The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1888-06

              Word Carrier.
VOLt/ME   XV11.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
OUR PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education] We want American Homes I
We ivant American Rights! The result of which is American Citizenship!
And the Gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation.
If it is a .United States Indian
Agent's business to encourage and
perpetuate among his wards the
ideas and customs of savagery,
then Agent Kinney, of Yankton
Agency, Dak., is a magnificent success. But he is in no danger of removal as an apostle of civilization.
It may be that his conduct is officially approved. However, according
to our idea of what the Indian
service should be, his encouragement of, and participation in, Indian orgies, is a shame and a disgrace.      	
In following the report of The
Inter Ocean, we did injustice in our
May ntinibertoRev. Simeon Gilbert,
D. I>., by making him responsible
for the mealy-mouthed resolutions
of the Chicago Congregational Club
on the vernacular question. We
could not at the time understand
how Doctor Gilbert could be capable of such a thing; and we are very
glad to now be able to exonerate
him. We will here say of him thai
he lias as clear an understanding of
the question, and as decisive a way
of presenting it, as any one we
know. Formerly as Western editor
of The Congreqatiohalist, and now
as associate editor of The Advance,
he has rendered much good service
to our work.
Santee Normal Training School
lias been honored, during the closing days of June, with a number of
distinguished visitors; among them
a I'nited States Indian Inspector,
four Doctors of Divinity, and four
College Professors. We were specially gladdened by the presence of
Rev. E. P. Goodwin, D. D., of Chicago, whose long-time interest and
help in Indian missions makes him
seem to belong here. AA'e found
Professor Scott, of the Chicago
Seminary, to be a live man who
lives in the present as well as the
past. And Professor Wright, of
Oberlin, whose vacation play is
running down glaciers, was nearly
as much interested in our pupils as
in our terminal moraines. AA'e can
ask for no higher praise than that.
We trust that Rev. Mr. Chandler, of
St. Paul, will come again. And
now that Professors Shaw and
Bartlett, of Yankton College, have
discovered us, we shall hope to see
them often. Rev. Mr. AViard, our
Home Missionary Superintendent
for South Dakota, is always welcome;
and Collegians Burleigh, AVenzlaft,
Wilder, and Gross will not forget
us, nor the weather Ave furnished
them.	
AVe acknowledge tke receipt of
the April-June number (quarterly)
of The Journal of American Folk-
Lore, of which our friend J. Owen
Dorsey is one of the editors. Subscription price $3; Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers. This first
number gives good promise of its
being an interesting and lnetruc-
tive journal. It is the organ of the
American Folk-Lore Society.
HELPING    THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING    THE    WHOM:
NUMBER    li.
FIFTY CENTS lM-'li YKA1*.
Oil!   PRINTING    OFFICE.
Its Practical Progress as an Industrial Department of the Training School.
The Santee Normal Training
School Printing Office opened in
January. The plant was secured
with great care and econemy, ancl
every thing thus far purchased has
been of the very best quality. From
the type to the eight-column Acme
printing press, the office contains
such articles only that are absolutely necessary for the publication of
the three missionary papers—The
Word Carrier, Iapi Oaye (Dakota),
and Anpao (Dakota),
The progress of the office for the
first six months is indeed very gratifying. In January two boys were
detailed for this work. They were
put to work cleaning cases and distributing "pi" that bad accumulated
in tbe former office of the Iapi
Oaye. By this means they learned
the lay of the type boxes. They
were kept at work about two weeks
(two and a half hours a day), in the
meantime having practice in holding the stick, justification of lines,
spacing, and "emptying" matter.
At the end of that time they were
given copy in their native language.
! Their justification, spacing, and
! correctness of spelling were good.
Rapidity was not essential, though
! one boy showed signs of leading in
that direction.
In February two boys additional
were detailed for morning work ancl
two for the afternoon.    The morning boys began as the first two ancl
have   proved  equally as capable.
j The afternoon boys, however, were
! not calculated for the trade for the
want of interest in the case of one,
and a want of sufficient book knowledge   in   the   case of   the other;
though the latter displayed consid-
' erable familiarity with machinery,
and would make a good pressman.
In March two boys, twelve years
I of age, were appointed for after-
; noon  duty.    These boys  have in
\ every way proved capable, ancl their
excellence in type setting has been
a surprise to all.
Two-thirds of the present issue of
i The Word Carrier has been set by
the six boys of the office, most of
which is from manuscript copy.
The "style of the office" ancl the
close punctuation were either made
in the copy or have since been corrected in proofs. But the freedom
from typographical errors, "outs,"
and "doublets" is notably encouraging. This is the first experience,
to any extent, that they have had
in English type-setting. As beginners they compare favorably with
white boys.
The object is to make correct
1 compositors if not rapid ones. The
latter gift grows by practice and as
! Nature has fitted the boys for alert'
I riess. The correctness of a proof,
however, comes from close attention and a good knowledge of spelling. Pains, of course, have been
taken in the selection of these boys,
for the "art preservative" is not
merely mechanical. As the office
grows it cannot fail to be conducive to the industrial development of
the institution, besides being m the
course of a boy's career of from
three to five years here, a source of
profit to him elsewhere. A more
complete office should be added m
the next year in order to furnish a
means of advancing the boys to the
( end that they may retire with an
excellent knowledge of the trade.
