The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1906-01 - 1906-02

              The Word Carrier.
OF
Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME XXXV.
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER 1.
SANTEE;
NEBRASKA.
JANUARY- FEBRUARY, 1906.
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR.
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 Salvation!
The Catholic School Contracts Again.
Last year, after it had been settled by the
withdrawal of all the Protestant churches and
the gradual closing out of the Catholics by act
of Congress, that there were to be no more use of
Indian funds for the support of church schools,
both Indians and white people were surprised
to find that the Romanists had found a way in
to the United States treasury again, and were
drawing Indian.money as of yore. It caused
great indignation among the Indians who were
not Catholics as tribal money had been thus
appropriated without their consent. And both
surprise and distrust were felt throughout the
country when it was known that this new break
into the treasury was with the approval of the
President himself. It was something impossible to believe, and only partially condoned
when later the President found that he had
made a mistake.
As to a future policy in regard to the question,
the Attorney General's office has been so slow
in formulating an opinion, that about Christmas time the President took it into his own
hands again and directed 1st That during the
>urrenti fiscal year tbe Indian treaty funds should
be used like the trust funds, but that all such
contracts for the use of treaty funds should be
cut off absolutly from and after June 30, 1906;
and 2nd That the trust funds should continue
to be so used until Congress or the courts should
direct their discontinuance.
Indian Commissioner Leupp has formulated
rules for the making of new petitions for future
school contracts, which, if carried out, will prevent much of that which was unfair and scandalous in the former petitions. In doing this he
has to forstall the principle of the Lacy Bill and
treat every Indian petitioner as though he had
already a divided share in the trust funds of his
tribe. 1 Ie has to open a personal account with the
petitioners and their children. For now the
amounts that they grant by petition to their
church schools is most of it charged to them
personally and will come out of their future
personal credits. The exception to this is in
the amount that will be drawn for these contract pupils from funds like "Education of the
'Sioux Xation"and"Subsistence and Civilization
of the Sioux" which now contribute clothing
and subsistence for the pupils in the Government schools, and when any such pupils are
withdrawn to go to their church schools their
clothing- and subsistence will practically go with
them. This will prove the most important
source of supply for meeting the demands of
the church school contracts, and yet it is difficult to see how these funds are trust funds any
more than treaty annuities are. The real trust
Wad of the Sioux nation amounts to three million dollars bringing them an annual interest
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
And each individual's share in that would go a
very little ways towards meeting tbe school expenses of his child.
0ne thing is evident, our Commissioner of
Indian Affairs is endeavoring to do the fair and
square thing according to the conditions he
nnds. If Congress or the courts will make the
conditions better it will relieve him of much
embarrassment and hard work. Notice his
'■emulations on the
settled and announced some years ago. Notwithstanding this, the practice grew up in the
Department of allowing, under restrictions, the
appropriation of certain trust funds under the
control of the Department to church schools upon the request of the Indians. After consideration, the President ordered this practice continued until it was negatived either by the courts or
by act of Congress His recognition of the fact
that it might be negatived by the courts was tantamount to an acknowledgment that the legality
of such an appropriation was doubted, and
in point of fact this was the case. In his last
report the Commissioner of Indian Affairs prescribed very careful regulations to prevent the
perpetration of frauds upon the Indians in the
endeavor of church representatives to secure the
consent of Indians to the use of their moneys in
church schools, these regulations being provided in compliance with the President's direction
that "care must be taken, of course, to s"ee that
any petition by the Indians is genuine, and that
the money appropriated for any given school
represents only the;jro rata proportion to which
the Indians making a petition are entitled". It
is our opinion that any one reading these regulations would find an additional and weighty
argument against the policy which the President is persuing in this matter in the very fact
that it is necessary to make such an elaborate
provision to prevent fraud. We do not need
here to repeat the more fundamental reasons
which we have given to our readers from time
to time against that policy ; it is enough to say
that the true way out is indicated by two bills
now before Congress. The first is the Stephens
bill, which explicitly provides that no trust
funds shall be used for purposes of education
in any sectarian or denominational schools.
This bill is simply an extension of the principle
that Congress has already adopted, and may almost be said to have been suggested by the President's phrase that the practice of giving such
The Mescal Frenzy at Winnebago.
The foRowing items from the Sioux City
Journal will show the rapid spread of a new
phase of heathenism, which poses as a worship
of Jesus. Its leaders are those who have some
education but no Christianity.
