How Shall the American Savage Be Civilized?

THE Indian outlook is brightening. The last few years have brought about a better understanding of the real position of the red man, and a corresponding disposition on the part of Congress and the people to apply rational treatment. And, “ owing to circumstances over which he has no control,”—for which no thanks are due to him, — the Indian is to-day in a better condition than ever before to receive and profit by the assistance which our sense of duty should teach us to extend to him. His power is broken, and he is beginning to realize and accept the fact.

According to the best authority on the subject, the Indian population (exclusive of Alaska) approximates 255,938. Whether this number is increasing or decreasing is an open question. In condition, disposition, and mode of life there is a wide range from the fairly civilized communities of the Indian Territory to the untamed Sioux, who know no home but the buffalo track, and no occupation but war. Between these extremes are the other tribes and bands, in various stages: some assimilating to the advanced communities of the Indian Territory, others as deeply steeped in barbarism as the Sioux and a few other like tribes ; the only material difference being that by contact with the whites, or from other causes, their tribal cohesion and war power have been impaired. They are now to be considered more as an aggregation of individual savages than as a tribal unit. Still another class, and a large one, is that of the friendly Indians, — those who have never lifted a hand against us. They are not much known to the general public. They do not figure in appropriation bills, nor are they registered at the offices of the philanthropic and Christian associations. I believe that tribes should be treated severally, and according to the peculiar circumstances of each. This has not been the case. Indians have been Indians. An agent, a boss farmer, and a plow are sent to one, and therefore to all tribes who can show enough white scalps to entitle them to our bounty. The treatment of the others — those who have taken no scalps — is equally impartial: they are all left to shift for themselves, and to starve if they will.

There will soon be four trans-continental railroads from the East to the Pacific Ocean. Already there are two. Branch roads will reach out in every direction from the main lines. By these roads and by the influence of the immigration thus brought into their territory, the war power of the Indian will be destroyed. Every spike driven in a railroad tie west of Kansas is a nail in the tribal coffin. Disintegration of tribes will follow, and organized Indian war will be a thing of the past. This will not put an end to bloodshed, nor will it materially lessen it for some years to come. But henceforth the army will deal more with spasmodic outbreaks and discontent of factions than with powerful tribes as a whole. Incidentally, the railroads are hastening a good work. It is better that there be 255,000 individual savages than the same number organized in, say, 100 battalions, averaging 2550 each.

Look at it as we may, we have among us so many savages who are incapable of self-control and self-support. We shall soon have all their lands that are of value, and we have already destroyed nearly all their game. We have taken away their native means of support, and we have not instructed them sufficiently in the arts and economics of our life to enable them to earn their living by the sweat of their brow, however willing they might be to do so.

One of three courses is open to us: (1.) To raise an army of 100,000 men, and literally exterminate the savages. This would be the most effective and at the same time vastly the most economical solution of the problem. (2.) To let them alone, only taking care to protect our frontier settlements against them as best we could, which would be but indifferently, and in course of time they would perish from the earth. In the mean time they would be vagabonds and bandits, and a hindrance to our progress. The lead required to shoot at them would cost more than bread to feed them. (3.) To accept them as dependents of the government, justly entitled to its care and protection. The last is the only course our sense of duty and humanity could for a moment entertain.

The question is how to care for them. So far, our policy has been to induce them to take bread in lieu of blood ; and when the reign of peace has lasted from one annual appropriation to another, we have congratulated ourselves, and been content to begin another year just where the old one was begun. We have bought peace by the month, to have it delivered to us by the day. Nothing has been gained : no security for the future, no decrease in the number of mouths to feed. It is not the only fault of this hand-to-mouth policy that it costs money, and will continue to do so in an increasing ratio for an indefinite time. It has not secured, nor will it ever secure, peace. It has not civilized, nor will it ever civilize, a single Indian.

