Feb 18, 1881 - It is in Colorado that people offer bounties for Indian scalps, meeting the savages on own their ground, as it were. A policy which presupposes that the Indian is a human being is stigmatized as “Boston philanthropy.”

INDIANS AND SKUNKS

1881 Feb 18, The New York Times 

             The Legislation of Colorado has under consideration a bill “for the destruction of Indians and skunks.” This bill was introduced in the House a few weeks since by Representative Coulter, of Clear Creek, and was reported to a special committee, of which Mr Coulter was made Chairman. Subsequently, it was reported back to the House with a recommendation that it should pass. An official copy of the bill, duly stamped with all the marks employed to give authenticity to the document, would have been needed to show that the law makers of Colorado have actually considered this extraordinary proposition. As legislators, even in the free and untrammeled West, are not so confirmed practical jokers as to print and refer bills which are introduced only “for fun,” we must believe that the proposition of the gentle Coulter was made in good faith, and that it has been favorably considered by the Legislature of Colorado. To class Indians and skunks together is the habit of the free and boundless West. Only the sickly sentimentalists of the East demur at such a classification. It is in Colorado that people offer bounties for Indian scalps, meeting the savages on own their ground, as it were. A policy which presupposes that the Indian is a human being is stigmatized as “Boston philanthropy.” 

       Senator Teller represents in Congress the Colorado idea. He is a believer in the truth of the saying that all the good Indians are dead. His colleague, Senator Hill, is troubled with weak human sympathies. He is not in favor of an extermination of the Indians. And a Colorado paper lately complained of him that he represents New England, and has been in consequences, “a fraud upon Colorado.” And it was added: “He is a nice man, but he don’t boldly take high Colorado ground.” We are glad to know what high Colorado ground really is. It is a ground on which the Indian and the skunk meet on a common level. The genial Coulter, who represents the true Colorado sentiment, says in the preamble to his bill that the Utes have made several unjust discriminations in their prefatory incursions and murders, and that Secretary Schurz is a monument of the friendly consideration of the red man. In the same preamble it is provided that “prosperity may follow in the wake of the pioneers, until every nook in the far West is settled by happy and thriving communities, and that every representative of the Ute family and the red man at large may become good Indians.” That is to say, as the Indians have only killed those who have attempted to exterminate them, they should themselves be exterminated, in order that there should be peace and prosperity in the land.

      The Colorado idea, according to Mr Coulter is that a bounty of $25 should be offered for Indian and skunk scalps, which bounty shall be paid out of the State Treasure on the presentation “ of such scalp, or scalps, with the ears entire,” together, with an affidavit setting forth the needful facts in the case. The sentimentalists of the East, we apprehend, will regard this bill (which has been favorably reported upon in the Colorado Legislature) as cowardly and inhumane. There is a prejudice among our effete and sentimental people in favor of bravery, humanity, and justice. This, of course, is a weakness which characterizes only high conservative and unprogressive communities. In the free and boundless West where the people are not fettered by traditions, nor swayed by consideration of sickly sentimentality, it is the custom of the country to class Indians with vermin, both of which are to be exterminated. And an enlightened Legislature, in order that the far West may be settled by happy and thriving communities, is asked to authorize the State of Colorado to pay a bounty of $25 for each scalp of Indian or skin, “with ears attached,” which may be offered by any lover of civilization, humanity, and progress.

      It is barely possible that the Colorado Legislature, forgetting for a moment that dignity and decorum which usually characterizes the law-making power of the State, has lent itself to a practical joke. Possibly, Coulter, whoever he may be, has been permitted to air his own personal notions at the public expense. And it may be that when Senator Hill is rated because he does not occupy “high Colorado ground,” but New-England sentimentalism, he is the subject of a playful jest. But, since Senator Teller, and other representatives of Colorado opinion, do insist that the good Indians are dead Indians, we are forbidden to entertain the belief that Coulter is a joker, and that the Colorado Legislature is accessory to the joke. The Centennial State, as it proudly calls itself, has the exclusive honor or proposing to offer a bounty on the scalps of skunks and Indians. But it should be borne in mind by these complacent legislators, who have just driven from their own lands the aborigines whom they have goaded into reprisals that two can play at the game of scalp-hunting. Providence, in its inscrutable wisdom, has invented Indians, skunks, and Coulter. These seem to be at war with each other. An impartial public, in favor of nothing but fair play, waits to see which of the three natural antagonists shall first lose his scalp. 

                         Note: What cost $25. in 1881 would cost $644.62 in 2017.

1881 Feb 18, The New York Times