, and the formation of a corrupt "Indian ring" whose
ramifications extended so deep and so high that even the most sincere
and disinterested despaired of obtaining justice. Yet the average
American citizen honestly wants to give the Indian a fair chance!

To sum up, he had been an indomitable foe, and occupied a vast region
which by 1870 was already beat upon by the tides of settlement. Two
things were determined upon: First, he must be induced, bribed, or
forced to enter the reservation. Second, he must be trained and
persuaded to adopt civilized life, and so saved to the future if he
proved to be worth saving, which many doubted. In order to carry out
these projects his wild food supply had to be ruthlessly cut off, and
the buffalo were of necessity sacrificed.

Here is a system which has gradually taken its present complicated form
during two thousand years. A primitive race has put it on ready made, to
a large extent, within two generations. In order to accomplish such a
feat, they had to fight physical demoralization, psychological
confusion, and spiritual apathy. In other words, the old building had to
be pulled down, foundations and all, and replaced by the new. But you
have had to use the same timber!

CHAPTER V

THE INDIAN IN SCHOOL

The thought of educating the natives of America was first conceived by
the earliest explorer-priests, prompted by ecclesiastical ambition and
religious zeal. Churches and missionary societies among the early
colonists undertook both to preach and teach among the children of the
forest, who, said they, "must either be moralized or exterminated."
Schools and missions were established and maintained among them by the
mother churches in England and Scotland, and in a few cases by the
colonists themselves. It was provided in the charters of our oldest
colleges that a certain number of Indian pupils should be educated
therein, and others, as Dartmouth and Hamilton, were founded primarily
for Indian youth. The results, though meagre, were on the whole
deserving of consideration. In the middle of the eighteenth century
there were said to be some Indian boys in Stockbridge, Mass., who "read
English well," and at Harvard several excelled in the classics. Joseph
Brant, though a terror to the colonists during the Revolution, was a man
of rare abilities and considerable education; and Samson Occum, the most
famous educated Indian of his day, was not only an eloquent preacher and
s