í
10
THE CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
dian schools.
Candidates for diplomas and certificates were presented to Board of
Trustees by Hon. William Howard Taft, who is the president of the
Board. “ Yon go out from here with the mark on you “ A Hampton
Graduate,” said Mr. Taft. “ I do not need to elaborate the advantage
you have in that honor and that privilege. It classifies you. It shows
that you have passed through a mold that is expected by the country and
the people whom you meet to have developed in you thoroughness, char
acter, and the Hampton spirit of self-sacrifice. You owe it to your
selves to be worthy of that reputation that you will have ascribed to
you. You owe it to your race, for if you fail for lack of character,
tenacity of purpose, or in wisdom, you injure your race. Your life is
to be one of struggle. No candid supporter or friends of yours can be
blind to the conditions that confront you—the trials you will have to
meet, the great burdens that you will have to carry; and you must
know that these things are to be met and overcome only bv courage,
by self-restraint, by confidence in God and by leaning on Him, and
by the reward that comes to you from the consciousness of having
fought the good fight and deserved success.”
COMPETENCY
P O IN T S FO R A N 1) A G A IN S T IN D IA N C O M PE T E N C Y
HEN is an Indian competent? This is a question
which must be often asked and to which some
answer must be furnished in connection with the
administration of the affairs of each Indian.
We venture an answer here:
An Indian is competent just as a white man is,
when he can “ mind his own business” with profit to
himself and the community in which he lives.
Now you will be asking about how this condition can be recognized,
and the Scout will suggest that, plain common sense teaches that if you
want to know a person, you must get acquainted w'th him.
It is up to the Indian to show his competency. It is the duty of
those administering Indian affairs to discover and respect competency
whenever it exists, and as far as possible to cultivate and develop this
condition where it does not exist, or is found only in small measure.
As stated before, an Indian shows his competency about as a white
man does, and here are a few rules which apply, regardless of the Indi-