The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1925-07 - 1925-08

              The Word Carrier
of SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VOLUME  LIV
HELPING THE  BIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
NUMBER a
July-August, 1925
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR
I
Ernest Crow entered the Santee Normal
Training School last year. He has just
passed his fifteenth birthday and is a full-
blood Indian, from the Rosebud reservation.
His father, Mr. John T. Crow, is a native
Congregational minister. I am told that Mr.
Crow is not only a successful minister but
also a very good farmer and that just lately
Indian Boy Artist
he has been appointed one of the three Indian
judges of the Reservation Court. Ernest's
own mother is dead, but he has a stepmother
who is a lady of many fine qualities.
When Ernest came here last year be registered for the fourth grade, but before tbe
end of the year he was promoted to the fifth
grade.    This year he is doing excellent work
in the sixth. He is always busy with something. If he has finished his lessons he asks
for scratch paper or drawing paper and in a
very short time has drawn a sketch of western life or perhaps a comic cartoon of some of
his schoolmates, but his favorite subject seems
to be bronchos. He has had no instruction in
drawing but sketches rapidly what he sees.
Our   Platform
For Indians we want American Education! We
want American Homes! We want American Rights!
The result of which is American Citizenship! And the
Gospel is the Power of God for their Sal.vation!
Indian Progress
The following information is compiled from
the annual report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs far the fiscal year ended June
30, 1924:
The Indian population of the United States,
exclusive of Alaska, is 346,902. Of this number. 101,506 belong to the Five Civilized
Tribes, including freedmen and intermarried
whites, who are now citizens of the United
States.
Out of a total of 54,729 families reported
to the Indian Office, 44,239 live in permanent
homes, 26,617 of these houses having wooden
floors, and 10,490 live in tepees, tents, and
temporary structures.
Including the Five Civilized Tribes, 298,
341 wear modern apparel, and 225,000 are
citizens of the United States.
Among the Indians there are 991 churches,
630 working missionaries, and 93,388 church
attendants.
Of 1,601 marriages, 348 were by tribal custom and 1,253 by legal procedure.
The tribal property belonging to tbe Indians is valued at $545,369,848. The individual property is valued at $507,482,199 a total of $1,052,840,047.
There were 32,234 Indians farming for
themselves, a total of 644,873 acres, which
yielded products valued at $7,798,778.
There were 44,847 Indians engaged in stock
raising upon 29,098,459 acres of.grazing land.
The value of their stock is $36,434,944.
During the last fiscal year 12,934 Indians
received rations at a total cost of $177,222,
and farming implements, tools, etc., were
gratuitously issued to 3,066 Indians to the
value of $26,895. These do not include Indians who received miscellaneous supplies for
which they performed labor in payment.
There were 8,787,913 acres of tribal hind
leased for grazing and farming purposes.
To June 30, 1924, there had been approved I
227,093 allotments covering 37,343,059 acres.'
There are 87,627 Indian children of school
age, 6,731 of whom are ineligible for attendance by reason of physical or mental defects,
ill health, absence from the reservation, or
other reasons, leaving 80,996 eligible for
school attendance, of whom 65,484 are in
school.
The schools admitting Indian children exclusive of public schools have a capacity of
34,834.
Of 76,916 Indians examined for disease,
7,364 were found to have tuberculosis in some
form (4,638 cases being active), and 13,920
were found to have trachoma. It is estimated
that 19,073 Indians in the United States have
tuberculosis.
During the fiscal year 1924 the Indian Department approved 461 applications for patents in fee; certificates of competency were
issued covering 53,495 acres of laud.—42nd
Annual Report Indian Rights Association.
Indian Work Shows Results
For the Winnebago Indians of Thurston
County, Nebraska, the old life has passed into oblivion. No longer may one see them
roaming the streets of the village dressed in
brightly colored blankets; no longer do the Indian babies spend their time strapped to their
mothers" backs; gone are the medicine-men,
the wigwams, and the buffalo hunts.
The Winnebago Indians have undergone
a tremendous change within the past fifty
years. The patient labors of the Indian Department and Christian missionaries are bearing fruit. Many of Thurston County's prosperous farmers are numbered among the Winnebago Indians, and no small proportion of
the first and second prizes go to them at the
county, state, and international fairs. The
women have many prizes to their credit for
their-cookery, and needlework. There are
successful merchants, physicians, preachers,
and nurses, among them.
What these people have done other tribes
have done also. Each year firings forth
greater results in the civilization, industry,
and education of the Indian people.
Ei.ma Lees
The Death of Mrs- Baskin
In the death of Mrs. Eunice Kitto Baskin
on August 12th, after a long illness suffering
from Brights Disease, the Indian people lost
a true Christian leader. She was a full-blood
Indian of the Santee tribe and has all her life
lived and worked in a Christian atmosphere.'
She attended Santee Normal Training School •
as a girl from 1875 until 1890. She. then
went to the Rockford Seminary at Rockford,
111. In the succeeding years she was connected with the school faculty being at one time
the laundress, and in her last connection as
matron of the small boys. She was one of
the best matrons the school ever had.
She gave up this work after several years
because of ill health and went to the home of a
sister in Oklahoma where she, staid for a year..
She then returned to Santee and lived here
until her death.
That sbe was an influence among her people
could be readily believed by any one attending her funeral. It was a simple affair in the
Pilgrim Congregational chapel, but there
were many friends and relatives there to pay
her tribute. There were people from near and
far to the number of about 150, both white and
Indian.
The decorations were simple but beautiful;
large jars of snow-on-the-mountain and cattails, baskets of colorful zinnias, and pails of
tbe snow-on-the-mountain with purple thistle
blossoms. The gray casket was covered with
floral offerings.
The service was conducted by Rev. Charles
Frazier, assisted by Rev. Eli Jones who offered
prayer, and Rev. Charles Jones spoke a
few minutes. Mr. C. R. Lawson, of the mission faculty, gave a short resume of her life
as he knew her, dating back to her schooldays. The Misses Julia and Rachel Keeler
sang a duet, Miss Julia playing the accompaniment on the organ.
The procession which followed the body to
the cemetery on the hill was long and included buggies, wagon, automobiles, and people
on foot, both white and Indian. Rev. A. N.
Coe officiated at the cemetery where another
Dakota hymn was sung by all present. The
pall bearers were Dr. G. J. Frazier, Joseph
Johnson, John Mitchell, Andrew Buscfi,
Henry Robinson, and Carl Carson.