The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1914-05 - 1914-06

              The Word Carrier
of Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME  XLIII;
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE "WRONG.
NUMBER 3
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MAY-JUNE, 1914
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 !
My Brother's Keeper
"Am I my brother's keeper?" It is a question
which has been asked ever since the birth of
man. Always it is asked by somebody who
is seeking to evade responsibility. Always it
is the alibi offered by those who would dodge
the issue. It is the cowardly defense of the
guilty. The man who.asks this question may
be classified at once as not right.
A day or two ago, The Missoulian printed an
official letter from the commissioner of Indian
affairs. It was addressed personally to each of
the six thousand employes of the bureau over
which Mr. Sells presides in Washington. It
was devoted to the consideration of the problem
of suppressing the sale of liquor to Indians.
Its tone was lofty and its plane was high. The
letter should be read by every man and woman,
by every boy and girl. For its scope is wider
than the mere relation between booze and the
red man. It takes in the whole question of
personal responsibility; it is an able presentation of the whiskey problem.
"I believe," says tbe letter, "that the greatest present menace to the American Indian is
whiskey. It does more to destroy his constitution and invite the ravages of disease than
anything else. It does more to demoralize him
as a man and, frequently, as a woman. It does
more to make him an easy prey to t-ie unscrupulous than everything else combined. If I say
nothing more to you tonight that leaves an impression, let it be this one thought: Let us
save the American Indian from the curse of
whiskey."
Commissioner Sells does not ignore the question of responsibility, either. In the course of
his letter, he says: "There is Dothing that
could induce me, since I have taken the oath of
office as commissioner of Indian affairs, to touch
a single drop of any sort of intoxicating liquor,
and this regardless of my attitude on the prohibition question."
There is the whole proposition. The primary
purpose of the letter was, of course, to discuss
with the employes of the Indians. And it
carries out that purpose admirably. But with
that phase of the letter we have no concern this
morning. We might comment upon what we
know, here in Missoula, of the failure of the attempts at suppression and we might present the
reasons, as they appear to us, for this failure.
We might quote Judge Bourquin in connection
with the use of stool-pigeons by the men who
are working, ostensibly, toward bringing about
this suppression.
But the paragaphs of the Sells letter which
we have quoted stand out so conspicuously from
all the rest, that they seem to us.to have a
broad bearing upon the general question of
personal responsibility. And this is a great
question in itself.
Comissioner Sells might, with propriety,
have omitted the word, Indian, from the first
quoted paragraph. All that he alleges in connection with the mixture of whiskey and Indian
might have been said with equal truth regarding
'the results of the consumption of whiskey by
any man, no matter what, the color of skin. And
his plea to save the Indian from the curse of
whiskey might, with equal propriety, have been
made as to the saving of every man and woman,
of every race and creed, from this very evil.
Commissioner Sells declares that, with the
responsibility of his official oath upon him, he
would' not touch a drop of any intoxicating liquor. This is a responsibility which should be
realized by every person in authority, no matter
who he is or where he is. The father cannot
reasonably preach to his son against, the use of
liquor, if he himself drinks it. The employer
cannot in fairness forbid his employe the drink
of whiskey which he himself takes.
Each man is his brother's keeper—each man
knows in his heart that he is. He may haltingly ask the question, but he knows the answer before he speaks the words. He knows
that be is the Big Brother to every weaker one
than he. This principle was established when
Cain was driven into the wilderness, banished
for his crime—but more for bis cowardly evasion. Recognition of this principle is a belief
in every man's heart, no matter how zealously
he may strive to disxvow it,
The whole country is better for this letter of
Commissioner Sells. It contains much excellent advice for the people in the Indian department, but—more than that—it carries a sermon
to every man in every station. It is another answer, specially well put, to the ancient question,
"Am I my brother's keeper?"—The Missoulian.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian
Easter Sunday was celebrated very appropriately at the sehool with Easter music, flowers, decorations and a short service and exposition of the meaning of the Resurrection, by
Rev. Mr. Fay, of El Reno, after which the passion play in moving pictures was presented, accompanied by a lecture from Rev. Fay. The
Indian boys and girls of the school and the employes filled the chapel. Between the films Miss
Aldridge, of Oklahoma City, gave some selections on the violin and selections of Easter music
specially purchased for the occasion were played by Mr. Ruckman on his victrola. The pictures were very fine and portrayed the Life of
Christ in the most inspiring and instructive
manner. After the presentation was over a
second presentation was given for the pupils of
the Masonic Home at Darlington aud employes
and some forty Indians. Rev. F. L. King lectured during this presentation and one of the Indians interpreted for his people.