Homer, Neb., January 10.—Thomas Hill,
one of the most prominent men in the Winnebago tribe, is dead, a dozen more violently insane and will probably die, and half the tribe
suffering more or less from the effects of the
eating of large quantities of Mexican mescal
beans as a part of the rites of a new religion
that was introduced iuto the tribe by visiting
members of a southern tribe some months ago.
Agent Fettridge reports that he is unable to
check the frenzy or stop the importation from
Mexico of the beans which are said to first
drive insane and then cause the death of those
eating them.
Because if makes him a "good boy" is the
reason assigned by Jesse Clay, an Indian from
the Winnebago reseiwation, for drinking
"mescal."    He was  in  Sioux City yesterday.
Clay is enthusiastic over the power of the
strong stimulant to reform tlie morals of the
red man. He says that up to last September
he was a"bad boy"—that he indulged in the use
of liquor and was addicted to other unseemly
habits, but that the use of the "mescal" has
brought him near his creator and that now he
is leading a good life.
The young man resents the efforts of those Indiaus who are endeavoring to induce the "mescal
eaters" to abandon their habit and forsake the
practice. He says they are asking them to give
up their religion.
Clay alleges that the drug puts the Indians in
a condition of mind in which they can commune with the Lord with most wiRingness. He
says the Indians gather in their lodge every few
weeks to receive the "mescal." He says that
boys of the tribe sing religious songs and that
appropriations "will be continued unless the ' other members remain in an attitude of prayer,
next page.
As The Outlook Sees It.
. As our readers wdl remember, all Congres-
SIOnal appropriations for Indian schools under
ecclesiastical control were discontinued by Concessional act, by a series of diminishing appropriations, and in accordance with a policy
Congress should decree to the contrary." The
other measure is the Lacy bill, which authorizes the President in his discretion from time to
time to designate such Indian tribes as he may
deem to be sufficiently advanced in civilizatiou
to be prepared to manage their own money, and
shall thereupon cause the money held in trust
for such tribes to be allotted in severalty to the
members thereof. These two bills, supplementing each other, would take this troublesome
question out of politics. There is very good reason why the United States Government should
not, directly or indirectly, make, for the benefit of church schools, any appropriations out of
any funds, however they may be held; but there
is no reason why Indians who are sufficiently
intelligent to determine how their money should
be spent should not have their money given to
them and be left to spend it in their own discretion. Strenuously as The Outlook is opposed
to any connection between the Government and
the church schools, it is inclined to advise Indians, where they can do so, to send children to
schools of their own religious faith, and to pay
for their tuition out of their own funds.
John P. Williamson, General Superintendent
of our Presbyterian Indian missions, left his
home in Greenwood, in company with his wife,
tbe last part of November for a winter trip to
California. Spending a couple of weeks among
his churches in Montana, and organizing a
church at Wolf Point, he went on to Portland,
Oregon where his brother Henry Williamson
now lives. Then spent a few days visiting the
various members of the Huggins family, well
known to early friends of our Dakota Missions. Thence down to Pomona, Southern California, to the home of his son Rev. Jesse
Williamson. He will be at home again when
the grass shows green on the Missouri
er  bluffs.
riv-
sometimes throughout a whole night.
It is nearly a month since such a meeting was
held, and it is likely that another will be held
some time this week.
CLay denies that the Indiaus are induced through
the influence of the yellow tea to indulge in wild
orgies, or that it affects their minds iu any way
except to place them in a receptive mood for religious thought. He says he has beeu using the
"mescal" for months and that he feels no ill effects. He says Harry Rave has been using it
for three years. It was first introduced on the
Winnebago reservation ten years ago, having
been brought there from Indian territory.
And here is what Harry Rave says: Winnebago Agencyr, January 22, 1906. I hereby mention about the Indians on the reservation. Some
of us are taking a new way which we think it is
I right way to do. Once in a while we have a
prayer meeting in some certain place to worship
I our heavenly father and Jesus. We intend to
J stop worshiping idols, such as to make feast and
invite whole tribe, and when the crowd comes
there will be some drunkards will come around
and have fighting going on. Whenever this
kind of dance is going ou we generally kill all
the dogs, pigs and chickens we can get, or coax
our friends in Homer to let us have dog or hog
on time. By doing this we owe them. So we
want to stop the old way and take a new way
and go to church, and quit worshiping idols and
intending to kill some persons and call ourselves
warriors. We would like to have the government help us, so we can stop the old way and
help the right. By doing this most of us can
live on our land. We want to be brothers and
sisters to the whole united world—every man and
woman, don't care what color. And we want
to stop wanting to kill white men and other tribes
and have a scalp dance. May The Journal print
this for us.    That is all. Harry Rave,
For the Mescal Eaters.