Image provided by: Library of Congress; Washington, DC
About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1923)
r P r in te d a t C h o m a w a , Vol. XXV O re g o n , a n d D e v o t e d to t h e I n t e r e s t s o f I n d i a n E d u c a t i o n W ednesday, January 24, 1923 TO THE IN D IA N BOYS A N D G IR LS OF AM ERICA M y D ear Y oung F riends : The world gives wealth and honors to those who do things worth while. Many years ago a certain young man conceived the idea of uniting all the oil refineries of the land and organized the Standard Oil Company. Today John D. Rockefeller is making a fairly good living and is known to all the world. Some years later a young man planned to make a standard automobile that would be within the reach of practically everyone. He succeeded, and every day I have to turn out a dozen times to let the Ford cars go by and Henry Ford is one of the world’s richest men. In the evening twilight of an autumn day two peo ple were standing at the front gate. Both were young men. One had an old-fashioned lead pencil with which he made some marks on the gate posts. With a piece of rubber he erased them and thought no more about it. The other young man thought that if India rub ber would erase pencil marks it would be a good idea to sell a piece of rubber with each pencil. He worked out the idea of having a rubber cap at the end of the pencil and had the idea patented. The pencil manu facturing companies paid him $75,000.00 for his patent. Last year one state added fifteen million dollars to its annual income by sowing a better variety of wheat. The same year Nebraska is reported to have added five million to her income by increased production of eggs. I do not have time to tell you boys and girls how to make money by means of better-laying hens and Turkey Red Wheat—there are too many important things to learn. The greatest crop any state ever raised is her crop of boys and girls. The average salary of the educated men and women in America is $1,200.00 a year. The average wages of uneducated men and women is $300.00 per annum. Therefore, an education is worth $900.00 a year in cold cash. In a business lifetime of thirty years, ftom 25 to 55, an education is worth $27,000.00 in gold. Every day you spend in school, from the time you are six years old until you are twenty-one, will bring you ten dollars in cold cash. Educate 50,000 of the Indian boys and girls in America until their earning power is $900.00 a year No. 14 more than it would be without an education and you have added forty-five million dollars per annum to the earning power of the nation. One afternoon in September I sat with thousands of others in the grandstand at the Sioux City fair. There was to be a mile trotting race. They brought out four horses a bay, two brown horses and a gray. As they came down the track together, the gong sounded and the race was on. We watched them going at their best—the bay holding the inside track. As they were making the first turn the driver of one of the dark horses crashed into the sulky drawn by the gray, tipped over the driver and crushed one wheel. Some-one cried: “ There’s going to be a runaway!” All eyes were on the gray. He was going as fast as his legs could carry him, but there was uo runaway. A thrill ran through that vast throng. The gray never broke his gait. Gradually we saw him gaining on the other two. We were witnessing an event of a lifetime—a horse running a race handicapped by a broken wheel and the lines dragging on the ground. He passed the third horse. As they approached the turn we were fearful that he would crash into the fence. Instead, he cleared it by a yard and came up along side of the bay horse that still held the inside track. Down the stretch the two came tearing neck and neck. Every-one forgot which horse he had selected to win. The people rose to their feet and shouted: “ Come on, gray! Come on, gray! Come on, gray!” and the gray went under the wire and won the race without a driver. Now, boys and girls, I appeal to you to put into your work, your play and your study, the same energy, the same horse-sense, the same intelligence that gray used in winning the race. You must, if you expect to win in the race of life. S. T oledo S herry , Day School Inspector. Sioux City, Nebraska, Jan. 3, 1923. The truck crew continues to take out pipe, valves and breechings of old boilers in the old power house. We expect to clear the building and make it a head quarters for the mason department.
