CHAPTER XXXV. OFFICIAL VIEWS OF INDIAN CONDITIONS
Commissioner Sells very kindly instructed a number of his Supervisors and Superintendents to reply to my fourteen questions covering the present condition of our Indians. The questions need not be repeated as they are given in the table, Chapter XXXII.
These replies present the administration point of view, and I herewith append such of the answers as are already not repetitions. Those that do not convey special information are omitted.
Honorable H. B. Peairs, Supervisor of Schools, Washington, D.C., writes:—
VI. “From extended observations during the past five years, I am confident that there has been very marked progress and that the general condition of the Indians is very much better than it was ten years ago. I had the opportunity of doing one full year’s work in the field in 1897, during which time I traveled in all sections of the country and visited more than one-half of the reservations and schools. The past four years have given me an opportunity to visit practically all of the reservations and schools, and I unhesitatingly say that there is a marked improvement.”
VIII. “The mixed-blood. They are an English-speaking people, more intelligent and more capable in every way, considering the average mixed-blood. Their homes are far superior and they are more ambitious to improve conditions. The fact that they are unwilling to remain as they are in many instances results in their being somewhat troublesome, but this only emphasizes a desire for better conditions.”
XIII. “I believe the Government is making a conscientious effort to protect the Indian in all of his interests, both property and human. Undoubtedly there are instances where, through bad legislation, weak administration, or both, great injustice has been done. There is great difference of opinion as to what is best to do in many instances for the Indians. What might be considered by some to be an injustice, might be considered by others as being the best possible thing for the Indian. For instance, some oppose very positively the taxation of Indian lands of any class. Personally, I believe that all productive inherited Indian lands should be taxed in order that funds might become available for the support of local institutions, such as public schools, and for the proper maintenance of public roads, bridges, etc. On the other hand, there are those who believe that there should be greater freedom in the matter of issuing patents in fee for allotted lands and to the allottee. Personally, I believe that the original allottee should not be permitted to dispose of his allotment and thus be without a permanent home. In instances it might be well to permit the allottee to sell a portion of his allotment, the receipts therefrom to be used in improving the remaining portion.
“I give these illustrations simply to show that differences of opinion with reference to what is best for the Indian and what is not best, may give color to the answer to the seventh question.”
Honorable John B. Brown, Supervisor of Education, Muskogee, Oklahoma, says:—
VII. “The morality of the Indians in the Five Civilized Tribes is believed to be as good as the average of their community, which is reasonably high, except possibly in some full-blood communities where living conditions are not conducive to the best moral status.”
X. “The opinion on this subject is divided. I have made careful inquiry at every Agency visited, both within and adjoining the Five Civilized Tribes. I believe that more depends upon the home conditions and efficiency of Government employees on the reservation than any other one point except the individual peculiarities of the young Indian in question. Given the same quality of manhood in the Indian under consideration, and the same efficiency on the part of officials in charge of the reservation, I have not been able to detect any marked change in favor of either the reservation or non-reservation system of education.”
VIII. “My judgment is that under the more recent practices of our Department, the Indians are being as fully protected as it is practicable to do; that is, that every reasonable effort is honestly being put forth for such protection.”
Honorable O. H. Lipps (at the time Mr. Lipps wrote he was in charge of Coeur D’Alene, Flathead and other Indians in the northwest.) Briefly summed up, his opinion is to the effect that the full-bloods are in the best condition; that white people are taking advantage of the Flatheads, but not of other Indians in his region. Few white men marry full-blood Indian women, but white men marry mixed-bloods for their property.
XIII. “I believe the Indian Department is doing all in its power to protect the Indians’ property; more could be done to protect his health.”
Mrs. Elsie E. Newton is one of the Supervisors in charge of health of the Indians. She has served for many years in the Indian Office, and is one of the most competent employees. I quote at considerable length from her letter.
VI. “I cannot answer this with precision as my knowledge of the Indian country, except in one or two localities, is less than ten years old.
“It can be said, however, that even in five years there has been a great change in the environment of the Indian, with few exceptions. The Whites have settled pretty well in and around him and have diffused ideas which in time he is bound to adopt in more or less degree. I speak of matters of dress, food, shelter, etc. The superficial aspect of his life is changing. In like manner, his attitude toward law, morals, etc., are being modified. It appears that he is going through that period of transition, forgetting the old code of life, or at least not regarding it, and yet not dominated by the new. This transition period is always one of distinct loss both in moral force, and achievement. From this point of view, he is not as well off today as he was ten years ago, but until he has passed through the critical period, it is unfair to make comparison by years merely.”
VII. “Immorality is a relative term. Certain Indian tribes had moral codes under which they lived and lived acceptably, or morally. Those codes differed and the difference in them marks the diversity of the general condition of those tribes today. Thus we find the Crows deteriorating while the Northern Cheyennes, living practically next door, are still good stock. The sexual morality of the former is low compared to that of the latter.
“Few Indians practice monogamy after the Anglo-Saxon ideal—one partner only, and one partner for life. Divorces are common and frequent; even so, one finds few prostitutes among the best tribes, and promiscuity is not common. Even in the lower tribes where promiscuity is common, the prostitute is not. Such tribes have still the remnants of phallicism in their ceremonies.
“The state of morals is not due so much to the presence of low Whites, generally speaking, as it is to the fact mentioned above, that the tribal authority has become loosened, their own social restraints have disappeared, and there is no definite code, or its enforcement succeeding. The Federal law has never covered the ground on reservations where it retained jurisdiction and where the Indians are citizen allottees, the State does not exert itself to exercise control; local judicial machinery is reluctant to punish infractions of the law, partly because the community concerns itself very little with offences of the kind among Indians themselves, and partly because of the expense involved in prosecutions, in which Indians bear no share by taxation.
