The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1902-03

              Ithe Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXXI.
HELPING    THE   RIGHT.   EXPOSING    THE    WRONG
XU.MISKH  2.
•SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MARCH, 1902.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR.
OUR PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Ed-
[ucation! We want American Homes!
i We want American Rights! The re-
j suit of which is American Citizenship!
\ And tlie gospel is the Power of God for
I their Salvation!
j THE RIGHT KIND OF AN AID SOCIETY.
The comfortables in the dormitories were getting beyond any more
patching and cleaning, and the matrons, who had toiled over them so
; many times, at last declared they
I were past renovating.    Then, in the
Boys' Cottage were many needs and
only one pair of hands to make,
! mend,  and  darn all the garments
for twenty-four robust hoys.
Imperative needs were there on
every hand, but how were they to be
supplied. The appropriation from
headquarters was now low and must
be dealt with cautiously that it might
reach in all directions.
But what about the aid sometimes
received from ladies societies?   Had
we not received notice from time to
time that a box or barrel had been
packed and was on its way? Yes, and
i every time our courage would rise,
\ and we would hope for the bedding,
| under clothing for  the  boys, and
l aprons for the little girls who cannot
I yet sew much.    So, when that barrel
[ arrived,  what haste was made to
pullthe nails, wondering all the time
[ about the nice things which might
[ be in store.    But alas! some attic
must have been relieved of old shoes,
crumpled useless hats, trousers be-
! yond mending, and, of all things,
j old bonnets the size of a coffee cup,
I and old kid gloves!     This is a fair
sample of many an unpacking when
j we have so much wanted warm bedding and other articles such as most
[ people use to be at all comfortable.
Nevertheless in our dissappoint-
ment we begin to cast about to see
what can  be  done with what has
come.    To be sure some of tbe worn
out garments could be cleaned and
made over.    Yet what shall we do
with the  queer little bonnets  and
old kid gloves?
But the mail brings a letter from
an aid society right herein our own
state and reads thus: "We would
' like to help you. Tell us what
you need?" "What you need,"
think of it!
There, is no difficulty in telling.
A list is thankfully made from
which those friends can choose and
decide what they will do. After
mentioning the articles most easy
to make we venture to add the need
of outing shirts and union suits for
the little boys. Then a few days
later comes the reply, "If you will
give us sizes, we will make the little
shirts and union suits, because they
are. tbe most work and we want to
help you. We have bought the material. We will also make comfortables, but tell us if you need them
before the year is out, if so, we will
send some of them soon without
waiting till all are done".
The measures are quickly sent
and what a relief it is to know that
a real help is pleasantly offered.
That is the right kind of an aid society for a well-to-do church to have.
We do appreciate also the gifts
from the kindly poor little churches,
for we know from experience how
the dear ones realize what true
need is,and long to  do something.
We very well know the difference between this kind and'those who once
a year clean out the rubbish and call
themselves "An aid society." Blessings on the right kind of a missionary society. M. B. R.
WATER FOR THE PIMAS.
Self-support is fast becoming a
prime factor in the solution of the Indian problem. But no one should forget that many Indians are situated
on barren, unwatered tracts where
cultivation of the soil is practically
impossible, to say nothing of the
lack of agricultural knowledge. Before forcing the Indian to assume
the responsibilities of self-support,
the Government should, as Commissioner Jones points out, "see that
the Indian has the opportunity for
self-support, and that he is afforded the same protection of his person
and property as is given to others.
He should be located where the conditions are such that by the exercise
of ordinary industry and prudence
he can support himself and family.
He must be made to realize that in
the sweat of his face he shall eat his
bread. He must be brought to recognize the dignity of labor and the
importance of building and maintaining a home."
In the face of all this does it not
seem strange that it should be necessary to urge Congress to take action in the relief of the Pima Indians,
who have always been a self-
supporting tribe and never at war
with the Government? Theirs is
a case that cries for speedy attention. AVhite settlers and capitalists
have diverted the water from their
streams, so that their fields are laid
waste and they must soon starve or
be reduced to beggary. A sad
commentary, this, on the plan to
induce the wild Indians of the plain '
to become self-supporting, when
these thousands of Indians, by no
fault of their own, are likely to be
forced into a condition of dependence. Over one thousand of these
Indians are worthy members of the
Presbyterian Church. As yet, Congress has taken no decisive action
about furnishing the reservoir,
though a small appropriation has
been made to relieve temporary
necessities. But the Pimas do not
ask for alms, they ask for justice,
and that it be meted out to them before it is too late.
A reservoir, constructed by the
Indians themselves under efficient
suppervision, would restore to them
their fruitful fields and their independence. The expense of this reservoir can only be met by the Government making the necessary appropriation. Since these Indians
have hitherto never received a dollar of Government aid, it would seem
as if the public conscience would
not long tolerate further dallying on
the part of Congress.—Home Mission Monthly.    	
THE MAROI OF NEW ZEALAND.
