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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. ' 7 must depend upon thgmselves and not look to it for help. There is no , pore reason why the General Government should feed and dothe an. Indian who is able to feed and clothe himself by his own industry than there is why it should feed and clothe %ny other man. The circumstances that justify and require the establishment and maintenance' for a time of industrial schools, in which Indian youth may be tmined for self-support, are esceptiooal an11 transitory, and in the very nature of the case will pass away. A11 that can be asked is that a reasonable opportunity be afforded to these people whereby their children can be lifted onto a plane where they will have something like an equal chance in life's struggles along with the more favored races in this country. If, after this reasonable preparation, they are unable or unwilling to sustain themselves, they must go to the wall. It will be a survival of the fittest. It is rightly claimed that thus far they have not had an equal chance with the rest of us, by reason of , their isolation, and the present effort of the G-overument in the estab-lishment of costly Indian sehools is for the purpose of removing this inequality and bringiug the Indian children into competitive relations with other children. Justice demands this, but it asks no more. (7) Humanity.-It should be borne in mind, however, tha;tthis peculiar people are our brethren, made of the same blood, and as such have claims upon us. This vast country whichis now the scene and the sup-port of our greatness once belouged to them. Step by step they have been driven back frou the hills and beautiful valleys of New England, the fertile fields of Ohio, the prairies of the West, until to-day, for the most part, they are gathered together on reservations poorlysuitedfor agricultural purposes, and where the cond'itious of life are the hardest. The buffalo and tbe deer, which only a few .years ago mere found in conat-less thousands and afforded them food, raiment, barter, and occupation, are about gone, and tjhej are, in many cases, driven by stress of cir. cumstances over which they have no control to &sperate straits for food. As a people they are poor and weak and well-nigh helpless. The vasb and resistless tide of European emigration and the overflow of our aggressive population have despoiled them of their hunting grounds, robbed them of their richest fields, restricted them in their freedom, de-stroyed thousands of them in battle, iuflict3d upon them great suffering. A large part of this, of course, has beeu the inevitable eonssquenoe ' of theconflict of a higher, strooger civilizatiou with alower and weaker . oue. In this dar of onr greatuess aud prosperity we can afford to treat them with the greatest kindness. We can not afford to be crud. For their own sake, and for ours as well, and for the sake of the history we are making as a Ohristian nation, we should treat them not only. iustly and hiunanely, but with as much geuerosit~a s is consistent with their highest weleare. This we are doiug. , (8) Radiaa1ness.-<'Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." Tde kourse of the Governmeut has not always been self-consistent. Legis: |