War (1832) ensued, resulting in that chieftain's capture in the severe battle of Bad Axe, Wis. The government at last got 125,000 Indians beyond the Mississippi and developed its "reservation" system under our "Indian Service." On these great preserves of vir- The Reservagin soil government agents distributed rations, tion system blankets, and annuities to the Indians; and to a degree regulated the comings and goings of traders. The plan was, doubtless, good in theory; but, again, the kind of men who would engage in such work made its execution a medley of cruelty, peculation, and fraud. As eye-witnesses and victims of wrongdoing on the part of our agents, the Indians Its influence learned neither honesty nor probity. The gov- on the Indian ernment's bounty to them lessened thrift and encouraged idleness and pauperism. The system, as Secretary Cox found it in Grant's administration, partook of the general low moral tone of the public service generally and probably was the most corrupt of any department in it.' The Indian on the "Path of Empire" With a curious and ominous fatality, the most satisfactory locations for Indians in the West lay in the great river valleys up which western migration of the white man was about to flow. The Sioux in the Missouri Valley in Dakota, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes in the valleys of the Yellowstone and North Platte, the Crows to the westward, the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches in and beyond the Arkansas, directly blocked the important pathways to the Rockies (map p. 11). At first the white man's wanton destruction of the buffalo aroused the passions of the red warrior. The right-of-way for the Union Pacific and transcontinental travel through strategic South Pass had been granted 1President Roosevelt, who knew the Indian somewhat at first hand and who had a large acquaintance with men who knew him better, often spoke despairingly of the reservation system which kept the red man in "vicious idleness." Of Indians whom this system of charity had demoralized he said: "I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian." by a treaty signed at Fort Laramie, Wyo., as early as 1851; but the avalanche of hunters turned loose upon the plains with the railway's completion and their murderous attacks on the Indian's chief friend, the bison, incited rage and panic. Scarcely a single item in the buffalo's anatomy but was of use in some way to the Plains Indian. The destruction of the buffalo should have been opposed and prevented by our government, and yet nearly five million of these useful beasts were killed (largely for sport) in two years, 1872-3. Irrepressibles on both sides brought on numerous disturbances. Open war followed with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes (1863-4), the Sioux (1866-8), the Comanches and Apaches, and again with the Sioux (1876). In the latter struggle the famous Sitting Bull cornered and annihilated General Custer's command, killing every man including the brave leader, in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in southern Montana. Indian wars in the West Dawes Act At last the conscience of the nation asserted itself in behalf of its forlorn red-skinned wards, and various commissions (1867-8 and 1876) undertook the task of investigation and reformation. The old policy of treating with tribes as independent nations was discarded. By the Dawes Act (1887) Indians for the first time were allowed to hold lands (160 acres) individually, thus breaking up tribal organization and paving the way for the Indians to become citizens. Crude and unsatisfactory features of this law were corrected Burke Act by the Burke Act (1906) permitting the Indians to become citizens only when they had full title to lands which, at first, they had received only in trust. The situation to-day There are now about 300,000 Indians under government supervision. About four millions a year are spent in educating 40,000 of them. Despite all the hardships under which they have labored the Indian population is steadily increasing, having advanced from 256,127 in 1880 to 330,000 in 1919. population will be as numerous in A. centuries ago when Columbus came. It has been a "century of dishonor" in the sense that many dishonorable incidents At this rate the Indian D. 2122 as it was four have occurred, but this should hardly be laid to the door of our government. The only men capable of performing the work to be done were often incapable of performing it justly, and sometimes the tribes with whom they dealt hardly merited leniency of any kind. In recent days we have seen governmental activity reach out eager hands to its wards through the reclamation service. Many years ago the Indian Service built irrigation works on Indian reservations with some small success. The Indian and the RecIn 1907 the Reclamation Service and the Indian lamation Department began active coöperation to this Service end. In four important cases (and in others of less note) this work has gone steadily on. The Pima Project in Arizona has been completed by the Reclamation Service and turned over to the Indian Department. A flood-water canal was built on the Gila River and an electric transmission-line from the Roosevelt Dam of the Salt River Project has been run to the reservation for pumping irrigation water from wells. Five irrigation systems are planned in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana which ought to render a region the size of Rhode Island fitted to raise forage, grain, and general farm and garden produce. The Flathead Indian Project, also in Montana, contemplates the irrigation of 152,000 acres of land by means of 16 reservoirs and 900 miles of canals of varying capacity; over half the estimated area is now irrigated. Over 150,000 acres are, or will be, under irrigation in the Fort Peck Project in extreme northeastern Montana when the plans now being worked out are completed. READING LIST 1. CIVIL SERVICE: S. P. Orth, The Boss and the Machine (Chronicles of America, XLIII); H. Howland, Theodore Roosevelt and His Times (Chronicles of America, XLVII), Chap. 3; Paxson, Chap. 8; E. E. Sparks, National Development, Chaps. 