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Show 150 REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. which they lay in the warm sand by a little fire, and the agent sometimes gave blankets and clothing at my suggestion. But beyond what is here enumerated, I know of no further benefit to the Indian from the Government's bounty. I do not think the whole worth $ 150 weekly, at Hoopa prices. This is a small item compared to the wages of prostitution received by the women. There have been in the valley all the time from one to two hundred soldiers, and I think at least half of their pay goes in that way. There have been about ten employes, averaging $ 60 per month each, and I believe half of this went the same way. The commissioned officers made large outlays in the same direction. This, taken altogether, more than doubled the Government bounty. Its effect on the Indians has been terrible. Half- breed children, dis-ease, loss of self- respect, are only a part of the evils. It has dethroned the chief, set aside the influence of the father, husband, and head of family, and brought to the front, in all things, the good- looking and profligate young women. They flaunt round in gaudy finery, while their elders are naked or clothed in rags. My deduction from these facts presents itself to my mind about thus : If it be true that the Indian cannot be civilized, if it is our object merely to ease his way to the grave, and hasten it a little, too, Hoopa has been a success. It needs no remodeling. It is almost per-fection. The huddling together in one place ; the sameness of the meager diet ; the abject submission to the agent ; the entire want of mental effort or purpose ; the heretofore enforced labor ; the prostitution of the women ; the utter stand- still, morally and socially, are con-ditions most favorable to such a result. Open massacre, however, would be cheaper to the Government, more humane to the Indians, and less demoralizing to the whites. But I do not look upon this as the object of the Government. On the contrary, recent events have changed our attitude and disposition toward the colored races. The negro has become a man and a brother; why not the Indian ? Slavery, with its harsh theory of a white man's government, promised nothing but annihilation or abject obedience to the dark races in our land. But this has passed away. The negro will enter into our population of the future, and mingle with the proudest blood in the country. Why not the Indians of this section make one of the elements of our people ? Can it be done, and how ? I most assuredly believe that it can. The reason of our want of success lies in our treatment and not in their nature. In their uncultured state, to sub-ject them at once to the snares and pitfalls of civilization, and contact with its worst char-acters, is to doom them to destruction. To attempt to educate them to literature and religion, and habits of refinement, is to induce imbecility and uselessness. They must do as all other people have done, learn first to subsist by their own labor. The first lesson is how to pro-duce abundance of food, their clothing and shelter. And when they have full stomachs and comfortable firesides, you may give them books. Make abundance, and civilization follows. Reduce our poor whites to starvation, and they want no book- learning. Hungry Indian children will rather catch grasshoppers than learn ABC. The agent at Hoopa must believe that the Indian is a man and a brother ; can be made a worthy member of society ; has rights which should be respected, and act upon this thought daily. The plantation system should be given up ; enforced labor should be forbidden. Let the big farms be carried on, however, until gradually superseded. The old tribal arrange-ment, with its common property, domination of chiefs, and duties of inferiors, should be gradually rooted out by the kind interposition of better plans. All marriages should be legalized, and thus sanctity recognized and aided by a simple code of laws. Prostitution should be discouraged, as also polygamy. Every husband and father should be iustmcted in his rights and duties, and aided in maintaining them, and providing for his family. A cottage home should be provided for each family as soon as possible, with garden, & c., and encouragement and aid given to those who readily accept such life. They should be made to know that under certain conditions these homes will be theirs forever, not subject to the will of the agent, but to a law which they understand, and he must obey. As these homes were built up, the big farms would disappear, acd whenever the homes are made self- sup-porting, the work of the reservation is clone. While the present system reaches no end, either it must go on forever, or the Indians must all die, for there is no effort to make them self- supporting. While this cottage system is being inaugurated, efforts should be made to induce the Indian to think and act like a white man; in short, to make him an independent and not a dependent being. A simple code of laws might be framed, and Indian judges and jurors sit on their own affairs. Every occasion of strife among them would thus be made a means of informing their minds, and lead them gradually to accept our laws and ideas. The agent might still control everything under these laws. But absolutism must cease. It teaches servility and meanness, while manly energy and intelligence are what is wanted. As the plantation never would have fitted the negro for a freeman, so the reservation can never prepare the Indian for self- support in a civilized community. Many of their old customs should be gradually done away. Wife- buying and selling, and polygamy, and the practice of compounding crime, even murder, with money, have never been touched, but should be swept away. Every female should be taught that her chastity is in her own keeping that she qelougs to herself. Even this simple le. ssou has not been taught. I should not be arbi-trary in these matters, but temper the wind to the shorn lamb, yet making the iamb know |