An Indian’s life is nomadic; his occupation is war. The glories of his traditions centre in scenes of blood. He is a braggart, and the burden of his boasts is his deeds of daring. The youth listen to the old recounting the glorious memories of the bloody past; their imagination is fired to the highest pitch, and they long to prove their prowess. To the Indian mind the warrior’s life is the only one worth living. The old ones, who have had enough of unsuccessful war, may try to prevent, but the young spirit will prevail, and murder and plunder commence. This is not put forward as the only cause of outbreaks, but it is a fruitful cause of them.

No amount of care and kindly treatment — save in the presence of actual and ample force—can prevent trouble with the Indians until they are to a great degree converted from their natural state. So long as we neglect to supplement feeding and clothing by organized and vigorous means to educate and civilize the Indian, so long shall we have the burden to bear.

Passing by the question of control, I propose to deal with the questions of educating and civilizing. The Indian, unaided and alone, could not civilize himself for centuries; nor is he any more to blame for the inability than we are to blame for not being a hundred fold more civilized than we are. Suppose some superior race should come from another planet, and find us as inferior and barbarous, according to their standard, as we consider the Indians, when measured by our standard. And suppose they should conquer and put us on reservations. Could we at once quit the life which is the outgrowth of all these thousands of years ? Changing everything but our color, — giving up our philosophy, religion, code of morals, customs, clothes, and means of obtaining food, — could we at once adopt a mode of existence so different from anything we ever heard of that we could not form the least conception of it? Perhaps our first lesson in the new life would be to learn to use with precision our conquerors’ improved fire-arms, and to slaughter a thousand of them at one shot. This is not an overdrawn comparison. We must have patience.

In taking up the details of the problem of civilizing, I feel neither wise enough nor ignorant enough to speak for all Indians. The plan which I propose is not merely the embodiment of an abstract theory ; it is intended for local application, and is matured from a personal knowledge of the Indians, the locality, the surroundings, and the resources at hand. It is intended for a practical scheme, and one which it is hoped may be put in operation at the place named, and for the benefit of the Indians there. By giving prominence to a plan concerning one tribe only, it is hoped more fully to emphasize the proposition that tribes should be treated severally, according to the condition, position, and local surroundings of each.

This scheme is suggested for the benefit of a well-deserving tribe, whose number (about 4600) composes one fourth of the Indian population of Arizona, — the Pimas. Before proceeding with details of the plan, it may be proper to offer a brief summary of the history, disposition, etc., of the Pimas, and to present their claims to our consideration.

These people were found in their present homes, on the banks of the Rio Gila, by the early Spanish priests and explorers, soon after Cortez’s conquest of Mexico. A peaceful people, by no means nomadic in habit, and subsisting by agriculture (rude and primitive in form), they have but little more title to a higher grade of civilization than have the Apaches or the wild Indians of the plains. They are savages, living in the obscurity of savage life. Like the great majority of Indians, they have no aspirations beyond a mere physical existence. They live under tribal government, and believe in the incantations of the “ medicine man,” while their customs and morals are crude in the extreme. They make no advancement. As they were when first known to white men, so they are to-day, — incapable of battling with our world and civilization. Our intercourse with the Pimas dates from 1846. During that year General Kearney, with his army, on the march from the Missouri River to take possession of California, just then wresting from Mexico, stopped two days at their villages to rest and replenish supplies. From that day to this they have been our friends. Their villages have been the refuge of the distressed prospector and immigrant, and their granaries depots of supply for our army in its operations against the Apache of the neighboring mountains ; while their young men have ever responded to the call of the government for scouts and guides. But for the advantage to the army of having a friend and ally to furnish help and supplies in the midst of remote operations, it is doubtful if Arizona would to-day be sufficiently free from the domination of the Apache to see a railroad within its limits. Pima annals are not disfigured by a single act of hostility, while their friendship has ever been more than passive.

