The Commoner.
he generally understood that in the struggle ,
Rtween an empire and a republic, the sy Ea
rthy of this government is with the empire
id against the republic. And no representa
tive of this administration would be permitted
Kb do any act that might be construed as show-
g a friendly feeling for the South African
uichmen who are struggling in defense of
mstitutional government, who are fighting in
ehalf of a republican form of government,
fwho are battling against the encroachments of
ten empire, who are sacrificing their lives and
Rheir fortunes in defense of their homes.
The administration need not bti alarmed
lest confidence will be given to the rumors that
any representative of this administration has
done anything distasteful to Great Britain, or
iauy thing in the interest of peace, or anything
fcthat might indicate a friendly feeling for the
-republicans of South Africa.
It is, indeed; humiliating to many men and
Kwomen in the United States that their country
ds placed in a position wholly antagnostic to its
I traditions and thoroughly inconsistent with its.
!time honored principles. It is humiliating that
Won at homo our laws are so interpreted that
the British empire may secure from this "land
of the free and homo of the brave" tho products
essential to carrying on tho British war in
the South African republics; it is humiliating
rlhat the president of the Transvaal republic is
justified in sending to tho American people the
message "Tell them they are helping to mur-
der us."
The Indian Problem.
Another Chicago University professor has
distinguished himself. Professor Frederick
Starr has declared that the American Indian
cannot bo christianized. Ho thinks it is best
to leave tho Indian alone, permitting him to
work out his own salvation. Professor Starr
says:
"The Chinese and Indian are alike in that only
the weak-minded or characterless are ever con
verted to Christianity. .
"The system of education is a failure. Keep
r, XT ! "m n ot 41 MMlnHirntnn 4f 1a wtln4 v.sm.
LUU icu man uu. wo icoci vuuuu, iui uu nuut jruu.
will an Indian can never he anything hut an Ind
ian while he lives, no matter how you keep him in
the world among the white people. Give reserva
tion schools to the Indians. If sent away to
schools the young Indians return ashamed of their
parents and spoiled for home life under the reser
vation system.
"Let the Indians continue to make their bask
ets and pottery, not because it is' particularly beau
tiful, but because it is their own. The Indians
have -thought out the scheme of work and decora
tion for themselves. Besides there is a demand
for that Indian work.
"The Indian lives truer to his ideals and to
nature than we do. Therefore let us keep him at
home."
A young Indian woman writing to tho Chi
cago American, points out a few instances of
what she regards as at least hopeful results of
an effort to civilize the Indian.
Princeton has just graduated a young Seneca
Indian, Howard Gansworth, who has worked his
way through college.
, Frank Cayou, an Omaha Indian, is working
his , way through the University of Illinois and
making a fine record.
Four young Indian women of the Chippewa
and Pueblo tribes are working their way through
normal schools of tho east.
Tho four boys who form tho Y. M. C. A. quar
tette at Carlisle, are learning trades, and all are
in the school band which will play at Buffalo.
Fanny Harris and Alice McCarty of tho Sac
and Fox tribe, Carlisle graduates, are teachers in
tho Indian service.
Di4.' Cades Montezuma, a full-blooded Apache,
la a well-known Chicago physician.
While there are some failures and disappoint
ments, still the percentage is so small that no one
should hesitate to giye his red brother or sister
a helpfng hand toward a higher and nobler life.
It is not true that only tho weak minded or
characterless among tho Indians aro converted
to Christianity. Many of us know of many
individual instances where strong minded In
dians, full of character, have been converted to
Christianity, and through tho process of edu
cation have becomp good citizens. Tho sug
gestion that because tho Indians can make bas
kets and pottery thoy Bhould be encouraged only
in that lino and that we should give up all hope
of civilizing them is an interesting suggestion
to bo made by a professor of a leading univer
sity in a country that now assumes to civilize
a people in tho orient and to teach them tho
arts of government.
If we must confess our inability oven to
christianize the Indians with whose habits and
characteristics we have become quite familiar
with what reason shall we claim that as a prac
tical proposition wo aro justified in teaching
the art of government and establishing law,
order and morals in tho Philippine Islands'?
If wo must admit that tho Indian problem
is too great a problem for "us to solve, tKbn
with what reason will wo undertake to solve
tHo larger problem of controlling, against their
will, the people of tho Philippine Islands?
