The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1906-03 - 1906-04

              the Word Carrier
of Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME
XXXV.
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER 2.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MARCH-APRIL, 1906.
Our   Platform.
for Indians  we  want  American Education!
We want American Homes!    We want Ameri-
Riqlds!     The   result   of which   is  American Citizenship!    And  the Gospel  is the power
of God for their Salvation!
Another Government Fraud.
In the summer of 1904 petitions were quietly circulated at the agencies asking that the
Roman Catholic schools be granted contracts by
which they might draw out $98,000. of the Indiau trust funds. At first no attention was
paid to it by those not interested, as it was
thought impossible that the government could
have reversed its policy concerning denominational school contracts so completely without
public notice. When it came to be known that
this was a fact and that tbe Roman Catholics
had already been granted these contracts, there
came a storm of remonstrance from Indians,
missionaries, the Indian Rights Association,
and a number of the leading newspapers of the
conn try.
Contrary to the President's direction that
"Care must be taken to see that any petition
by the Indians is genuine and that the money
appropriated for any given school represents
only the pro rata proportion to which the Indians making the petition are entitled", no care
at all was taken, and the contracts have drawn
out twenty-five times as much as the pro rata
proportion belonging to the petitioners.
In spite of the scandalous irregularities connected with tbe petitions, and the gross injustice of letting a minority vote away the money
of the tribes, and in the face of all the remonstrances that had been poured in, the contracts
were continued for a second year without a renewal of the petitions.
Now. at the begining of this year 1906, it was
ordered by the Indian Commissioner, under
new directions of the President, that new petitions must be made. And tbe regulations under
which they were to be made seemed altogether
fair and calculated to avoid all the irregularities and injustice of the petitions of 1904.
These arrangements were noted at length
in the January February issue of the Word
Carrier.
The main point in the Commissioner's regulations is that every Indian signing the school
contract petition must understand "that by
signing the petition he indicates his wish to
take of his own share of the money coming
to his tribe for the rest of the fiscal year and
give to the church authorities to educate his
children." And in the prescribed petition the
Indian signers are required to say: "It is the
clear understanding of each of us, that each
petitioner and each of petitioner's children
will thus recieve less by such amount than
otherwise."
The natural conclusion from the Commissioner's language is that while those who sign the
contract petitions are to receive less by tbe
amount they give to their church schools, those
who do not sign are to receive no less than
their full pro rata share of the tribal funds,
and consequently that they do not need to trouble themselves about the matter one way or
another. And so we have advised them by
Personal letter, and through our papers, The
word Carrier and The Iapi Oaye.
Now comes the astounding revelation that
this seeming fairness of the Commissioner is a
deception ; that the same game is being played
as two years ago; that the Roman Catholic
Partizans are putting their hands into their
neighbors pockets and abstracting haR their
money, the Indian Commissioner holding them
while it is done. The proof of this is in these
telegrams which have passed between Agent
wennan of Pine Ridge Agency and the Commissioner.
Pink RmcK Agency, S. D., 1
_, .    . February 1, I90(i. f
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, '
Washington, D. C.
Our Indians desire to know if necessary to
have signatures of majority of Pine Ridge Indians to insure contract with Holy Rosary Mission. If contract is made will it be paid out of
trust fund belonging to signers or out of entire
trust funds?       (Signed)     Brennan, Agent.
To which  this is the reply:
Washington,  D.  C, i
Agent Brennan, February i, 1906.    f
Pine Ridge Agency, S. D.
Payment for contract will be made out of all
trust funds named in petition to the expense of
the shares of the petition and petitioner's children. The totals of which will be deducted from
the total amount of said fund whenever a distribution  is  made,   thus   reducing  by  such
AMOUNT THE SHARES OP ALL INDIANS.
(Signed) Leupp, Commissioner.
If, as the Commissioner now says, it is in the
end to come out of all the Indians and all alike,
then the language of his instructions is misleading and untrue. And if it had been intended to
deal equitably with all the Indians the question
would have been put to vote after consideration
iu general council. It is a very different thing
giving leave for a couuter petition afterwards,
as he has at Pine Ridge. The burden of proof
should be thrown on those in favor of granting
the school contract. They should secure the
majority. But on no reservation in the Sioux
country can a majority of the enrolled Indians
be secured to vote money to the Catholic schools.
Heuce it has to be done by indirection and deception. At Pine Ridge the vote for giving
money to the Catholic schools is 251, and the
vote against it 959.
We have said some good words about the Commissioner's endeavoriug to do the fair and
square thing. We are sorry we said it, for it
has deceived some of our people to their hurt.
