The Chemawa American, April 01, 1915, Page 19, Image 22

THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
19
he will become as eloquent as a young author trying to persuade a Magazine-editor
to accept his first story. The very first question that the
Council was called upon to deal with, was, if I remember correctly,
of a judicial character. A pig had broken into a field and the owner of
the animal was sued for damages by the proprietor of the field. This mat
ter called forth such a lengthy discussion, that it required fully two days
to settle it. My informant alone spoke four hours on this subject, and
as he confided to me later, he had by no means exhausted it. Of course,
such a state of affairs is possible only among our Indians, whose patience
and stoicism are proverbial His speech was listened to with interest
and received with a peculiar sound, "Hm-m-m", uttered by every chief,
as a sign of approval. The speeches of the other chiefs varied in length
according to the degree of eloquence possessed by the individual speakers.
A peculiar feature of the debate was the fact that no speaker asked for
the floor. A chief signified his intention of speaking by rising. If two
or more legislators arose at the same time, the oldest among them was
given priority. At about five o'clock in the afternoon an adjournment
was taken until the next day, without any vote having been cast by the
Assembly. The casting of votes is entirely unknown to these primitive
legislatures.
Owing to the tendency of the chiefs to address the Council in lengthy
speeches, the Assembly has to meet very often and for long periods,
lasting from two to five days. This is so much more the case, as the
Council is vested with legislative, executive and judicial powers.
Every chief is therefore reimbursed for the loss of his time, receiving
from the general funds of the council $1.50 per session. The compen
sation has the quite natural effect that every Iroquois strives hard to
attain to the position of chief tianship.
There are in all eighty-eight chiefs and sub-chiefs, representing the
Onondaga, Seneca, Moahwk, Cayuga, Oneida and Tuscarora tribes.
The sub-chiefs take the places of chiefs in cases of illness or absence, and
they are then entitled to the usual compensation. A chief is elected
for life and cannot be deposed. It is, however, an unwritten law among
the chiefs to resign at the age of seventy. As soon as such a vacancy
occurs, a new chief is elected. And here comes the strangest thing of
all! The election of chiefs does not lie in the hands of the male mem
bers of the tribe or clan. It is the weaker sex alone that participates in
this important function. As soon as a vacancy occurs, either through
death or resignation, all woman of the clan, lo which the former chief
belonged, assemble and elect a man of the same clan, who is to fill the
vacancy. The name of the newly-elected chief is, as a matter of form,
submitted to the oldest man of the clan for approval. T do not know
of any case, where such an approval was refused. This custom wrhere
by only the female members of a clan may participate in the election of
chief, although of a totally different origin, may be nevertheless quoted
as proof that our Indian brothers have settled the question of "Votes For
Women" long before we ever dreamt of the importance of that problem.