Yet, in spite of this history, or rather because of it, they have received from the government next to no help beyond having their homes secured by reservation. Their land only is secured, and this under conditions of climate which leave land without corresponding water rights of no value. The terms of the “ Desert Land Act,” and the immense tracts bordering their reservation, but cut off from Water, which remain unsurveyed and unoccupied, show that government officials are not unmindful of the relative value of land and water — to white agriculturalists. The white settlements above have taken out almost all of the water from the Gila, so the Pimas have not enough for purposes of irrigation. The law that should protect them cannot be enforced against whites, and in favor of Indians.

On the Rio Gila, within two days’ ride, is another reservation, — the San Carlos Reservation for the Apaches. Along the trail thither the Pima may count the graves of many white men, each with a well-known, although unwritten epitaph: “ Tortured and slain by the Apache.” ¹ Arrived at this other agency, he sees, camped in idleness around a government store-house, and fed by a lavish hand, thousands of these same Apaches. He knows them well, for he has looked at them over a rifle barrel while they were cutting the throats of our citizens, and he was side by side with United States troops trying to prevent their atrocities.

The Pima’s reflections are pertinent, but his arithmetic is insufficient. It is we only who may compute the tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of lives which the butcheries and treacheries of the Apaches have compelled the hand that feeds them to spend in fighting and subduing, that it might enjoy that privilege. Review the last twelve months. In August, 1881, there was an outbreak of the Apaches. After the usual murders and pillage, they surrendered, and under orders from Washington were set free on the reservation, where they resumed consumption of government rations. In April of this year (1882) there was another outbreak.

RECAPITULATION.

Citizens murdered in first outbreak

(about)........................... 20

Citizens murdered in second outbreak

(counted)......................... 42

Total number of murders during the year (in Arizona alone)... 62

While the Apaches were indulging in these recreations they cost us: Annual expense of feeding, annuities,

etc., on a basis of 4000 Indians........... $283,000

Extra expenses of the army that would not otherwise have been incurred (at

least)....................... 200,000

Thefts, destruction of property, and damage to the business interests of Arizona (at least)............. 250,000

Total cost of about 4000 Apaches

for 1881-82 (about). $733,000

Or, for a family of six, $1098. The Pimas, numbering about 4600, have never been on the war-path. The government furnishes them an agent, — who is without means of help, — a doctor, a supply of medicines, and limited facilities for a small day school. The whole expense of their agency — and that mostly taken up by salaries from which they derive no benefit — is not $7000 ; or, for a family of six, less than $10 per annum.

The Apache murders our people; therefore we feed and clothe him. Nor are we content simply to supply him with the necessaries of life; but from the $283,000 which the Interior Department annually furnishes to the agency, the enormous sum of over $19,800 goes for the luxuries of sugar and coffee ; and in addition a certain quantity of tobacco is furnished, but not enough to induce him to smoke the “ pipe of peace.” The Pima has no government blanket to keep out the cold, while he sits with folded arms and a hungry stomach and looks on at the feast. He has not shed our blood; therefore no cover is laid for him. It is true that he took a part in the twenty years’ war with the Apache, but he made the mistake of getting on the wrong side. The fool helped us. Yet, notwithstanding this mistake of his, it seems a pity that he cannot have for school purposes a sum at least equal to the cost of the sugar and coffee which we furnish the Apaches.

