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C. E. D. WOOD, - . _ Edltor.TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1886/THE RESERVE SYSTEM.__ ^ Indian Reserve question in the Northwest is a very delicate question to criticize, and one that the government seem most loth to make any change in. The probable reason for this ia that they think the system can not be improved upon. But the success or failure of any system can only be judged of by the results directly due to it after a sufficiently long experience of its working. The results of the system of placing the Indians on immense reserves must be estimated in the same way. It is about seven years since the Indians in treaty No. 7 settled down on tbeir reserves, and seven years should be a sufficient length of time upon which to come to a decision regarding the system. In spite of what may be said to the contrary, the experiment has been a decided and dismal failure; and in making this statement we do not by any means condemn the policy of the government. The experiment was well wortbtrying, and there was no precedent for anything better. It is to the credit of the government that they made the most of the trial, and managed every detail just as well as they could have been managed. Neither is the failure we sppak of the fault of a single employee of the Indian department from the Commissioner down. It is simply due to the fact that the system itself has turned out to be wrong, and until it had undergone several years actual trial, no human being could have said that this would be the result.The end and aim of the Indian policy has been to civilize the Indians; to tench thorn the ways of the white man, and finally to raise them to such a position that they would be able to support themselves by their own labor, and cense to be a source of danger and expense to the government. Seven years of constant labor and the expenditure of millions of dollars should have had the effect of showing some little progress towards the desired end. On many of the reserves, and on on all of them in this treaty, the agency affairs have been well and carefully managed. The agents and others have used every endeavor to do the work they were sent there for, and have nothing to reproach themselves with. But their pupils, with few exceptions, have shown litile desire to profit by their teaching. Taken as a whole the Indians in treaty 7, and we presume in other treaties as well, have not made a sengle step toward beooming self-supporting during all these seven years. Thay get the same rations, or more, to-day that they did seven years ago, and every man, woman and child getB the same amount of treaty money. They cost the government just as much now as they did the first year of the treaty, and what is there to show for this immense expenditure! The Indians have been fed. That fact accounts for a large proportion of the expenditures, but there has been an increase rather t han a diminution on this account. The agencses have been provided with good buildings for the employees, agricultural implements, tools etc.; a considerable amount of land has been broken up and cropped on each reserve by the white employees, assisted by a few Indians, and a few, very few, individual Indians have small farms of their own. Each year there is a crop of potatoes, some cf which are sold throughout the country, the produce of the Indians, which they are actually paid to raise, thus competing with that of the white settlers who must bear all the expense of production.These then are the practicul results of our seven years experience of the reserve system as at present constituted, and this, we firmly believe, will be the experience of the next ten years, if the same plan is followed. A great deal of grub eaten, a large amount of cash paid out each year, a few implements and wagons, a little land broken, some pota toes raised, our settlers injured by Indian cheap labor and the Indian himself ji all the glory of his original savage itate. Notwithstanding all that has een done for him, the average(individu-il Indian is many times worse off to-lay than he was before the white man ame to the country.The cause for this is not, as we point-d out, the fault of the department or ts employees, but simply arises from he fact that the Indians are not cap-ble of doing their share .under the exiting conditions. If the desired end is 3 be attained, some new system ofmanagement must be resorted to, and the change must be sweeping and radical.If it is begun at all, it must be carried through with a firm hand, whether the Indians like it or not. The first step must be to cut down the immense Indian reserves. This would not only prove a blessing to the country, but would be equally beneficial to the Indians. When this is done, the size of the reserve should be in the proportion of 160 acres to each Indian. The next step would be to make each Indian live on his own quarter section, and not allow them at any time to gather to-gather in large numbers at any one place. It is absurd to suppose that Indians generally, snv more than the whole race of white people, will take kindly to fanning. We know of some Indians who are natural mechanics, and there are probably other talents lying dormant, only awaiting an opportunity for development. This being so, it is natural to suppose that a good sized village would spring up on each reserve, where various trades were followed, and where there wouid be stores and churches and schools. The government could establish a place of instruction, where the boys could be taught trades, and the girls be instructed in household duties, and in such a place allow only the English language to be spoken. The first great object is to thoroughly and effectually break up the tribal relations, and the present way of living, and a hundred other things would then follow, which it is impossible to refer to in an article like this. Another suggestion is to do as we have proposed, and at the same time go further, and remove all the Indians to one big reserve out of the way os the white settlements. This is no wild scheme end well worth the attention of the government. They are recognizing the failure of the existing reserve system in the States, and taking steps to break up the tribal relations of the Indians. We should do the same, and before much more money has been expended in keeping up the old system, the good results of which are represented by a big round O.
Newspaper Details
Fort MacLeod Gazette
Fort MacLeod, Alberta, CA
Tue, Dec 07, 1886
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