Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/496

476 being efficient helpers of their own race have been educated by the whites in academies and colleges, on farms and in manufactories, that they might impart to others, in their own way, some share of their own attainments and experience. Zealous missionaries, with or without families of their own, and supported by their various religious denominations, have resided and labored among several of the tribes. These have sometimes proved to have more zeal than practical good sense or aptitude for the work. As might naturally have been expected, in conformity with what was said on an earlier page of this volume, such missionaries report to us different views of the Indians than do soldiers or frontiersmen whose relations with the savages are so unlike. But discouragement and failure have not infrequently disheartened even these missionaries. We may say of the Indians, as indeed we may also of the whites, that religious dogmas avail but little for the sterner work of life.

The most promising measures and methods for the relief and the elevation of the natives are those which are just now on vigorous trial as a part of the “Peace Policy” of our Government. This matter will engage our attention in the concluding chapter of this volume. Here it needs only to be said that all the most hopeful interest of our present efforts centres upon the principle, adopted as an axiom, that the Indian must be rid of all his savage qualities and habits by being, even compulsorily, subjected to civilizing processes, before he can receive any real benefit from our religion or humanity. This alone can protect him from the hostilities of his own race, and from the aggressions of the whites. In connection with the agencies supported by the Government among the Indians, the various religious denominations are invited at their own charges to send missionaries to reside among them. So far as these devote themselves to secular education also, and to teaching and aiding industrial pursuits, the Government furnishes them aid in funds and materials.