The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1912-07 - 1912-08

              BBSKlSHUHiaBU
The Word Carrier.
of Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME XLI
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER  4
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
JULY-AUGUST, 1912
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR
Our   Platform
for Indians we want American Education! We want
American Homes! We want American Rights! The result
fwhich is American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the
Power of God for their Salvation !
"Lo, The Poor Indian!"
A cood deal has been written in late years
about the "poor vanishing American Indian,"
hut the fact is that he is neither poor, nor
vanishing to any great extent. The Indian
population has gx-owu from 248,000 in 1890
to 805,000 in 1910, and it is quite likely that
there are more Indians in the country today
than at any time since the white mau came
to America. The Indian may have had, and
no doubt has had, wrongs at the hands of
the white man; but he is not disappearing,
or in any apparent danger of extinction.
Neither is he poor by any means, but in
stead his race is in fact one of the wealthiest
races in the world. These three hundred aud
five ihousand Indians possess in landed property and in cash over six hundred million dollars, a per capita wealth of about two thousand dollars, or nearly double the per capita
wealrh of the white man in America.
There is no question of the frequent unscrupulous treatment of the Indians by the
old "Indian ring" and its agents and traders,
and our Indian history is not at all one to be
proud of. But the government in late yeax-s
has fried to do its best by its Indian wards,
as the hundreds of Indian schools will show.
The great body of superintendents and teachers in these schools are Christian men and
women, are honestly trying to do the best
possiide work for the dark-skinned pupils under their charge.
Any one who will visit a number of the
[ndian tribes, or who will look into the great
schools at Carlisle, Pa., Lawrence, Kan., and
Phoenix, Ariz., will have his eyes opened wide
in regard to the present treatment of the Indians by the American government. Of course
there are still unscrupulous men, and some
unfaithful officials, who will sell whisky to the
Indians and otherwise debauch them when
they can, for the few paltry dollars they can
make out of them afterward. But their number is growing less, and the old official graft
once so common in the old Indian ring has
become almost obsolete. "Lo, the poor Indian" as a phrase, has lost its meaning, and
the Indians of America in general are better
off in every way than they ever were befox-e.
—St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press.
Nevertheless it is true that the greater part
of the ludian people are hard bitten by poverty. Many own nothing but barren expanses
ol laud worth nothing, and thousands have
not more than a foot of that. It is also true
that those who now are seemingly wealthy
will soon, with their improvident and wasteful habits, become paupers.
Some Recent Wrongs to the Indians
The difficulty of securing justice for the Indian seems not to grow less with the passing
of the years. For while, on the one hand,
there is constant effort by the various volunteer organizations such as the Indian Rights
Association, the National Indian Association,
the Mohonk Conference, yes, and by the Indian Office also, to arouse public opinion and
to insist upon fair dealings with the tribes-
people, there is, on the other hand, an ever
increasing pressure and avarice on the part
of the white man to acquire the Indian's rights
to land and water. This is in part due to the
steady increase of population on the borders
°f the reservations, and to the fact that in
this population are a good many white men
who appear to think that the Indian has no
rights which they are bound to respect, and
who ha^e no conscience wben a question of
land ownership is involved. There is therefore a good deal of ground for the charge
sometimes made that white men are pressiug
on the frontier as never before and that the
rights of the Indians are being ignored as in
former days.
A number of instances have recently come
to light which accentuate these charges. There
is the case of the Pimas who have been reduced to a distx-essing condition through the
loss of water for irrigation. Water was formerly supplied to them in abundance from the
Gila River, until the white settlers fax-ther up
the stream drew off this water for themselves
and left the poor Indian hopeless and miserable through the failure of the crops. Other
causes, too, contributed to their distress, but
of all this the public is now pretty widely7
informed. Partly because of this publicity,
perhaps, but more particularly because Commissioner Valentine himself finally made a
personal inspection of the reservation and became convinced of the genuineness of their
wrongs, the fortunes of these Indians seems
now to be on the mend though much still remains to be done.
Another unfortunate case is that of the
Navahoes. These Indians in Arizona and New
Mexico number some 30,000 and are among
the best of the Western tribes. They have
hitherto been selfsupporting through agriculture, stockraising, and the weaving of blankets. But it seems that just now white men
are looking with longing eyes upon some of
their lands, especially the timber lands, and
are tx-ying to get possession of them by every
kind of tx-ickex-y at their command.
Worst of all, perhaps, is the case of the
Chippewas who bave already been extensively
deprived of their lands through what are believed to be colossal frauds, and who, iu addition to being defrauded, ax-e sadly reduced
by the ravages of tuberculosis and ti-achoma.
