.

THE WARS OF THE SECTS

It was a genuine calamity for our people when this system was
overthrown, as it was in a few years, by the clamor of the politicians
for patronage, together with the sectarian disputes that have been a
scandal to the heathen throughout the history of Christian missions. On
many reservations proselyting work had been begun by two or more
denominations, and these bodies now became rivals, even bitter and
hostile rivals, for the souls and bodies of their reputed converts. To
the Catholics, in particular, who claimed thirty-eight of the
seventy-two agencies, on the ground of prior religious influence, there
had been assigned but eight. Strong pressure was brought to bear
through their Bureau of Missions to reverse this ruling; and equally
strong, or stronger, was the political pressure for the rich spoils of
the Indian agencies. By 1883 Grant's too idealistic system broke down
entirely, the fat offices were returned to the politicians, and all
denominations were permitted to engage at will in missionary propaganda,
but without secular authority.

A certain chief in the Red River region well expressed a view common
among our people when he said to the priest: "You tell us that we can be
saved only if we accept your faith and are baptized by you. The
Protestant minister tells us the same. Yet both claim to worship the
same God! Who shall judge between you? We have considered the matter,
and decided that when your two roads join we will follow you; but until
then we prefer our own religion!"

Nevertheless it was largely through the influence of the missionaries
and their converts that in most of the treaties made during this period
there were inserted clauses providing for the practical education of the
Indian children. There has been much fraud connected with the purchase
of materials and supplies, and in every way that shrewd and
unprincipled men can devise, but even the politicians could not entirely
prevent the building of those schools. One fact stands out boldly: it
was the Christian missionary, in spite of serious mistakes, who played
the most important part in the transformation of the Indian and the
development of the West.

MODERN "FRIENDS OF THE INDIAN"

From this time on the old view of the Indian as a hopeless savage has
been gradually abandoned, and replaced by the juster modern view which
regards him as essentially a man, and as good material for the future
citizen. The volu