The messages encoded into the characters of The Lone Ranger show seem to promote, along with stereotypes associated with the American Indian population, a sort of white-man savior complex. The Lone Ranger as well as the man who is in charge of so called "Indian Affairs" act as the men who have come to "save" and "protect" the American Indian population. This clearly promotes a social hierarchy where the "White Man" is on top and the "Red Man" is on the bottom. Another contributing factor to my interpretation of The Lone Ranger as a show that perpetuates this social hierarchy is the fact that his American Indian sidekick is named Tonto. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but the fact that his name literally means 'dumb' in Spanish makes me believe that the writers of this show inadvertently wanted to convey this idea of inferiority within the American Indian population. Although some of the messages encoded into The Lone Ranger and Tonto are obviously stereotypical, there are some messages that are subtly and systematically put in there as well. For example, the criminalization of the American Indian population and their characterization as "renegades." (side note: this reminds me of the current gang injunctions imposed on the Echo Park area that state that anyone who is gang affiliated or looks like they could be gang affiliated is subject to questioning.)
This differs from the message exemplified in the Speedy cartoons because 1) there are two obvious populations: the "White Man" and the "Red Man." This makes for a more tense response because of more obvious race relations (white and American Indian as opposed to cat,duck, etc. and mouse). 2) there is an obviously "superior" or "smarter" counterpart (clearly shown in the way Tonto speaks vs. how The Lone Ranger speaks as well as the condescending way the other White characters speak to Tonto and to the other American Indian characters).
... or the "Indians" or the "Mexicans" or the "Hispanics" or the minorities or x,y,z....
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