THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
H. E. WADSWORTH, Superintendent
VOLUME 17 NOVEMBER, 1914 NUMBER 2
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO THE
AMERICAN INDIAN
JY LFO ,J. FRACHTHNIHi RG, Bureau of American Ethnology
IVIL,IZATION and culture are the result of an extensive
co-operative system to which every individual inhab
iting our globe contributed and still contributes his
share. No achievement, be it literary, economic or sci
entific, has ever been accomplished by a single man or
group of people, without the aid that has resulted from
the efforts of those who had previously directed their
energies towards the attainment of a certain goal . Our present philsophi
cal systems owe their origin to the studies of human mind and nature
made by ancient and mediaeval scholars; our writers draw their inspira
tion from the works of their predecessors, and our great scientific inven
tions have been facilitated by the former endeavours of the savants of all
nations. Thus, our present civilization consists of an infinite number
of elements contributed by every people, by every nation and by every
race of this universe. American culture, for instance, has been effected
by the combined efforts of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Teutons,
Slavs, Semites, Mongols, and others; each of these groups contributing
its particular, typical portion.
It should not, however, be supposed that only the higher and more ad
vanced types of nations participate in the creation of a certain form of
civilization. In this respect everybody's co-operation is invited and
welcome, and no services, even those of a most primitive character, are
rejected. We Americans, especially, who are probably the most civil
ized and advanced people in the world, owe a great portion of
our progress and success to primitive races above all to the Ameri
can Indian. How many of us will, in blissful ignorance, underesti
mate and even ridicule the intellectual pro we? s of the Red Man, and
boast of the superior attainments of the White Race? And yet, many
of our accomplishments may be traced directly to the assistance received