Page 146

THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN AS A
LABORER: HIS VALUE AS A WORKER AND
A CITIZEN: BY C. H. FORBES-LINDSAY
ration-fed reservation Indian will soon be alto-
her a creature of the picturesque past. The last of
lands held as communal property will, in the course
the next few years, be allotted to their owners in
'eralty and our aboriginal wards will finally become
orhod in the hndv nolifie n~ indfrnendpnt nand plf-
supporting citizens. Wisely, considering the poor preparation we
have given them for the struggle of competitive life, the emancipated
Indians will continue for some time to enjoy the paternal protection
of the "Great Father." Their lands will be subject to the trusteeship
of the government, and the laws which have operated as a barrier
between them and their most insidious enemy-ardent spirits-will
be maintained, if possible. Aid and guidance will be extended, in
the first steps upon the path of freedom; but the Indian will be re-
quired to work and to sustain himself by his own efforts.
   When we consider the conditions under which the Indian is sud-
denly launched out into the state of self-supporting citizenship and
set in competition with the strenuous white man, the future would
seem to be fraught with sinister promise for the redskin. His heredi-
tary predilections and the enforced habit of latter years tend to render
him antipathetic to independent effort. Personal ambition could find
no scope in the ancient communal policy of the tribes. The succeeding
reservation system was, if possible, more restraining in this respect,
as it stunted effort even to the extent of suppressing the primary
motive of human endeavor-that of self-preservation. As a charge
of the United States, the Indian has been segregated from the outer
world, supplied with gratuitous food and blankets, and cut off from
the exercise of useful activities.  But the sum of his handicap is not
reached by these disabling conditions. He has a racial dislike for
the white man and a rooted suspicion of his good faith, both senti-
ments being born of bitter experience. He is generally wanting in
the qualities that make for success in agriculture. He has an inherent
aversion to manual labor and utterly lacks the bent for mechanical
pursuits. Withal, he entertains the deepest dislike to innovation of
any kind, is extremely disinclined to separation from his tribal com-
munity and loathes discipline and restraint.
   Knowledge of the heavy disadvantages with which the Indian
must contend in his struggle for a satisfactory place in our industrial
146