eye to the work that is being done there and that is needed to be done.

I have been acquainted with the Indians now fourteen years, having worked among them considerably during this time, and feel more and more interested in their welfare, in elevating and christianizing them to a higher life. May God help you to sustain this great work. E. M. WEESNER.

SECRETARY TELLER TO COLONEL TAPIAN.

Secretary Teller recently wrote a letter to Col. S. F. Tappan, Superintendent of the Indian School, at Genoa, Nebraska, in which he says:

"That education is the best which enables a person to take care of himself to the best advantage. He who can feed and clothe himself without the assistance of others is at least partially educated, whether he can read or not. If you can teach him to speak the English language, supply himself with suitable food and clothing, make and maintain a home for himself and his family, you will accomplish a great work.

"Care of the body is the first requirement to the attainment of civilization, and it is useless to give an Indian a scholastic education unless he has also the ability to supply his physical wants. The white boy and girl, brought up in a country where all the people are engaged in supplying their wants by labor, have no difficulty when thrown out on their own resources to do the same. The boy that has seen his father plow, mow and gather the fruits of the field, will do it without special instruction. Not so with an Indian; he must be taught how to hold the plow, how to prepare and keep in order his scythe, when to put in and harvest his crop, and a thousand things acquired by farmers' sons by observation, must be taught specially to an Indian youth.

"But above all, the Indian boy must be taught the advantage of steady, continuous labor. He must be trained to do what he has never seen done, and what he has been taught it is not manly to do. I want to impress on your mind that if you must neglect either, it should be his literary studies and not his manual labor exercises. I much prefer to know that he can plow, sow and harvest than to know that he has made great attainments in a literary way. I write this because I fear there is a very general disposition to overlook the great advantage of the instruction intended to enable him to support himself.

"Great care should be exercised that they do not acquire habits of living that will be so far above their

without the use of mowing machines and reapers, if pos sible.

Very few Indians will be able to purchase expensive machinery with which to carry on farming operations, and they should be taught to sow grain by hand, cultivate corn with plow and hoe, and cut grass with scythe and grain with hand cradle, and to care for it after it is cut. I also suggest that you should teach both boys and girls to milk the cows. The girls should be taught to make butter, cheese and curds, as well as do all the household work, such as cooking, washing, making and merding clothes."

BACK numbers of THE COUNCIL FIRE from the first of the year, can be furnished to all new subscribers..

Together with his thrilling lecture on the Modoc war, entitled "THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS." steel portrait of Colonel Meacham, and wood engravings of Dr. Thomas, General Canby, Captain Jack, Scarface Charley, Boston Charley, Wi-ne-ma, and others.

In paper covers, 25 cents; elegant cloth binding, $1.00.
Address:

T. A. BLAND, Washington, D. C.
SPRING LEAF TEA

At 50 Cents a Pound,

ability to meet that they will become discouraged, and EQUAL IN FLAVOR TO THE USUAL $1 TEA. fail to be benefited by their schooling. They have plenty of good land, and if they have acquired habits of By authority of the United States Patent Office the name is industry and economy, they will be able to take care of made a "TRADE-MARK,” and granted for my exclusive use. themselves in comfort, but not in luxury. I think all None genuine without my name on the wrapper of the package. Sold only in paper packages. the appointments about the school should be plain and inexpensive. They should be accustomed to plain clothes and plain living, having only occasionally enough price, and one cent extra per ounce to pay postage. Small samof the luxuries of life to stimulate them to er deavor to ples sent free to any one who wishes to try it.

secure for themselves all the advantages of civilization.

I want as little as possible done with machinery, and I shall be pleased to know that you do your farm labor

Sent by mail to all parts of the United States on receipt of

N. W. BURCHELL,

1325 F Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

us that there are many excellent people who think they have mastered the Indian problem, who really know very little about it, but who, unfortunately for the Indians, honestly think that they know all that is necessary to enable them to formulate an Indian policy that is perfect in all its essential features. The writer meets

The above sentence may be adopted by the Indian with as much propriety and uttered with as much earnestness as by him who first, or anyone who has since, felt himself in danger from the effect of well meant but unwise action of friends. Zeal without knowledge is scarcely less dangerous to a good cause than the cunning oppo- representatives of this class quite frequently. Some sition of those who openly oppose it; sometimes it is more years ago (1875) I met a distinguished clergyman of fatal. Sympathy for the poor Indian and zeal in his New York, and in the course of an informal conversacause have, within a few years, developed much more tion, I mentioned the fact that I had been greatly inrapidly than has knowledge of the Indian question. structed as well as entertained by a lecture in Cooper There are thousands of people privately or publicly de- Institute Hall on the Indian question, the lecturer being manding justice for the red man, to one who fully un- Col. A. B. Meacham, and this the first time I had the derstands the Indian's character and the policy that is pleasure of hearing him. I was surprised at the response needed to be adopted, if that much misunderstood and that my remark called out, "Yes, Colonel Meacham is greatly wronged race is to be preserved from extermi- a very eloquent speaker and an excellent man, honest nation, and ultimately become free, independent, intelli- and earnest, but he don't know anything about Ingins." gent and useful citizens of this nation. This statement I said, "Why Doctor, I was impressed with the Colonel's will hardly be questioned. Our observation convinces vast fund of facts drawn from his own personal obser

vation and experience among the Indians, much more tion to the visitors, who came away fully impressed

than by his eloquence. I knew that I had only a theoretical knowledge of Indians drawn from history, written by the foes of the Indians, and here is a man, I said, "who can instruct me and enable me to revise my opinions on the Indian question."

