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T H E C H E M A W A A M E R IC A N
“EXC EPTIO N S”—NOT THE R U L E
E d it o r T h e C h e m a w a A m e r ic a n : In your very
in te re stin g little paper of M arch 30 I noticed a new s
item and com m ent by you thereon w hich ex p lain s in
a very large m easure the great difficulty in arriv in g at
a proper solution of the so-called “ In d ian P ro b le m .’’
T h e item referred to, in p a rt, reads: “ T h a t th e
In d ian stu d en t has special talen t in the lin e of public
sp eak in g is show n again in the case o f.............who has
won first place in oratory a t......... ” etc.
Now w hile I will ad m it th a t m any of our stu d e n t
body have won honors, m ost of w hich were no d o u b t
m erited, th e habit of exag g eratio n on th e p art of
some en th u siastic w riters and sen tim en talists w h en
ever they u n d erta k e to m ention the success of th is or
th a t In d ian boy or girl, or, in fact, an y th in g p e rta in
ing to an In d ia n , not only m isleads th e p u b lic at large
(w h ich n a tu ra lly w onders w hy we d o n ’t accom plish
m ore w ith th e In d ian if he is so w o n d erfu l), b u t p u ts
false valu atio n s of him self in th e head of th e stu d en t,
often to such an ex ten t th a t he is practically unfitted
for th e serious problem s of life, such as g ettin g a job,
stick in g to it, and m ak in g good use of the T h ree Rs
of his education first, before a ttem p tin g to branch out
in th e realm s of o rato ry , the science of government»
or other highbrow stuff that m any of our In d ian
schools are w asting governm ent money and the Indian
s tu d e n ts ’ tim e upon.
O nly a sh o rt tim e ago a high official in the In d ian
service in W ash in g to n (w ho, of course, knew n o th in g
for certain about In d ian s) announced th a t “ th e Indian
is a n atu ral sto c k m a n .” And he proceeded to invest
m illions of dollars in th a t idea, w ith th e resu lt th a t
m ost of th e m oney was worse th a n w asted. O th er
freak ex p erim en ts have been m ade because some fellow
w ith a little brief au th o rity im agines that he sees in
th e In d ian a “ difference” th at other, m ortals were u n
able to see; w hen, as a m atter of fact, th e Indian is
ju s t an o rd in ary hum an being w ith all the hum an ele
m ents. Some are good, some are bad, m any are in
different; some are b rig h t, m any are d u ll. T he av er
age In d ian is susceptible of reasonable im provem ent,
and a very few have special talen ts, such as in oratory,
m usic, m echanics, e tc ., b u t these are exceptions and
should be so regarded.
W hen we get down to the solid earth w ith the I n
dian we will be able to help him get the rig h t start in
life, a start th a t he will be able to m aintain and im
prove upon; but w hen we p u t th e In d ian in th e clouds
and adorn him w ith a halo we are w asting valuable
tim e, spoiling th e In d ian , and, in cid en tally , m aking
ourselves the lau g h ing sto ck of the suffering public.
A n O ld I n d ia n E m p l o y e e .
It gratifies us to learn th a t an “ Old E m p lo y ee” finds
our little paper “ verv in te re s tin g ,” even our small
local item s.
W e exten d our sym pathy to those who “ adm it th a t
m any of our stu d e n t body have won h o n o rs.” W e
are proud indeed of our nineteen boys and girls who are
every day going in to th e Salem high school, business
college and university. W henever we pause to real
ize th a t these boys and girls are but three, tw o, or
even ju s t oue generation rem oved from th e blanket,
th e tepee, and th e m edicine m an, we m ust adm it th at
they are w onderful. F o r, M r. Old In d ian E m ployee,
these children are not m erely doing splendidly, “ for
In d ia n s ,” as we so often hear the Service em ployee
rem ark, but they are doing splendidly w ithout any
q u alify in g phrases. T h ey are sta n d in g up to the
sam e tests and requirem ents w hich confront every one
of the h u n d red s of Salem h ig h sch o o l pupils, and upon
th e a u th o rity of th e principal of th at in stitu tio n we
can say “ they are above the a v e ra g e .” T h is m eans
th a t th e average of our pupils atten d in g Salem high
is above th e average for all pupils atten d in g th a t
school and ou r full-bloods are doing as well as th e
m ixed-bloods. T hey are passing th e ir exam in atio n s
exactly as the o th er pupils; th a t th ere is a ra th e r n o
ticeable ap titu d e for public speaking w ould seem to be
not entirely u n w arran ted by some of our facts: O ne
of our girls won the honor of rep resen tin g the senior
class in the d ram atic recitation in the inter-class con
test; an o th er represents th e sam e class in hum orous
recitation, and an o th er represents th e ju n io r class in
d ram atic recitation.
T o us th is does not so m uch prove unusual ability
in th at p articu lar line, as it proves th a t our y o u n g
people are v in d icatin g th e educational system of the
U .S . Indan D epartm ent as a solution of th e “ In d ian
Problem ” T h ey are doing the identical w ork of
th e ir C aucasian b rother.
W e agree heartily w ith his opinion th a t “ th e In d ian
is ju st an ordinary hum an being, w ith all the hum an
elem e n ts.” W e have been, at tim es, im patient w ith
the sentim entalist who m akes of him a su p e r-h u m an ,
but at tim es we have been far m ore im patient w ith
the visionless person who m akes him sub-hum an. So
we feel sure th at it is necessary for you, and for us,
and for all ou r friends in th e service, who realize th e
“ h u m an n ess” of our people, to w ork all the h ard er to
produce those good, strong, practical results w hich c a r
ry conviction in spite of th e laughs of th e long-suffering
public. L et them lau g h at our m istakes, but d are
them to laugh at our successes.
It is a poor business house th a t advertises its own
failures, a poor paren t w ho com plains of his c h ild 's
w eaknesses, even though he is in a position to know
them best. W e m ust tell to the w orld our best tru th s
about In d ian education— we m ust tell n o th in g b u t th e
tr u th — b u t we m ust recognize th e w hole tru th o u r
selves and have the vision to m ake ou r charges fit to
m eet life as they find it now, not as we found it w hen
we were their ages.