The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1909-07 - 1909-08

              The Word Carrier
of Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME XXXVIII.
HELPING THE  RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER 4.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
JULY-AUGUST, 1909.
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR.
Our   Platform
For Indians we want American Education! We want Ameri-
Homes! We want American Rights! The result of which is
American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
Titles to Mission Lands
The Indian Appropriation Act of the current
financial year, after giving space for a page and
a half to listing lands to be deeded to Roman
Catholic missions in Oklahoma and South
Dakota, has this modest paragraph to even up
things for the other missionary societies:
"The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to issue a patent in fee
simple to the duly authorized missionary board,
or other proper authority, of any religious organization engaged in mission or school work
on any reservation, for such lands thereon as
have been heretofore set apart to and are now
being used and occupied by such organization
for mission or school purposes."
The New Indian Commissioner
The following facts given by The Indian
School Journal in regard to the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs will be of interest:
Robert G. Valentine was born at West Newton, Massachusetts, November 29, 1872. He
first entered the schools of Holliston, Massachusetts. Then followed a course in Hopkin-
son's preparatory school, Boston, Massachusetts, finally entering Harvard University, and
graduating in 1896.
From 1896 to 1899 he served as Assistant in
English at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which brought him to the notice of the
commercial world, which is constantly on the
lookout for the best products of our schools
and universities. It is not surprising, therefore, that he was called out from academy
shade into the full sunlight of a work-a-daj'
world by employments in the National City
Bank of New York, and the accounting department of the Union Pacific Railway at Omaha,
Nebraska. This covered the period from 1899
to 1901.
Prom 1901 to 1902 he was Instructor in
English at the Institute of Technology, working summers in the Farmers' Loan and Trust
Company, N. Y., continuing with the latter
concern through 1902-1904.
Mr. Valentine entered the Indian service in
March, 190-3, as private secretary to Mr. Leupp.
In 1908 he became Supervisor of Indian Schools,
aud on December 1, 1908, he was appointed
Assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs by
President Roosevelt, and on June 15, 1909, was
appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs by
President Taft. He lived on a farm for twenty
years; has been in settlement work in New
York City; traveled in Europe and widely in
most of the Western States—spending, while
in the Indian service, about four months of
each year on the Indian Reservations.
The Winnebago Situation
The only hope of the Winnebago Indian
tribe is Christianity. Every other method employed for their betterment has failed. The
attempt to force upon this red man unconditionally the yoke of the white man's authority
has fastened upon him the curse of the white
man's vices. The finished product of the Government's care only too often is the shiftless
druukard of the reservation or the blanket Indian in his tepee, a savage at heart. The warriors of fifty years ago looked to the Medicine
Lodge for this life and for future salvation.
Today the few that are left, crowned with the
snow of years, sit in sorrow with blasted hopes.
Their ancient religion. gives them solace no
more. Only yesterday old man White Bear
»nd his wife said to Dr. Roe and his interpre
ter: "We are poor. We sit in sorrow. We
have hoped but we have lost. My brother,
strong in Medicine Lodge councils, whom you j
saw one moon ago, and our grandchild, have
both died. We waited a night, a day, a half a
day, to see if they would come to life but they
did not. So we laid them in the grave," The
Medicine Lodge has been a flickering light beyond the grave to these people from time immemorial, but now they know that it was but
the mirage to their wandering souls. Only a
few years ago, from four points of the compass, ever came the sound of the Medicine
Lodge drum in the stillness of night. Somewhere in the woods the coyotes would pick up
the tom-tom call. This weird medley is more
suitable for the jungles of Africa in darkest
heathenism than for an enlightened and Christian country such as is the United States. The
sound of the pig-skin drum has not entirely
died out. In the dead of night its dull thunder
tells us of the barbaric orgies and frenzy of benighted souls.
Much as we regret tho ignorance and superstition of past generations, that regret is nothing to the pain that comes to us from the present situation. It is to the interests of the most
unscrupulous set of grafters and petty lawyers
in and about this reservation to keep the Winnebago Indian of today in as backward a condition as possible. I remember when my father died these grafters came to arrange my
land interests. What is true of me in this case
is true of every Indian orphan. One of them
said, "If you grant me the guardianship you
need not go to school; you can marry any time
you please." With boyish glee I signed the
mysterious document for the one who made the
most concessions. The missionary, upon hearing about the incident, remarked, "Where the
carcass is there the vultures gather together."