10 and 12; Dewey, National Problems, Chap. 2; C. R. Fish, The Civil Service and the Patronage; L. G. Tyler, Parties and Patronage. 2. THE INDIANS: E. Hough, The Passing of the Frontier, Chap. 7; F. E. Leupp, The Indian; H. H. Jackson, A Century of Dishonor; G. A. Forsythe, The Story of the Soldier; G. B. Grinnell, The Story of the Indian. QUERY AND DISCUSSION Give an outline of civil service reform. Why did such reform become more urgent with the growth of the nation? Could great American firms have developed without the adoption of similar methods “in principle”? Describe the Indian reservation system. What other system might have been adopted? Could reservations have been located so as not to interfere with the white man's advance? Have the Indians in Mexico fared better than those in the United States? Have our Indians suffered because of the system of politics in this country? Should the "government" be held liable for this? Persistence of Democratic Section 53. Tariff Reform In every election since the Civil War the line of difference on tariff which existed in the old days between the Whig and Democratic parties has shown itself. The Democratic party has held to the theory expressed in the Walker Bill of 1846 and has usually favored revision of duties downward. That party declared openly for free trade in 1856 and, in 1857, lowered the average duty on imports to about 20 per cent. in the belief that "tariff for revenue only" was all that should be levied. The great volume of imports at that time justified that policy. With the coming of the Civil War imports fell off and expenses grew by leaps and bounds. The Morrill Tariff Bill, raising The Morrill Bill and war tariffs for revenue duties, was passed in 1861 by the Republicans, who inherited the Whig policy of "protection." During the war extraordinary expenses demanded extraordinary revenue and tariffs were raised accordingly. But by the end of the war the industrial North had so profited by war tariffs that the Republican party was said to be wholly in the grasp of plutocrats; and strong Democratic districts in the Middle Atlantic States likewise favored the luxury of high tariffs. Two influences strengthened the Republicans in their decision to hold to the protection idea. Under the protective duties levied in war-times our national wealth grew from sixteen billions in 1860 to forty-three billions in 1880. Much of this increase was due to war-time pro tection rates; foreign goods had to pay such a duty that homemade goods could be sold at a liberal profit. Secondly, immigration (which came almost wholly to the North, the industrial region) now reached a height never known before; in 1882 788,992 immigrants arrived and this foreign population began to be a real asset in the American industrial problem. This record of prosperity, due in part to war-time protection and partly to foreign labor, gave the Republicans the following party slogan for the ensuing forty years: The Repubthe Tariff must be enough to cover the difference theory between cost of production (including wages) at home and the cost of production abroad. Only thus, Republicans claimed, could our scale of wages be maintained. This platform had its good points. economists, however, denied its logic. goods were admitted free they would be so cheap that high wages would be unnecessary. Among the people at large (in the industrial North at least) this argument has not gained much ground. In any case, experiments in tariff changing are costly. lican tariff Many of our best trained alliance with The Republican doctrine involved a danger. It would naturally be popular with the employer class, the capitalists. Under the wing of the Republican party, mills, factories, and shops could grow and prosper if Evils of an protected from foreign competition. The danger capitalism here is evident; whenever a new tariff schedule was to be framed each industry (as wool or steel, which desired protection) would court the favor, personally or through coöperative associations, of the tariff schedule-makers in Congress. And, more dangerous still, campaign funds would be contributed by those desiring protection and their influence over voters in their pay might be great. It is evident, then, that any party making protection its battle-cry might come to be called the "Party of Big Business," "owned by the capitalists," "tool of the trusts," etc. Unfortunately the Republican party did not control the only weapon which could defend it from criticisms. This weapon, or tool, was in the hands of the capitalists themselves. They might, |