20 GEN. R. H. PRATT : 



said that if the original intention of General Grant had been 

 carried out, and the members of the Board had continued to 

 visit the Indians and take a personal interest in their welfare, 

 very much greater results for good would have been accom- 

 plished. He advised the inquirer to get the Report of the 

 Commissioner of Indian Affairs for i86g, and read what the 

 first Board did, and he would see what General Grant intended. 

 General Grant in his first inaugural said, "I will favor any 

 course toward them which tends to their civilization and ulti- 

 mate citizenship," and worked to that end. For the past four 

 years this policy has been reversed, and the voice of the 

 Administration has said to the Indians, " Stick to your past, 

 build on that, remain tribal." If you were an Indian, sub- 

 ject to such variable control, what would you think ? General 

 Pratt said fine speeches, lofty resolutions, and even immacu- 

 late laws, are only useful when they become energizing forces 

 to accomplish things ; that the vastly greater need of the 

 Indian has always been the kind of friends who would take 

 him by the hand and lead him out from the deadening seclu- 

 sions of ignorance and dearth of opportunity in the tribes on 

 the reservations, and find him welcome in the best experiences 

 of our American life, where he may have a square chance to 

 make of himself a useful citizen. What a blessing it would 

 have been if the men who made the speeches and the resolu- 

 tions had taken hold themselves and given this indispensable 

 help, and also stood firmly by and demanded a square deal 

 for those who were giving that kind of help. 



He was asked if the Indian has the same difficulty sociall}' 

 as the Negro has, whether there was the same prejudice 

 against his presence in the social life of the people. The 

 General replied he had not found that kind of prejudice ; 

 that young Indians were welcomed in every school and college 

 in the land ; that it was not a question of race, but a question 

 of preparation ; that if the Indian was fitted for recognition, 

 there were no doors closed to him, so far as his experience 

 went ; that he knew of many Indians who had abandoned 



