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Show 4 REPORT OF THE COM?dISSlONE& OF INDIAN AF)?AIRB. ajos, are successful herders; many cultivate the soil with an increasing degree of success, and others already participrtte in manufacturing, - mercantile, and professional life. While some, like the White Mountain .Apaches, are almost destitute of anythiui that may be cbaracLerized.as e~lucation, others, like the Poncas slid the Pawnees, have almost all their children of suitable age in school. While the great majority of the 250,000 receive absolutely nothing directly from the Government ill the wa,y of subeistence or support' (see Appendix, p. 147), others, like the Sioux, Che~cnnesA, rapahoes, and Apaches, are dependent Iargely ' upon Goverument rations. Although many, like those just mentioned, areunder theimmediate control of the Gorernn~ent a.n@ require more or less of vigilant sur-reillauce, multitudes of others, such as the Indians in New York, those in Michigan, and the 65,000 of the five civilized tribes, are only nom-iually under Government control, while thousands, like the Santee Sioux, the Sisseto~ls and Wahpetons, the Nw PercBs, the Puyallups, etc., are, by the operation of the land-in-severalty law, becoming citi-zens and gradually passing out from under governmental super~ision. Any theory which ignores these rvsential facts and attempts to deal with them en mnsse must, of necessity, be radically and fatally defec-tive., Any rational scl~emet,h erefore, must rest upon a careful survey of the present condition, ueeds, aud possibilities of each of the tribes, and must also, of necessity, be very general in its character. (2) Definiteness of aim.-There&as hitherto been more or less confusion in the public mind as to precisely what the Government is aiming to accomplisb, a1111 so long asthis uncertainty exists there can be no con-siderable progress toward determining the best measures to be adopted. If i t were the purpose of the Governme~t~ot e xterminate the Indians by violence, or to leave them to shift foh themselves under such circnm-stances that their destruction mould be only aquestion of time, this pur-pose would necessarily determine legislation and administration. If the object were to simply guard them as prisoners of war, feeding and sap-porting them in idleness, as it is sometimes asserted the Government is doing, without regard to the future outcome of this policy, this purpose shoald be clearly avowed and should have its weight in determining everything pertinent to Indian matters. If, however, the pnrpose is to incorporate the Indians into the na-tional life as independout citizens, so that thes may take their places as integral elements in our society, not as American Indians but as Americans, or rather as men, e~~joyinagll t.he privileges and sharing the burdens of American citizenship, then this purpose should be not only clearly and definitely stated, but should be dominant in all matters of legislation and administration. It should be understood not only by our own ueople but by the Indians themselves, and sho~ildb e incul-cated as a fundamental dootrine in every Indian school. NO pains should be spared to teach the rising generation that the old |