A considerable amount of small
job work could be done to advantage and future profit, with the addition of an eighth medium Old
Style Gordon press, about fifty dollars' worth of job type, and a twen-
; ty-five inch paper cutter, the cost
■ of which would not exceed $300.
AA'ith good care this plant would
last twenty years or more. As circumstances and requirements demanded, an occasional new job let-
j ter could be added, in order to keep
pace with the times. But the standard styles, which never vanish from
the specimen books and never will,
are the best for general purposes
and least expensive. Here is an
opportunity for some of the wise-
hearted ones to invest their gifts
with a certainty of good returns.
THE    HINDRANCES.
Sonic   ol"  tile   Main    Causes   "Why    Indians
Make Such Slow Progress.
Why do Indians advance so slowly? First, because their old ways
have grasped them so firmly that
it seems impossible to shake them
off. The Indians are proud of their
ways and proud that they are Indians. They would keep their old
ways as long as there is any old
blood in them. You cannot make
them believe that the white man's
medicine is of any account. They
try every way of using their own
roots before they will use the white
man's medicine. Nor can you
make them believe that the white
man's way of cure is better than
their way, because by trying to live
like white men, they have so many
diseases and deaths their lives are
not as long as they used to be.
There are hardly any old people
living now. So that going in the
white people's way is to them like
marching to death's door. Nor
can you convince them that farming is to be their means of supporting themselves, for some have tried
to farm and have failed. And many
of them have hemorrhages because
they have worked so hard.
It is not that every Indian has
this kind of experience, but these
few have influence over .the others
and hinder their advancement.
A second hindrance is the
jealousy among them. This is a
lasting hindrance to their advancement. If an Indian is learning a
trade and makes a little money for
his living, the others that have
nothing to do will all have something to say against him until lie
gets  disgusted and leaves the job.
And if a person is doing well in
the way of getting his living, they
will all try to get a little mouthful
from him and it is not long before
that person has to run in debt by
feeding so many, or if he don't feed
them, his name will be everlastingly
talked about, and after a while
everybody will look at him as a
stingy person. When it comes
time for the Goverment issue, he
; is not allowed to have even a smell
of it. He is coining money and
owning this and that; so somebody
', else ought to have his share.
A third hindrance, and perhaps
this is the reason for their advance-
ing so slowly, is laziness. Perhaps
it is no' exactly laziness, but it a
thing must be done in a certain
time and is not done then, it is laziness or some thing similar to it, that
prevent its being done at that time.
These people do things, but not at
the right time or in the right place.
And a good many of the old folks
like to sit down and smoke too well.
At the time of threshing, harvesting,
or breaking, you will find many who
take their tobacco pouch along and
every little while they will sit down
and smoke and have a little talk :
and they will sit longer than they
meant to, and the work won't be done
in the calculated time.
A fourth hindrance is that the Indians are too fond of eating. They
will do almost any-thing if they are
to get something to eat. And they
will eat just as much when they do
no work as when they work, and the
funny thing about it is that as long
as there is any food they won't goto
work to get more. Of course all
don't do that now, but that is the
way they used to do and some oft lie
older people keep up that style yet.
They don't look ahead and try to
keep a supply on hand. That is the
old way of doing.
Another hindrance is not knowing
how to tiso money. This sentimenl
wfll fit in here : "Any fool can earn
money, but it takes a wise man to
spend it." They may earn ever so
much, but they spend it as last as
they make it, and a little faster
too. Of course this is a thing that
most of us do not know bow to
do, and so we must not expect the
uneducated Indian should know
how to do it. He likes to spend
money as well as any white man,
and he likes to have new things
occasionally and good things to
eat as well as they.
But the greatest hindrance is by
our kind white brothers, who know-
but little more than we do, and
who try to beat us out of every
thing that is in our possession.
They try every possible way to take
away our lands: they run us out
of our work; and, if they can, they
will hinder us from going to heaven.
That has been tried by this Christian Government in the year of
our Lord, 1887. This we will have
to tell to Christ when we meet him
in heaven, where no white man,
nor any other man, will try to
degrade us or run us down.
The last hindrance that I will
speak of is, that there is no law that
will protect the Indian. The law of
the United States will pick up an
Indian and put him in prison, send
him to the penitentiary and even
hang him; but it will not protect
him any more than an animal.
Even the animals are protected
in the State of Massachusetts, but
the laws in the West can't even help
the Indians in the way that Massachusetts laws help dumb animals.
Who is heartless enough or cruel
enough to talk about the Indians
not being advanced faster when all
these things work against their advancement? AVhite men are good
and wise, and have helped the Indians to where they are now; but
that kind of white men are as one
out of a hundred, and the other ninety and nine are hindering them.
James Garvie.