"Oh, his facts are all right, but his policy is wrong. I've got an Indian policy that I know is sound, and it's the policy that must ultimately be adopted and I be. lieve will be."

that the Indian problem is in a fair way of being solved. The system provides half-day work and half-day study. possibilities of the Indian to the extent of his ability And the superintendent of the school believes in the to learn anything taught him whether in or out of books, as readily as the white child can learn it. That simple but vital fact being once established, the rest of the problem will meet with a comparatively easy solution. In connection with any discussion of this whole subject, the recently reported testimony of men whose active experience has brought them for years in contact with the Indian tribes, is of the utmost interest. General Pope states that the Navajoes, of New Mexico, are virtually a civilized tribe. He has known them for twenty-five years, and he said that they had always been regarded as much more civilized than the tribes tery, and herd their own sheep and cattle. "The Apaches, on the contrary," said the General, "are a wild, lawless lot, always fighting." Nevertheless, he saw no future for the civilized and peaceful Navajoes. Why Because the whites are pressing them on the East, and the Mormons on the West, and there is no place for them to go. The whites, he said, are bound to have their land. No power on earth can keep them out. But the Navajoes cannot risk their numerous possessions in war, and this is their weakness.

This policy I learned was capable of being summed up into the following formula: "Immediately depose all Indian chiefs, break up all tribal relations, force land in severalty and full citizenship upon all nations, and then establish schools among them to educate them in litera-around them. They make their own blankets and potture and the industrial arts."

Southern Arizona, he considered them quiet and peace-
Respecting the Pinos, Gumas, and Papagoes, tribes of

This man had, like myself, only a second-hand knowledge of Indians. He was therefore entirely ignorant of the Indian as he is in his real character and in his native home, with traditions, habits and customs, inherited from a long line of patriarchal ancestry, whom he holds in profound reverence, and whose teachings form the basis of the religion of his life and the guide of his conduct. He did not, could not know, that to attempt to compel the Indian to become a white man at once would be a disastrous failure, unless the object were ex-ably disposed, and apprehended no future trouble from termination. Colonel Meacham held that to succesfully change the Indian into a white man (that is, make an American citizen of him), we must recognize his manhood, treat him and his religion with respect, keep faith with him as a people and as a nation, and kindly, but persistently teach him our religion, our literature, our modes of civil life, our laws and our domestic habits. After nine years of special study of the Indian and the Indian problem, I am firmly convinced that Colonel Meacham's policy is sound and practicable, and that of the Rev. Doctor referred to, false and dangerous.

VOICING THE VIEWS OF THE ENEMY.

The following article appears in a recent issue of the Banner of Light, and we quote it chiefly for the purpose of making some remarks about it:

THE INDIANS AND THEIR EDUCATION.

In any attempt to instruct the children of nature in the ways and means of civilized life, it is of course necessary to begin with the rudiments. This is the basis of the theory on which their education has already been begun by the Government, in the establishment of its Indian schools at Carlisle and Hampton. The Indian Bureau is reported as being very well satisfied with the result of the late Indian Affairs Committee to the school at Carlisle, in Pennsylvania. The work of the Indian boys and girls is said to have been a real revela

them of any kind-as their isolated and barren lands
offered no particular temptation to white despoilers.
dian problem is to relieve the Indians from the pressure
The only rational way, in his opinion, to solve the In-
of emigration. As long as thousands of people are
pushing towards those reservations, the effort to take the
land from the Indian will only increase, and it cannot
long be resisted. He thought the way to solve this
problem was for the Government to buy land in the
it could purchase.
Western States, and settle the Indians on farms which

General Pope's idea is that the chief cause of the difficulty in dealing with the Indians where they now are is in their surroundings. Any one, he says, who has himself seen the class of whites that habitually swarm around a reservation, and manage by hook or crook to get upon it, knows how impossible it is to educate or improve the Indian in the midst of it. It is not the fault or peculiarity of the Indian; no people could be improved under such conditions. The best and only thing to do is to improve those conditions, but he was afraid that is now impossible. At any rate, he said he did not himself see how it could be done. The Government, if it had so chosen, might have done it years ago; but at the present time, and since that cannot be, it would be best, he thought, to move the Indians to places where the conditions would be more favorable. If you get them, said he, east of the tide emigration, they will be in the midst of a peaceable, settled population, who are at least not unfavorably disposed toward them, and who would set them a decent example.