Little did I realize that the vultures were preying upon me, and that to them I was nothing
but a carcass without a human soul, Before
the next twentyr-four hours this man of God
found au honest man for my guardian, drove
twenty miles over the hills of the reservation
to the county seat and recorded it before the
grafter made a move. I learned that day that
missionary life does not consist merely in singing Psalms, praying and preaching, but often
in hard tussels with reservation grafters,—often in midnight rides over the reservation to
bring to naught the machinations of frontier
politicians. The other day one of the grafters
came to the new superintendent's office and
said, "Are you for us, or against us?" The
superintendent replied, "That depends upon
what you are for." Said the grafter, "If you
are not for us, your head comes off your shoulders." The next words from the superinten-
ent sent the grafter out of the office in a hurry.
These grafters, through bribery, have succeeded in stealing part of the records from the Indian office, thus throwing into confusion titles
of many estates. Here the grafters have their
big opportunity for exploitation of disputed
heirships, and for land speculation. In spite
of twenty years of missionary effort and after
forty or more years of government supervision
these prowling wolves have succeeded in preserving the confusion of titles by discouraging lawful marriages. A stupendous problem therefore lies defore us in legitimatizing children,
and in stopping this iniquitous land speculation.
Aside from the standpoint of government negligence and injustice, such a condition of affairs is demoralizing to the last degree. The
conditions of married life here on this reservation are too shameful to relate. In this hodgepodge of vice, heathenism and conflicting elements, the new missionaries of the Dutch
Reformed Church have come to raise the banner of the Cross, and to proclaim the words
which head this article, namely: The only hope
of the Winnebago Indian tribe is Christianity,—
Christianity because it aims at reform from the
heart out and not reform from without.
Our summer's campaign has already shaken
the strongholds of Satan. The missionary and
helpers planned to mow down the forces of
evil with artillery. The artillery consisted of
five little tents, which they would pitch on
some conspicuous hill near the Indian camps,
and make that point the center of operations
for a few days. I have seen them going up
and down the hills and ravines, into the bark
wigwams and low log cabins, telling the Gospel story. They would invite these Indians to
an evening meeting on the hill. On those
starry nights I have seen one Indian after
another lift his bowed head as he listened to
Billy's* beautiful tenor voice. These small
camp meetings were concluded by a general
camp meeting, to which the whole tribe was
invited. To keep the Indians from going
home, five beeves were issued to those who
camped with us for three days. On a hill
known as "flag-pole," commanding the whole
reservation, we sat and reasoned together. One
Indian, in making a speech, said: "A new day
has dawned upon us. Never iu the history of
our race has there been a religious service on
this hill. This hill has been the play-ground
and fighting-ground of the gambler, the adulterer, and the worshiper of idols. Now we sit
here and are receiving the true road of life
which we and our children sorely need. I for
one thank the great Creator for this turning
of our faces towards better things. That's
all I say."      "
Our artillery fire has done its work. In our
general camp-meeting the Agent was converted. Through this Agent nine saloons have been <
indicted and fined $500. The mission field
has been saved from a bitter sectarian rivalry.
Some Mormons, trying to plant a colony here
have been scared off. A scramble for tho
abandoned government sehool buildings by the
Roman Catholics has been checked.
We are for the present doing some sharp-
shooting. We are going to particular homes
to utilize the interest shown. As our mission
is not yet equipped for permanent work and
occupancy, our Studebaker hack is the rallying
point for all those who have not bowed the
knee to Medicine Lodge, mescal and the grafters. In Indian work no one can count upon results obtained in a year. But we have this summer won over to our side one family from
Medicine lodge, one family from the Catholics,
and one family from the independent element.
These have been duly examined, baptized, and
have entered into the church. We are a little
band of twenty Christian Indians amidst 500
mescal worshipers, 300 Medicine Lodge members, and 300 Pow-wow and independent
bands. Two years ago only two of us regularly darkened the doors of the little church
to worship God. Christian living was not
made easy for us. Often white men and Indians together have thrown us down and tried
to force whiskey down our throats. God gave
us strength to stand firmly together. We rejoice to see these our tribesmen coming to
unite their allegiance with ours to the one
great Master and Saviour. The possibilities
of the growth of God's Kingdom here grip the
soul of the earnest Christian worker. There
has never been a race which the religion of
Jesus Christ could not save when its claims
have been rightly presented. Thank God, He
has placed us where the fight is strong! When
fierce the battles rise we will look up to Him
for whose glory alone we bear the Message
and endure the pain.—Henry Cloud, in The
Mount Hermon Alumni Quarterly.
* Wm. D. Barne2, Jr., a graduate of Yale 1907, and secretary of the
Ya'e Y. M. C. A., went out with Henry Cloud through the gifts of the
faculty and students of Mt. Hermon School.