THE INDIAN NO PROBLEM. 7 



We organize and force upon the Indian through our sustain- 

 ing of the tribal relation by the segregating sj'Stem ot Indian 

 reservations, a condition exactly- the reverse of this, calculated 

 to not only discourage but to entirely prevent his obtaining a 

 usable knowledge of the American language, life and industries 

 except in the impractical way we choose to dispense to him by 

 theoretical schools established in his communities. 



The foreigner, while getting the language through free- 

 dom of association, continues also to obey the decree of the 

 Almighty — " In the sweat of his face shall man eat bread " 

 — and thus without school or special teaching imbibes and 

 absorbs all the vital principles of our America, and accommo- 

 dates and unifies himself with them. On the contrary, all 

 our work for Indians, including Indian schools on the reserv- 

 ations, is weak and inefficient because lacking in the essential 

 elements of practical experience, association and competition. 

 It is, therefore, not calculated to beget in the Indian the 

 courage and ability to struggle, but rather educates in him a 

 fear of these conditions and makes him shrink from the very 

 competition necessary to enable him to reach his place as an 

 independent man and citizen. 



Suppose we should take twenty thousand of the assisted 

 emigrants landing on our shores, belonging to any nation 

 under the sun — England, Scotland, Arabia, Hungary, Italy 

 or Africa — and put them on a reservation in South Dakota, 

 as we have the twenty thousand Sioux, who have been there 

 under our care for four decades, place over them agents with 

 a few employees and establish among them schools for their 

 own children only, make them amenable to a Bureau in 

 Washington to the extent that they cannot leave the reserva- 

 tion without its consent, issue rations and annuities to them 

 and treat them as though they were a separate nation, would 

 they ever develop into capable Americans ? Would not these 

 very conditions hold them to their past ? 



Why then is it worth while for us to expect a contrary 

 result from Indians so placed ? 



