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.