We are not proud of this bit of comparison, and only introduce it to give an illustration, from actual facts, of one phase of our Indian management. This policy has the indorsement of no less an authority than the Hon. Francis A. Walker, formerly Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who says, in his Report, 1872, “The Indian policy . . . consists of two policies, entirely distinct. ... In the same way at the south the treatmeat of the well-intentioned Papagoes of Arizona contrasts just as strongly with the dealings of the government by their traditional enemies, the treacherous and vindictive Apaches; . . . but it is none the less compatible with the highest expediency of the situation. It is, of course, hopelessly illogical that the expenditures of the government should be proportional not to the good but to the ill desert of the several tribes ; . . . and yet, for all this, the government is right and its critics wrong, and the ‘ Indian policy ’ is sound, sensible, and beneficent, because it reduces to the minimum the loss of life and property on our frontier, and allows the freest development of our settlements and railways possible under the circumstances. There is no question of national dignity, be it remembered, involved in the treatment of savages by a civilized power.” . . . I do not agree with Mr. Walker even on the ground of the “ highest expediency of the situation.” Dismiss sentiment; in a business point of view it is bad management. It has indirectly cost the government millions of dollars, and the frontier settlements thousands of lives.

Is it supposed for a moment that Indian reasoning is so dull that it does not grasp the situation? Good Indians are constantly taunted with the treatment which they receive at the hands of the government. The bad Indians say, “Make the white man afraid of you; go on the war-path ; torture, kill, and — surrender and be fed and clothed, as we are.” ² Does any one suppose that Indian logic would not be quick to work out an opposite conclusion from an opposite line of treatment ? All these years we should have been utilizing the friendly Indian by making him an example of how much, instead of how little, the government would do for its wards, provided they behaved themselves properly. Purely as a matter of policy in the management of the warlike tribes, it would have been of infinite benefit, and, incidentally (still speaking from a busiuess point), we should by this time have had the friendly tribes well on the road to civilization.

Mr. Walker says, “ There is no question of national dignity, be it remembered, involved in the treatment of savages by a civilized power.” Perhaps not. Leaving out the fourth and fifth words and the word “ involved,” there could be no question of the most superficial observer agreeing with what remains of the sentence quoted, as applied to the case under discussion. There should, at least, be a question of honor. The white man meets two Indians : one hoists the black flag and attacks him ; the other hastens to his defense. After the struggle is over the white man takes his assailant by the hand, and leads him to a home of plenty. The friend says, “ I helped you as best I could. You are very rich, I am very poor. I wish you would send my boy to school.” “Nobody cares for you or your boy, so long as you fail to point a gun,” is the only answer he receives.

But the old order of things is passing away. It is time to look for ways and means of civilizing, and in this sentiment and business can be combined to the best interest of all. Our friends may still have a chance. The first effort should be to seek that material which promises best and quickest results, with the most good to the greatest number; and, if possible, it should furnish an example for surrounding tribes. On all accounts these considerations point to the Pimas as among the first to be assisted. Their numbers are large ; their surroundings, disposition, and habits most favorable.

Assuming ³ that the post of Fort McDowell and its reservation will not much longer be occupied for military purposes, my proposition is to establish thereat, for the advancement of the Pimas,

A CIVILIZATION COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY.

RESERVATION.

The reservation is ten miles long by four miles wide, containing 24,750 acres. It is situated in longitude 111° 40', and latitude 33° 40', about fifty miles from the centre of the Pima villages, and the same distance from the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Verde River flows through it from one end to the other, and about 1500 acres ⁴ of land could be irrigated and cultivated. The soil is excellent, and would produce wheat, corn, barley, oats, sorghum, alfalfa, sweet potatoes, and all the vegetables common to the latitude. Grapes and most of the fruits of Southern California would thrive. The balance of the land is divided between " waste ” and grazing. There is enough of the latter to support moderate herds.

BUILDINGS FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES.

The buildings of the post of Fort McDowell are ample, and, with inexpensive changes and repairs, well adapted for a school of over two hundred children, including houses for the superintendent and employés and good shops. The place is healthful. Wood and water are in abundance.

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF, WITH ASSISTANTS AND EMPLOYÉS.

One superintendent (an army officer) ; one clerk ; one medical attendant; one school-teacher ; such number of assistant teachers as would be necessary; one interpreter (an Indian) ; one farmer ;

SETTLEMENT OF THE COMMUNITY.

