THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
H. E. WADSWORTH, Superintendent
VOLUME 16
MAY, 1914
NUMBER 8
MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING
B Y D K . J O H N C A R L P A R IS H
H E follow ing splendid article appeared in th e last n u m
ber of T h e Q u arterly Journal of the Society of the
A m erican Indians:
From th e tim e when the ships of the w hite man
first sailed into th e view of the In d ian s down to th e
present tim e th ere has been a constant wall of m is
u n d erstan d in g between the two races. It was an u n
fortunate th in g , b u t a very natural th in g . Let us consider th e s itu a
tion for a m om ent. T h ere was th e A tlantic Ocean dividing, w ith sev
eral thousand miles, two continents on w hich there had been develop
ing for h u n d red s or thousands of years two d istinct, diam etrically d if
ferent, civilizations, each w ith its own system of in d u stry and its own
system of religion, ideals and custom s of life. N either race knew an y
th in g about th e other or even knew of the o th e r’s exhistence, and then,
when these three little ships sailed across th e sea, the m eeting of the two
races was precipitated, and th ere upon was involved this necessary com bin
ation or contact betw een two races w hich has opened the problem w hich
has resulted and has continued down two the present tim e.
Now, this lack of u n d erstan d in g , as I say, is the most natural th in g
in the w orld. T hese men came over to th is co u n try w ith th eir p recon
ceived notions and prejudices, w hether good or bad, and they were
obliged to p u t them selves in touch w ith people who were already here.
I t was alm ost an im possibility. And in the sam e w ay, the people who
were already here—-th e A m erican In d ian s—endowed w ith th eir racial
peculiarities and ideals, custom s and religion, were unable, for the
same reason, to p u t them selves in th e m inds of the people who were
arriving.
T here w ere certain additional difficulties in the case of the E nglish
colonists. T h e people of the F rench nation were different from the
people of the E n g lish nation. T h ere was a certain im aginative type of
m ind th at was needed in the contact of the tw o races. T hev needed to