally
irreconcilable. For the Indian the
policy of regarding him as a treasure
for art and science is said to be the
better, because 1t is doubtful wheth.
er he a survive the other. He
would rather be a live savage than
dead civilized being, and one can
blame him.