We take it all back and wish that every one
might know the kind of man he really is.
Wolf Chief on The Dance.
I receipt an order from F. E. Leupp, Commissioner regarding of Indian dance. Now I must
tell you why I said the Indian dance was some
bad way in it.
First, when dance calls peoples go to dance
house they do uot count miles, storms, healths,
hard darkness, dangers, poor, sorrows and death.
Second, they made dance holy rules to every
body in the dance poor or rich. Collection money
each person gave whatever they asked, 50 cents
or $5.00—cheat.
Third, they pass to everybody bunch of eagle
feather for their goods. When pass that feather
they always gave away what they can: horse,
cattle, buggy, money, blankets, calico—make
poor, worship other.
Fourth, dance shout and used up all their
power. Big feast and smoking, stay whole
night—got sick.
Fifth, sick people got worse after their dance
and die—killed themselves.
Sixth, lots people gather together so some
bad men have chance to do some wrong doing,
steal, get after somebody wife, and drunk—doing wrong.
Now this reasons so. I want the school children keep away from the dance because tbey
learn. I also learn, about 14 years since I quit
dance and I wish young poople will quit dance
as I do and trying to do in right way. If the
Indian dose this way ali the time they will
never get to be wise and good, learn to do business like a whiteman and to make money for
himself and family. Wolf Chief.
Elbo
N. U.
Santee  Normal Training   School  Press,
Santee,   Nebraska.
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR.
"Commencement Should be More Practical."
The Government Indian Office proclaims the
above in a circular letter of whicli the following is au extract. At Santee we have advocated and practiced for several years just this reform that the Indian Office has at last awakened to the importance of, and now puts forth as
its own invention.
•'The Office desires the schools to have practical demonstrative work by graduating pupils
made a leading feature of the commencement
j exercises. This plan has been successfully car-
j ried out by a number of training schools. At
the commencements at Tuskegee Institute, for
example, a boy brings his tools upon the stage
and performs a piece of mechanical work in the
preseuceof the audience, explaining the process
as he goes along. A girl illustrates and expounds in like manner a branch of domestic
industry in which she has been trained. The
same plan is carried out, to a greater or less
extent, at Hampton.
It is suggested that the example of these two
so noted schools could be followed to advantage
in arranging for the commencement exercises
at your school, varying the nature of the work
shown so as best to bring out the acquirements
of the pupils and exemplify the methods of instruction, especially along industrial lines.
In class essays or papers at commencement,
pupils should be encouraged to talk about conditions at home and to tell how they hope to
better these conditions when they return.
The office deems it essential to the best interests of the Indiau school service that the annual
commencement exercises shall be of a practical
rather than a mere rhetorical character, and we
hope you will take the matter up in arranging
the program for your next comiqencement."
Now notice the application of this iu Santee
commencement programs. We give quotations
from programs of the last six years.
SANTEE   NORMAL   TRAINING   SCHOOL
"NEW   DEPARTURE   PROGRAMS
FOR    CLOSING    OF    SCHOOL."
W IM 1V11US. (Hume made mills described pnd illustrated, models
ot "Jumbo," "Battle-Ax", and "Stati nary Turbine."
Ail' Pressure.       (Demonsliations with air pump.)
Application of Air Pressure iu Water Pump.
(Glass model pump, th . demonstrating accompanied bv simultaneous
chalk sketching.)
Nouconduction iu Electricity' and Heat with
Application  of  Principles   iu   Agriculture.
(Electrical and heat apparatus.)
Plant Breathing and Applications in Farming.
(Demonstrat ons from culture^ made by pupil  with  her  drawings  ol
the same.)
Food Stored in Cotyledons with Moral Applications,      (Plant cultures and drawings by pupil.)
The Individual School Garden.
The Physics of StOVeS.    (Chart   Demonstrations.)
Home Repairs.
Cultivation to prevent evaporation from the
soil—experimental demonstration.
Cultivation to prevent the soil losing moisture
by transpiration through the leaves of weeds.
Geometrical measurement  of distances.
Our benefits from the study of history.
Explanation of the telegraph—demonstrations
with laboratory apparatus.
Explanation of tbe telephone—laboratory demonstration.
A Pueblo Product.
A Pueblo mode of treating green corn is as
! follows:    A bake oven is heated red  hot, the
' fire removed and a load of green corn  put in.
Next is added two tubs full of water through the
aperture usually left open for the escape of the
smoke. All openings are securely sealed with
adobe and the corn left till early the next morning.    Then, before it is light, the people take
it out, when it is husked and taken to the house
where, the ears having been tied into bunches,
it is suspended from poles to dry in the sun.—
Albuquerque Indian.