Invite Pima families — preferably young or middle-aged — to become settlers on the reservation, and allot to each not less than twenty, nor more than eighty, acres of cultivable land. No tribal relations to be recognized in the community; each to have individual rights and responsibilities.

INDUSTRIES.

Farming to be the main reliance; but stock-raising, freighting, and other branches of industry common in a like situated settlement of whites to be encouraged.

TRADING STORE.

A trading store, to be owned and managed by Indians.

SCHOOL.

A boarding-school, not only for children of the Pimas, but to be open to other tribes of Arizona.

MECHANICAL TRADES.

A selected number of the Pima youths to be taught such trades as are best adapted to their tastes and uses.

MODEL FARM.

A farm of two hundred acres, more or less, to be maintained, on which all male pupils of suitable age may be instructed in farming and caring for crops.

GOVERNMENT.

The superintendent to have control of the community to the same extent that agents control Indian reservations.

The above is an outline of the community which I propose. To say that we must educate the Indians does not convey a proper understanding of the task before us. Education in the common acceptation of the term is a mere auxiliary in accomplishing their civilization. The Indians are savages. To convert, rather than to educate, is our work.

The beginning would be at the bottom. The Pimas would come to the community as Indians. Many of them would also come in their national costume. This costume for the men consists of the paint on the face, beads about the neck, and a sash of many strands around the waist, a slip of calico about three yards long folded like a neck-tie, and tucked under the sash in front to the middle, then the two ends passed down and back to the right of the left leg, and to the left of the right, and up and under the sash at the small of the back, the ends loose and trailing on the ground. The fact that they were not white men in a low state of civilization should be fully understood and appreciated by the superintendent. There should be no forcing nor cramming ; everything would have to be worked up gradually.

The superintendent should exercise supervision over all the affairs of the community, but all industries should be carried on by the Indians individually, — each to own the results of his own labor. Under no circumstances should crops be gathered into store-houses for re-issue. It is customary on a great many Indian reservations to have one large farm, on which the agent raises a crop, and gathers it into the store-house for regular issue to the Indians. Such work teaches no ideas of self-support. To the Indian’s mind a farm managed in this manner is a part of the government machinery set over him, in which he feels neither proprietorship nor responsibility. No matter if some of the Indians do work, it is simply one means of filling a government store-house, which would have been filled in any event.

No direct gratuity should be allowed members of the community; but the superintendent should be furnished with all practical means of indirect help, including expensive farming implements, such as wagons, thrashers, reapers, evaporating pans for making sorghum molasses, etc. The Indians should have the use of these, as well as instruction in their management by the farmer, and be charged a reasonable toll in kind, to be applied to the uses of the school. Give them nothing; help them in everything. Give all the freighting of supplies for the school to members of the community, and from the regular rates of pay make a deduction, for use of the wagons. Encourage them to engage in this sort of work for private parties, and furnish them the same facilities, on the same terms. In time they would buy their own wagons.

An important branch of industry to be encouraged is stock-raising. There should be a herd of cattle kept to supply meat and milk for the school and employés. Start with four or five hundred cows for breeding purposes. When a member of the community wishes to go into the stock business (on a small scale), or to keep milk cows, sell to him from this herd such number of cows — not exceeding, say, ten, as he wishes to purchase. Payment should be by easy installments, not more than three dollars per head at time of purchase ; other payments so timed as to fall due just after a harvest. It is believed that the effect of placing them in debt — provided they have something to show for it—would be beneficial. Indians are naturally honest; there would be no difficulty about their meeting engagements of this nature.

In planting and caring for crops, the Indians should have the advice and assistance of the superintendent and the farmer. It should be seen to that they plant in the right proportions. Wheat would be the staple article, and the usual variety of vegetables, etc., could be raised. Indians are very fond of sweets ; therefore sorghum should be introduced, and evaporating pans kept for hire. There is nothing connected with a farm that would more interest and please Indians than the means of making sugar and molasses. Fruit trees, also, should be furnished for sale, and as there would be no yield for some years, only enough should be charged to maintain the principle of giving nothing. The nurseries of Los Angeles are so close at hand that the cost to the government would be but trifling. The farms should be made attractive and profitable.