It is an interesting fact that it
should have been reserved for the
people and the couutry of England's
youngest and most distant colony
to interest the royal visitors, the
Duke and Duchess of York, more
than any other of the self-governing
colonies visited.
While it would seem that tbe royal party were greatly pleased with
the spontaneous heartiness of their
welcome in New Zealand by all
classes of the population, it wasthe
native welcome with its display of
old customs and by-gone ceremonies, placed beside new institutions,
educations, and habits, that interested them as something quite
unique in the varied experiences of
the widely scattered communities
they visited. It was the Maori as
he had been only sixty years ago
compared with the Maori as he
really is today, that arrested—as it
well might—the attention cf the visitors who saw him in his barbaric
dances, and heard his tribes singing
wild songs of welcome such as had
been sung by their cannibal forefathers fai less then a century ago,
and then saw him in the character
of a free and self-governing citizen,
sitting clothed and in his right mind.
No such object-lesson was to be seen
at any point in their seven months'
progress through so many countries,
in each of which the white man and
the brown or red man had been in
contact for a far longer period lhan
they had been in New Zealand. It
was only in New Zealand that they
were to see what could be accomplished by fair play and honest
and intelligent treatment in changing the old savage into the free
citizen.
New Zealand, as a country known
to Europeans, except as a geographical entry on their maps, is not yet
eighty-five years old, and as a country in which they could settle in safety it is barely sixty years old today.
When its first European settlers
went there, its northern island was
occupied by a native population of
about a hundred thousand souls,
who up to a few years before had
been known as the fiercest warriors
and most dangerous and inveterate
cannibals ever met with by European navigators and explorers. Today the Maori is a quiet, law-abiding citizen, managing his own load
affairs through his own local councils, and freely electing his own representatives in the Parliament of
the country, where they take their
seats on a basis of perfect equality
with those of their white neighbors.
An answer to the question. How
was it done ? might be interesting
to the American people, who, after
fully two and a half centuries of contact with the red man, have not
succeeded in doing for him any such
service as has been rendered to the
Maori of New Zealand in sixty years.
It may be said, shortly, that the
secret of success in New Zealand
has been that there—and as far as
the records go, there alone where
the civilized white man has gone
among the. uncivilized dark men—
the European brs treated the native as a man v th rights like bis
own.
The treaty formally made between
England and the chiefs and people
of the Maori fully recognized the
rights of personal liberty and of
landed property in the native people,
and it is impossible to doubt that
this, more than anything else, has
made the settlement of New Zealand an almost unlimited success
both for colonists and natives. The
Maori surrendered no rights but
those of tribal government; the
English Government acquired none
except the general rights to govern
the country, to introduce settlers,
and to become the sole purchaser
of any lands the natives might be
willing to sell. Under this treaty,
which has been literally given effect
to, the English settler has bought,
not fought, his way into the youngest of England's colonies; he has
throughout treated the natives as
free men, and also as unquestioned
owners of the soil, and therefore as
people entitled to share in all the
benefits of the white man's government, and as soon as possible to
take an active part in that government.
In 1877 the general education act
for the colony was passed by the
Parliament, and since then each
native village is as fully entitled
to its school and resident European
school-master, absolutely free of
cost to. the pupils, as any center
of white men's settlement. The
final close of the exhaustive native
war, which lasted from 1861 to 1868,
was made the opportunity for settling a white magistrate in each
district, who should act quite as
much as the friend and advisor of
the natives as the administrator of
the white man's law. At the same
time full rights of representation
in Parliament were given to the
tribes, whose people were accorded
special privileges, as they had votes
for their own representative native
members, and in cases in which
they qualified by residence in the
districts occupied by Europeans, as
a good many did, they could also
register and vote for ordinary representatives like their neighbors of
European origin.
It is only since the system of local self-goverment has been introduced that the Maori people have
been able to save themselves from
the temptation of strong drink; and
in almost every case they have taken advantage of their powers to exclude the sale of liquor from their
districts. What the white man's
law was powerless to do, the Maori,
when he had been educated up to
the point of appreciating and using
municipal government, was able to
accomplish. Of course the evolution
of the Maori is not by any means
complete as yet. He has learned
many things, but there are other
wh'ch, as a people, he has still to
learn. He has learned to appreciate
law and order, so that a Maori
criminal is rare, and crimes of violence are rarer still among a people
whose grandfathers lived by violence alone. He has learned to conform largely to European customs
in food and dress, and also, though
as yet more gradually, in dwellings
and habits of cleanliness. He has
learned to value education even
more then the average white man,
and to take full advantage of tbe
powers of self-government enjoyed
by him in common with his fellow
citizens. What he has not yet learned to any satisfactory extent is habits of steady industy, and the virtues
that seem to go with these. It may
be that this is partly constitutional—the result of many generations
of tropical life; it may also arise
from the fact that as yet his wants
are not numerous and, on the whole,
his means are ample—in many cases
more then ample—for their supply.—From article by Hugh J. Lusk,
in The Outlook.