A Dangerous Law.
A praotico that needs immediate correction
has been exposed by tho deputy attorney-general
for. Indiana. The facts are described by
tho Chicago Tribune as follows:
"The recent case in Indianapolis, in which a
sane man was thrown into an asylum on a false
affidavit, has led to the discovery of an organized
conspiracy among dispensary doctors for making
money by such methods. Deputy Attorney Gen
eral Hadley's investigation shows that a clique
of dishonest employes in city institutions had
formed a pool by which the fees due to Individual
doctors were divided pro rata among all. In tho
last year and a half these conspirators have
made affidavits declaring hundreds of sane per
sons to be lunatics, and have pocketed the fees
which the Indiana law foolishly allows In such
cases. The usual method was for a matron or
ambulance driver to make an affidavit of tho In
sanity of some person and then have two physi
cians belonging to the same department follow up
the affidavit with medical opinions declaring tho
patient not Insane. Apparently both the affidavit
and the expert opinion were rendered by persons
who knew nothing about the mental condition of
the supposed patient. Tho doctors collected their
fees for tho alleged investigation, dividing the
money with the other members of the pool. Em
ployes in the City Dispensary, police station, arid
City hospital aro all implicated in tho affair. The
attorney-general reports that seventy-nine cases
of this kind have been carried through by the em
ployes of the City Dispensary alone. While tho
fraud has resulted chiefly In robbing the public
treasury, it has also jeopardized the liberty of th
persons whoso names were used by tho conspira
tors, and in at lenst one case It caused a sane man
to be consigned to an insane asylum."
Tho people of Jndiana should lose no timo
in amending tho law which provides fecs,for
those who successfully assail tho insanity of an
individual. When a person's sanity is ques
tioned that person is absolutely helpless as' to
protest or defense so far as his own statements
are concerned. It is readily pointed out that
every insane person insists upon his Banity,
and tho protestations of one charged with a
disease of tho mind aro ignored. . m
There is no question upon which tho laws
should bo more clear and intelligent than upon
tho question of insanity. Every possible pro
tection should bo given to tho individual in tho
hope that it would bo impossible in this coun
try for a sano person to bo declared insane.
And yet it cannot bo doubted that today in
many states there aro people convicted of in
sanity who aro tho victims of persons who
wore interested in establishing tho fact of insanity.
"Some Frozen Facts.
yv
Tho Columbus Press-Post makes an inter
esting presentation under the headline "Some
Frozen Facts Concerning Perjury." In 1898,
for instance, a committee of investigation re
ported that while tho tax returns showed that
the people of Cleveland had only $1,800,593 in
cash, there was on deposit in Cleveland banks
nearly $0.3,000,00,0. According to tho tax, re
turns,1 tho people of Toledo had in cash' $253,
087., whil6 tho banks had on deposit $8,120,
121. Tho tax returns showed that tho peo
ple of Columbus had something more than $1,
000,000 in cash, but the Columbus banks had.
on deposit $4,357,352. Tho Post-Press mado
an examination of the statements filed in tho
assessor's office and these aro some of its
conclusions.
"A great manufacturer who lives Jn one of tho
largest houses in the city and on ono of Jhe most
fashionable streets thinks that all that he has in
tho way ot horses, carriages, jewelry, household
furniture, books, pictures, etc., Is worth no' more
than $440. ,
"A leading broker, reported to bo worth a
quarter of a million, thinks his possessions ought
not to bo taxed to a greater extent than $667.23.
''A leading banker who lives generously in a
large house which is filled with beautiful and val
uable things, and whose family diamonds are
noted, finds that he Is worth in all about $400."
The Press-Post calls attention to what in
conceded to be a growing evil in all parts of
the country the ovil of misstatement in re-:
turning property for taxation. That news
paper says:
"It is evident that our high tax-rate of nearly.
3 per cent is the result of the grossest fraud and
perjury committed every year by all classes "of
perbons, and especially by those who ought, on ac
count of their success or fortunate condition in
life, to be perfectly willing to bear at least their. '
full share of the burdens of maintaining the gov-'
ernment."
There are many men who would not make
a misstatement under oath concerning ordi
nary things of life who do not hesitate to make
1 1
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