A coöperative store, to be owned by the Indians, should be maintained. Among the Pimas are a great many who could (and I believe would) subscribe from twenty-five to one hundred dollars for the purpose. The agent informs me that the Pimas sold a surplus of 2,500,000 pounds of wheat last year (1881). One thousand dollars would be enough to start with. One of the Pima boys, now educating at Hampton, Va., could be put in charge of the store. While this is conceded to be a novel feature in Indian management, I believe it could be made a potent factor in accomplishing their civilization. To hold the plow-handle is not necessarily to be a farmer. To be a farmer is not necessarily to be a self-reliant, self-sustaining man. To succeed in the world, a man must have some understanding of relative values, systems of exchange, and laws of trade. Remember that the Indian is utterly ignorant of these things. He may know a dollar when he sees it, and that it will procure from the storekeeper four pounds of sugar. Why not one pound or ten pounds, or why the store-keeper wants the dollar at all, he has no conception. He never thinks of these things. It never occurs to the Indian, in the wildest flights of his imagination that he could be a merchant. To him the man from whom he buys fancy calico and beads is something apart. He comes and trades ; where from, or why, the Indian does not know. Until he finds out, he will never be self-supporting. He can only gain that knowledge by embarking on the commercial stream himself. Standing forever on the outside of the counter, he will never learn. In its infancy, the experiment would require the unremitting and painstaking watchfulness of the superintendent. When he makes his semi-annual trips to the city markets to buy supplies for the school, there should be provision for an Indian connected with the store to accompany him, in the capacity of clerk, and at such times the store stock could be purchased. It is admitted that the Indians, unaided, could not originate and successfully conduct an enterprise of this kind; but that is the principal reason why they should be put in a way of doing it in such a manner — if proper tact be used — that they would think they were managing it.

The question of dwelling-houses for the Indians would regulate itself. It would not be prudent to force them into houses before they wanted them. The whole tendency of the community and the school should be towards individuality of rights and responsibilities. Yet it would not be inconsistent with this teaching to introduce a well-matured plan of coöperative work ; such as, under the master mind of Brigham Young, reclaimed the deserts of Utah, — property created coöperatively, but owned individually. With the Mormons the bishop is the head of a settlement ; his duties are practical and far-reaching. He would not hesitate to make contracts for building railroads, or, with the same energy and zeal, superintend the herding of the village cows. Such a system and such an energy should govern the Indian community.

A boarding-school should be established : pupils of suitable age to be admitted in the following order of preference: (1) children of the community; (2) children of reservation, Pimas, Maricopas,⁵ and Papagoes ; (3) children of other Arizona Indians, — all to be clothed and fed by the government. Farming, the trades, and common English branches should be taught.

There are many questions of detail in the management of the school that would have to be determined as they arose, and as experience would dictate. A modification of the Kindergarten system would, perhaps, be the better plan to adopt for Indian children. Close application to study and the school-room should be avoided. It is not the object to teach too much from books. There would be no good purpose served in expending all energies in giving the mass of Indian children a good education, as we understand the term. The kind of education they are in need of is one that will habituate them to the customs and advantages of a civilized life, and put them in a way of leading it, and at the same time cause them to look with feelings of repugnance on their native state. To this end it is of the first importance that the school-children should be made comfortable and feel at ease. They should have better food and better care than they ever before dreamed of, and be allowed to indulge freely in their own games and sports. Nor should their tawdry ornaments and decorations — even the paint upon the face — be at once stripped from them. Time would rectify all these things. Inexpensive rewards and prizes, selected with reference to the tastes of the children, should be freely given, on the usual conditions.