The occasion was very interesting and strange
to see here, a gathering of Indian children,
white citizens, orphan white children, and blanketed Indians witnessing and participating together iu the worship aud study of the Life of
Christ. Po-sibly nowhere has such a thing
ever occurred before this. It was a plain witness of the mission of Christ to all men and of
the Brotherhood of Man.
The Indian office has indicated its disapproval of having exclusive Indian Fairs and its desire that the Indians join in the County Fairs
of their district and enter directly iu competition with the white neighbors in farm industries of both men and women. This has been
doue so successfully in some agencies, notably
Pawnee, through the worthy enterprise of the
late Supt. Nellis, who was so unfortunately
accidentally killed last fall. He took his Indians into their County Fair twice and they
won many prizes both last year and the year
before. The Indians of Ft. Belknap, Montana,
won prizes at the Omaha Fair three years
ago.
Supt. Farrell has called a meeting of the
other superintendents of this district to confer
on the question of winding up of the Indian
Fair Association and carrying out the wish of
the Department as to Indians joining in the
County Fairs.
Almost all our Indians are busy planting.
This is a good start. Now next we must stick
to it. It is a new trail, but the sure one to find
food, and make our food grow out of the
ground. How wonderful it would be if we
could make money, we think, as well we can.
God has given us seed, the sunshine, the rain,
the life in the ground and so we can all, by
just adding a little work, do this miracle and
make money grow out of our ground. This
miracle we call Farming.—El Reno American.
Y. M. C. A. Openings Among Indians
It has long beeu usual to speak of tbe fast
vanishing Indiau, and in the sense of the picturesque red man of former days, it is probably
correct But in actual advance of population,
the Indian seems to be more than holding his
own. For instance, tbe Government figures of
the Indian population in 1903 were 263,000; in
1912 the total was evidence of a substantial increase, 327,000. For this reason new importance is lent to the work of the Indiau department of the International Y. M. C. A. Under
the leadership of Secretary Robert D. Hall,
formerly with the A. M. A. in the Dakotas,
the Christian development of Indiau youth has
been vigorously pushed in the last few years.
Recently he has spent six months or more
among the returned students especially. In
this class he places the young Indians who have
attended one of the twenty-three non-reservation Government schools provided for Indian
education, and who have returned to their
reservation homes with this academic education
and some knowledge of a trade. The number
is about 3,500. It is curious to learn that the
opposition to the influence of these more or less
tutored youth comes from the so-called religious leaders of the tribes. And yet not so exxri-
ous after all, for the returned student has
learned of higher and better ways or, at the
least, to despise the old tribal superstitions.
What an extx-aordinarily interesting field for
Christian effort!
That the Indian welcomed the Y. M. C. A.
is evident by bis organization of the Indiau
Y. M. C. A. nearly thirty-five years ago. Now
they have more than 1,000 members iu the
seventeen Student Christian Associations alone,
500 being in voluntary Bible study and nearly
half as many in some sort of definite Christian
effort. Other Associations are even supporting a native Y. M. C. A. secretary in ludia
among the Asiatic Indians ! And these are the
highly interesting Christians among whom it
is Mr. Hall's privilege to wox-k. After a
round of the reservations in Montana, tbe
Dakotas and elsewhere, he is enthusiastic over
the possibilities of influencing these backward
tribes.
Incidentally, he reports an incident of his
tour which is not without an almost Scriptural
repetition of history and gives an insight into
the ancestral attitude of the modern red man.
They had planned a conference at Fort Berthold
on the Missouri River in North Dakota. With
the river running full and dangerous with ice
floes, it seemed as if the meeting were foredoomed to failure. Mr. Hall goes on to say:
"But the day before a jam formed opposite our
meeting place and over two hundred people
crossed to the meeting. Wolf Chief, a former
student, in accepting the presidency for the
year, said: 'I am glad to take this work for I
know God is with this young men's work because when we were ready for the meeting aud
were afraid there would be no crossing, we ask
God to make the meeting good, and so the ice
make a bridge, and all the people come over,
and we have big meeting and all very happy.
This is God's work and we strong.' " And
Secretary Hall adds, "This was the only point
on the Missouri River at that time where there
was a possible crossing."
Certainly the opportunity for Christian
brotherhood among the Iudians, whether it be
through the Y. M. C. A., our own A. M. A. or
some other agency, carries a peculiar appeal,
It brings back to every informed American a
hot-cheeked sense of shame at the long record
of the white man for brutality, chicanery and
iujustice, a record which is by no means yet
closed if we believe the common talk of current
Indian administration. For that reason, as
opportuuity offers, remember to make amends
to the red man whom we dispossessed.—G. J.
A., in The Congregationalist.