Their case is now receiving considerable attention, partly as a x-esult of the official investigation of Inspector Linnen and partly
through an independent investigation conducted by Professor W. K. Morehead of Andover, Mass. Professor Morehead's statements
made at a public meeting at the Twentieth
Century Club of Boston, held under the auspices of the Indian Citizenship Committee,
resulted in the adoption of l-esolutions urging President Taft "to do all in his power
to right the wrongs that have been done to
the Indians in the past; to stop the injustices
that still continue; aud to lift Indian affairs
out of politics." The Board of Indian Commissioners has had the Chippewa situation
under discussion, and other agencies have
been at work on behalf of this tribe. A commission of inquiry fx-om the Department of
the Interior and the Depai'tment of Justice
has uow been sent to the resex-vation. Whatever relief may be afforded at this stage will
probably be extended to these Indians, and
it is earnestly hoped that if there is any
proof of fx-aud those who are guilty may be
brought to punishment.
But what lesson, if any, is to be derived
from such a recital of wrongs done to the Indians? Obviously an ounce of px-evention in
such cases would be worth a pound of cure.
One thing that is needed, then, is the creation
of a strong public sentiment which shall be
everywhere felt to quicken the sense of right
and justice in all our dealings with dependent
peoples; and, with this, a prompt prosecution
and punishment of wrong doex-s, so that the
practice of frauds upon the Indians will not
only be unpopular but unprofitable as well.
-The Southern Workman.
Santee Normal Training School Press,
Santee, Neb.
The Indian in the Olympic Games
The reputation of the Indian race for physical prowess was ably maintained at the
Olympic i-evival in Stockholm during the first
half of July, and the American people owe
their thanks for their high scoi-e made by the
American team in part to the "First Americans." In the heterogeneous collection of aspiring athletes which made up the team that
sailed for Sweden in the last part of June,
and whicli included men and boys of every
shade of Americanism not excepting Negroes
or Hawaiians, were at least three Indians.
One of them x-eceived high distinction in the
games; one gaining what might be considered honorable mentiou; and the third served
with credit but was not conspicuous.
James Thorpe, a Sac and Fox, won first
place in both the Pentathlon and Decathlon
competitions which are combinations of many
tests including running, hurdling, jumping,
vaulting and throwing weights. Louis Tewa-
nima, a Hopi, contested in the long distance,
cross-country runs and gave good account of
himself though beaten by the Finnish long
distance runner Kobmxnainen. Andrew Sock-
alexis, of Old Town, Maine, an Indian who
has made a good x-ecox-d as long distance
runner in this countx-y, was one of those selected for the American team to take part in
the Marathon at Stockholm.
Thoi-pe's victory was a bx-illiant one. For
while the winning of the Marathon race by
McArthur from South Africa was the most
spectacular event of them all, yet, from the
standpoint of tx-ained athletes and of those
devoted to all-x-ound physical development and
prowess, Thorpe was the real champion at
►Stockholm because he won the hardest test
in the two competitions which x-equired the
highest order of speed, stxength, and agility.
Edward Moss, writing under the caption,
"America's Athletic Missionaries," in Harper's Weekly says : "In James Thoi-pe, a Sac
and Fox Indian now enrolled in the Carlisle
ludian school, America can boast of the great-
est all-round athlete in the world today. . As
the winner of both the Pentathlon contest
consisted of five gruelling events, aud the
Decathlon with double that number, he achieved a place for himself never before won by
a modern athlete in Olympic games. In the
Pentathlon he scored four first and one second
while in the Decathlon his total was close to
9,000 points out of a posible 10,000."
Tbox-pe's nearest rival was a Swede, who scored 7,724 points. The winner is reported to have
been immensely popular and to have been distinguished as the recipient of an enormous
bronze trophy, the gift of the Czar of Russia.
His popularity is not to be wondered at.
Nothing in the history of the Indian appeals
to the rest of the world more thau the accounts of his physical prowess. The football and baseball of the Carlisle students have
shown the country what the race can accomplish in modern athletics. To have one of
their number stand out before the world at
Stockholm as the champion, not only of his
race bxit of his country, is particularly gratifying. His victory was one of the memorable
features of a world competition in which the
name and flag of the American republic have
gained new luster.—The Southern Workman.
Indian Fair at Watonga
With the Chilocco Indiau band heading a
parade a mile iu length of Indian warriors
in paints and feathers, the Cheyenne- aud
Ax-apaho Indians opened the program of their
three days' fair in Watouga Tuesday morning. Tnousands of Indians from all parts
of the state are in evidence besides the large
number of white people who have come to
witness the exhibits and maneuvers of their
red brethren.—Oklahoman.