He said he had advocated such a plan, and urged it upon the Government for the last twenty-five years; but with no effect. He thought it would be a simple, inexpensive and satisfactory solution of the whole matter. In this direction, the Indian Rights Association is, in his view, doing good work, and he expressed himself as very glad to see it begun at last. If it shall succeed in arousing public attention, the conditions which are preventing the advancement of the Indian can be removed. He can then become quietly merged in our population, so far as he is educated and stands on his own feet. The account from which we have thus drawn General Pope's views on this subject contains also those of a Col. IIunter, one of a firm of the largest cattle-ranch firms in the country, with its headquarters at St. Louis. This firm has leased large tracts of grazing land in Indian Territory, and Col. Hunter has had long experience with the Indians, having employed them as herders. On being interviewed on this subject, he gave his views and opinions without reserve.

He said his firm had large ranches in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, and Indian Territory. They had leased large tracts of land from the Cheyennes, the Comanches, and the Arapahoes. He described the terms of his leases, which are an advantage to the Indian, while profiting the white man. At the outset, Congress was asked to authorize the lease, and a plan was proposed. It was, that the payments should be made semi-annually, in money, to some trustworthy person whom the Secretary of the Interior should appoint, who should invest the money all in cattle, take charge of the herd thus formed and build it up, selling the steers each year and putting the proceeds into breeding cattle. In this way, wheu after ten years the lease had run out, the Indians would have a herd large enough to occupy the land then to be returned to them. Their herd could be kept together till that time, and then be divided so that each head of a family could have a good sized herd; and there would be no such temptation to kill the cattle as is at present the case with the few they own.

annual installments; and have already made three such payments, amounting to nearly one hundred thousand dollars. But the Indians do not receive the money in accordance with their plan. The traders have succeeded in getting them to take money, because it is to their own advantage. The money is divided up, and in three weeks it is all back in the traders' hands again, given for articles mostly useless. "You see," said Col. Hunter, "the white man is more unscrupulous and not so honest as the Indian, and does not feel in the least bound by his word, as the Indian does. Of course, therefore, the white man gets the best of it. It would be so anywhere," He said he had employed Indians as herders, though not on the territory ranch, because he had no cattle there as yet. The fencing has been going on, and cattle will be put on there this season. He said for the Indian that he makes a first-rate herder, and that his firm should employ just as many as it could get to work. This will educate them to take care of their own herds when the

time comes.

Col. Hunter said he had been among the Indians in the Territory for twenty years, and he added, "I have no hesitation in saying they are a fine race of men. They work well and faithfully." He had heard many men state the contrary, but he thought they either could not speak from experience or were too much prejudiced to speak fairly. He considered that good agents were the best thing to improve their condition. He thought the policy of Congress in paying such small salaries was absurd. Look, said he, by way of explanation, at the amount of money, the flour, the food, etc., of which an agent has to take charge; and even supposing him to be honest-as few men will be with a salary but half large enough to live on-think of the waste which a man will make who does not understand business. Agents should, in his opinion, be paid not less than five thousand dollars a year instead of fifteen hundred dollars. An efficient agent gets no credit; all the money goes back into the Treasury. It requires a man of energy, force and great will-power, to be an Indian agent. The present economy is a senseless one, which wastes more than it saves. But he thought the Indian Rights Association was working in a common-sense, business-like way, that would accomplish something.

OUR CRITICISM: First of all we wish to say that the Banner of Light is in full sympathy with the sentiment which actuates all true philanthropists-the sentiment of justice toward the Indians. Yet the above editorial, written, without doubt, with the best intentions, is almost wholly a resume of the false and specious views of the foes of the Indians, and of those who have no object

But for some reason this plan failed to be accepted by Congress, although he thought no friend of the Indian could ask better terms. A bill was passed instead, authorizing the leasing of Indian lands, but directing that the money so received, instead of going to the Indians, to whom it rightfully and solely belonged, should go into the United States Treasury! A greater meanness for a great nation to be guilty of is hardly conceivable. The Indians would thus see their own lands leased from their control, and the returns going into other hands, and hands, too, that failed to give them even so much as protection. When people are discussing the Indian question, let them bear in mind a fact of such significance as this. All the Indians would get by such a plan but to rob them. To the first part of the article which would be their regular annuities, and they would thus deals with the education of the Indians, we shall not be compelled to provide them themselves. The govern- object particularly, as it is in the main sound. So is the ment saved just so much of the annuities to the Treasury by this sharp and mean process. After a year, however, Congress authorized the Indians to lease their land and receive payment in money or cattle; and under this bill Col. Hunter's firm now work their leases on Indian lands. They pay sixty-three thousand dollars, he said, in semi

statement quoted from Gen. Pope about the civil status of the Navajoes. But his estimate of the Apaches is unjust. The tacit admission, or rather the positive statement that, "No power on earth can keep the whites from dispossessing the Indians," is the opinion, alone, of the