The school-should start without rules of deportment; and as the intelligence of the pupils grew, plain common-sense regulations should be introduced, care being taken that they be one step in the rear of the understanding of those to whom they are to apply. Once established, they should be rigidly enforced. In regard to school hours, the minimum should be observed. As a part of their training, the girls should have the making of their own and of the other pupils’ clothes. The trades taught should be chosen with reference to utility and the tastes of the Indians. Certain ones would be indispensable to the needs of the community, and should be of the number. Saddlery and harness-making would most interest Indians, and should be added to the list. Apprentices should receive a small money compensation.

The model farm should be an important feature of the school ; orchards and vineyards ought to be started the first year. The products of the farm and the cattle herd should be made to supply all provisions of the kind required for the subsistence of the pupils and employés, not only as a matter of economy in administration, but as an example of economy to the Indians. Education should be carried on outside as well as inside the school-room.

All assistants and employés should be married; most of the assistant schoolteachers should be women. To each family should be assigned for board and lodging two or more school-girls, to assist in housework, who should be allowed to sit at the dining-table with the family, and not be treated as servants. This, and many more seemingly little things, should make up the principal part of the course of training. It should be as much the duty of teachers to preside at the table, and to look after the sleeping apartments, as to teach in the school-room.

The subject of morals and religion has been left to the last, because it naturally belongs there ; not in order of importance, but in order of attainment. The stomach is the proper base from which to carry on operations against barbarism. It is the practical, everyday, and tangible benefits of civilized life which will first attract a barbarian. He must see advantages that he can understand, and of which he can feel the immediate effects. Morals must be left to grow as the community advances in intelligence and civilization. It must not be forgotten that Indians have a code of morals ; however false, it is the embodiment of their philosophy of the subject, and as dear to them as ours is to us. In the very nature of things, there can be no violent or sudden conversion. So with religion : teach the Indian how to earn a good breakfast and a plentiful dinner, and then, and not until then, he may be in a condition to appreciate grace before meat and the parable of the loaves and fishes. These things will come in time: until then, do not try to force them ; advise, but do not order.

By this it is not meant that glaring acts of vice, such as murder, theft, and the like, could be ignored ; nor that religion and morals should not be taught by example. Some Indian agents commence their administrations by a text from the Bible, a lecture on the evils of tobacco, and an order against gambling. Bread is the last thing thought of. Such a course makes a mockery of the whole subject, and has been the cause of trouble. Of course Indians will gamble. It is not treating the subject facetiously to say that if there be a people in the world more given to that vice than the civilized it is the uncivilized.

The superintendent should govern, with no intermediate control between him and Washington. As far as possible the forms of civil government should be used. A standing Indian police force — such as is both necessary and proper in the management of warlike tribes on reservations — might, in a peaceful community like this, give false ideas of the means, if not the uses, of our government, and none should be maintained. Processes and orders of the superintendent should be executed by regularly appointed Indian constables, who should receive pay for specific service only; the duties of the office ought not to interfere with other occupations.

The success or failure of this scheme would depend much on the personnel of the administrative force. For many reasons it would probably be desirable that the superintendent should be an army officer. The position demands no small amount of executive and administrative ability, of a peculiar and special kind, which is only to be gained by a thorough knowledge of the material to be worked. Habits of command and the utmost painstaking attention to the " thousand and one little things” that go to make up the whole are some of the qualifications required, in addition to experience with Indians. It is not pretended that the army is the only place to procure competency, but in this instance it is the surest. The body of the army has been among Indians for years. Each officer on the frontier has an experience with Indians, extending from a few months to half a life-time. Their records are known by those in authority over them, and department and division commanders could hardly err in their recommendations of a suitable selection. With no increase of pay or allowances, the army officer would gain nothing by the position, and there would not be an unseemly scramble for the place. “ The place would seek the man.”

