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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1926)
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN PAGE 4 RESOURCEFUL PEOPLE WANTED (Continued from page 1 ) secures promotion. They do not appear to show the slightest interest in affairs in general, or in their par ticular department of the concern on whose success they depend for their bread and butter; they are simply a cog in a wheel, working mechanically so many hours a day and who are always glad when the day’s work is done. This lack of interest is fatal to growth and the fact is that stagnation has set in and they are mere auto matons. The principle of advancement, of growth, of progress, is the same whether it is a boy or girl in school or a man or woman employed. Promotion requires the same pushing, vigorous, alert methods. If you wish to be something more than just an average worker you must do something better than average work. If you envy people their freedom from restraint, their independence, their financial condition, it will pay you to inquire into the methods by which such persons rose to such enviable positions. You will find that they worked many years for a comparatively small salary, that they seldom took a vacation, and that they put every ounce of energy which they possessed into their jobs. At least such is generally the case. Let us quote Supt. Hall briefly on his experience as a worker to illustrate what it means to “stick and dig,’’ he said: “I started 40 years ago as a super intendent in the Indian service at a salary of $75 per month. After years there came various promotions with increases of both responsibility and salary until you see me here at Chemawa doing fairly well, I hope. This, as you will observe, was not accomplished over night; I have earned, I think, every dollar that I have ever received and have worked hard for it. Others have done the same, and I want to say to you boys and girls that if you ever get anything worth while you will have to work for it.’’ It is astonishing how many young people are trying to get along without hard work. Everywhere we see men and women looking for easy places, short hours, and the least possible work for the greatest possible salary. It is a pinching, narrowing, contracting policy, this trying to get something for nothing. It narrows the individual, stunts his growth and is demoralizing —this going through life without doing one’s part. It is the determination to take a manly part, to do one’s share in the world, to amount to something, the willingness to struggle for advancement—the pushing out, the strong upward heave—that makes the excep tional man or woman. No matter how hard the times, how many millions are out of employment, the excep tional man or woman remains in demand. So students and readers in general, now is your time to commence to amount to something, if you do not already. Start out every morning with a grim determination to make that a red letter day in your advancement. INDIAN CIVILIZATION The following interesting article was written by Clifford McLeod, and shows that considerable thought had been devoted to the subject: The Indian race has contributed much to civilization. From the time that Columbus found them here they have been studied and many things of value have been learned from them and given to the whole world. Taking each race separately it must be admitted that the Indian makes a creditable showing in his gifts to the world. The Indian’s mind naturally traveled in the paths he loved. This led him to do the things that he liked to do and that is the reason why some of the industrial work of these people is so fine and per fect, such as the wonderfully woven belts and blankets, the beautiful basket work with its intricate patterns and designs, the remarkable pottery, the making of which was once, sorry to say, a much finer art than it is now. They were interested in doing these things and learned to do them thoroughly, handing down these arts from father to son and mother to daughter, so that the handiwork of the Native American was and is still recognized as a standard of excellence. The gifts of the Indian have had a tremendous in fluence on human progress since the first white man came to the shores of America. Think of the effect on the world’s food supply if we had never added to it corn, potatoes and tomatoes, which were cultivated by the Indians. The Indians were found growing corn. Two-thirds of the world’s supply is grown in the Unit ed States. It has been the Indian’s privilege to con tribute to the world its greatest crop in point of yield. Making its bow to civilization from the land of the Incas the potato has girdled the globe, winning the praise of every land and people. No other plant in the entire range of the vegetable kingdom has ever gone so far or met with such favor in so short a time. The Indians were found using vanilla, cocoa, chocolate, maple sugar, tobacco, and many varieijes of fruits and vegetables. They discovered numerous dye stuffs and in its preparation they have always been most skillful. In medicine he taught the world the use of quinine and cocaine. Indian rubber which has been utilized in so many ways and which today is almost indispensable owes its origin to the American Indian. The human race has learned a few things from “Poor Lo’’ in the past as he is learning much from the world today, that is leading him to a broader, more thoughtful and capable manhood and womanhood and enabling him to take a rightful place in the vast army of progress.