“As regards that morality which is designated honesty, I hardly believe that the word of an Indian today is as good, man for man, as in the previous generation. Traders would be more competent to give testimony on this point, because in their business they have learned whom to trust and whom to suspect.
IX. “The white man is more likely than not to take advantage of an Indian where his own advantage is concerned. This is due as much to the innate pushing quality of the Whites, as the corresponding retiring quality of the Indian. It is frequently a racial rather than a moral matter. It is often a matter of mere competition between Whites. For instance, I once had a conversation with a bank official in an Indian country, where banks were discounting Indian notes at an impossible usurious rate. The man was highly respected in the community, well regarded for honesty, a church worker, and in my own opinion a good, typical American. We discussed the matter reasonably, and he concluded by saying, ‘I suppose this sort of thing seems unpardonable to you,’ and when I acquiesced, he continued, ‘We look at it about this way,—if we do not get the Indian’s money, some one else will.’ The Indian makes no resistance to such treatment, partly through inability, partly through unambition.
XIII. “In general, it is; in some instances it is too paternalistic; in others, it is sometimes crowded to an issue contrary to distinctly good Indian policy by interests which bear upon general public policy. In other words, the Indian interest must frequently be sacrificed for general and broader interest.
“I might say that the Government is protecting the Indian, and protecting him well, but the public is not. If the public would be more just, the Government might exert less paternalism, with great advantage to the individual Indian.
“It should be added that often the Indian stands in the attitude of finding Government protection irksome, just as a child often feels toward parental authority. As one Government official aptly said, ‘It is hard to protect the Indian when he doesn’t want to be protected’.”
Honorable Horace G. Wilson, Supervisor of Indians, Rosebud, Oregon, replies to the questions rather briefly. He believes that the general condition of the Indians is better than ten years ago; that the Indian is naturally immoral, but his wickedness increases through contact with low Whites; that the mixed-bloods are in the best condition; white people are taking advantage of the Indians; Indians should be educated near at home; white men are marrying Indian women to secure property. Finally, that the Government is protecting the Indians.
Honorable Charles F. Peirce, Superintendent of the Flandreau school, South Dakota, says he has in charge a large number of pupils each year. He considers the condition more satisfactory than ten years ago; that the moral condition of Flandreau Indians compares favorably with that of white people in the surrounding community under same conditions; that there is little drunkenness; that the observance of marriage relations is as good as among white people; that most of the Indians are full-bloods; that the mixed-bloods are more industrious.
CLASS IN DOMESTIC ART. HASKELL INDIAN SCHOOL. KANSAS
“The Flandreau Indians have been citizens of the State of South Dakota, voting and otherwise taking part in municipal affairs for twenty years, and while the Government is nominally holding jurisdiction over them, they need but very little protection, and that is being exercised by the Government as necessity demands.”
Honorable Frank A. Thackery is Superintendent of the Pima Indian School, Sacaton, Arizona. As to the prevalence of trachoma and tuberculosis ten years ago as compared with the present, he cannot give much information. He admits that there is a high percentage of deaths from tuberculosis, and recommends inexpensive hospital camps.
VI. “Speaking for the Pimas alone, the matter of their water rights is the principal factor to be considered in connection with their advancement in the past ten years, as upon their right to the water of the Gila River rests their sole opportunity for industrial independence. The Pimas are victims of circumstances beyond their control in so far as the irrigation problem is concerned and the Indian Office is now taking very active steps to protect the rights of these Indians wherever the encroaching whites have jeopardized them.
VII. “The Pima Indians have a high standard of morality for a primitive people, but I believe such deviations as occur are due to the Indian’s own nature, which is, after all, human nature, and as liable to err as his white brother, whose example we will all agree leaves much to be desired if set up as the standard to which other races should aspire.”
IX. “Yes, in so far as appropriating river water to which the Pimas have a prior right.
X. “Again speaking of the Pimas only, I believe the peculiar climatic conditions here make it desirable that the boys and girls shall receive their training in this locality. It is safe to say that 95% of the boys will be farmers, and such training as they receive along agricultural lines should correlate with their home conditions and this it is not likely to do if obtained in a locality where climatic conditions vary greatly from southern Arizona.
XIII. “I believe the administration is taking every possible step to safeguard the interests of the Indians within the limits allowed by the laws governing and the funds at its disposal, hampered as it is by the political intriguers who now, as always, seek to control the management of Indian Affairs for their personal benefit and gain. Your true reformer is first, and always an extremist; to him a thing is either black or white, good or evil, a crime or a virtue. He knows no gradation of color, no perception of proportions, no knowledge of values. To him the world is made up of entirely unrelated antitheses, and all acts of which he does not himself approve are evil. It is easy for such a person to contend that the Indians have been imposed upon by those entrusted with the management of their affairs and to find evidence to support their contentions. But the broad-minded investigator will recognize the peculiar racial problems with which those interested in the Indians’ advancement have had to deal, will give due consideration to the enormity of the task set them, will weigh carefully the intricacy of the machinery with which the workers have been forced to labor and will hesitate to judge adversely where superficial observation would appear to warrant such a judgment justifiable.”
I regret that I could not produce these lengthy communications in full. But the quotations will give an idea of the Departmental point of view, and that the dangers are fully appreciated, and every effort made to overcome them.