To assistants and employés sufficient pay should be given to secure and retain the best. If an employé were receiving better wages than he could get elsewhere, he would be zealous from self-interest, if from no other motive. And finally, the government would have to do its part. It is the fundamental principle that the community be vigorous and prosperous, and not a dragging make-shift. Appropriations must be forthcoming when they are needed. The whole expense would be of no great amount; but be it one or one hundred thousand dollars, enough must be furnished, and at the fit time.

We now come to look at the ulterior advantages of the scheme. It is not the intention simply to benefit the members of the community, at best about one thousand. It is the object to build up a community of prosperous individual Indians, who have quit tribal relations and started in life for themselves, and to make them an example to others of what Indians can do if they but try. Its geographical position would bring it under the observation of three fourths of the Indian population of Arizona, including the Apaches. It is believed that it would be only a question of time when the community would extend itself to the whole tribe, and thus convert 4600 wards to as many useful citizens. The school and the community would be of mutual benefit to each other: the one as an example of how Indians could succeed ; the other an example of what the government is doing for their race, and of the capacity of Indian children for acquiring the white man’s knowledge. Indian children learn rapidly from books. The Pima children are especially bright. There can be no doubt that the Indian has sufficient mental capacity to master the situation. Another advantage to the school would result from making it home-like to the children by the presence of members of their own race.

Thus far nothing has been said of the schools for Indians now in successful operation at Carlisle, Pa., and Hampton, Va. These enterprises are most commendable, and should be kept up and enlarged. But what is to become of the Indian youths after completing their education at these places? If they profit by their education, they must go where their skill is in demand, just as other carpenters and tinsmiths do. If they do this, they will be no example to their people. The government will have benefited just so many individual Indians, and accomplished nothing else. If they go back to their respective tribes, they would be more than human if they failed to drop back to their old level, and again be Indians. That is inevitable. They would have no associates to understand or appreciate their acquired knowledge, and numerical force would overwhelm them. There are not wanting many instances of the kind. I am. personally cognizant of one striking case.

This community would afford them a resting-place. It would be a " half-way house ” on the long road from Indian barbarism to our civilization. Here would gather the more thrifty and thoughtful of the tribe. The government must see to it that they thrive better than those left behind. Then, when a boy comes back from school in the East with a useful trade, or qualified to teach, give him a place. The community would be common ground between the two lives; and to that would be mainly due its usefulness. The distance between the two lives is very great. If the educated boys took it at one step, they could not reach back to help their brothers and sisters. If they stayed behind, they would be powerless to resist reabsorption into the old life. Give them this stepping-stone, where they would be associated with a respectable class of whites on the one hand, and the more progressive of their own kindred on the other; and they would be of untold benefit to the cause of civilizing their race.

This closes the description of the scheme to help civilize the Pimas. If I were asked to what extent I would apply the project to other tribes, my answer would be, " The theory entire; the details only so far as they would fit a particular case.” Here advantage is taken of the special and excellent facilities at hand, perhaps not to be found in another instance ; in other cases set apart a portion of the regular reservation, for there must be no official connection between the community and other Indians. The tribal relation must be broken, and they must receive no gifts at the agency. The Pimas are an agricultural people ; therefore farming is made prominent in this scheme. With some tribes stockraising would take precedence ; with others, other industries. The plan for the Pimas is made a vehicle for carrying a theory of a line of treatment for the whole uncivilized Indian population; but the details of the plan are special. The work of civilizing the American Indian will be a laborious and tedious one. The course of training will have to trace one generation from the cradle to the grave. But little can be expected from the old ; it is the young to whom we must apply ourselves. With them we must have patience. We must understand our work, — what to do, what not to do. Our task is to convert from one life to another ; and we must not forget that we begin with savages, whose life comprises but little this side of the stone age. Their philosophy, their religion, their whole mental and moral horizon, are no more advanced than are their arts, and they have never made an implement of iron.

George S. Wilson,

First Lieut. Twelfth U S. Infantry.