PAGE 4
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
FAITH IN OURSELVES
(Continued from page 1)
became greatly interested in one particular cadet
captain and the way he handled his troop. On being
told that the young cadet was a grandson of the man
General Miles once called the “Human Tiger/’
Geronimo, the great Apache fighter, he expressed
great surprise and commented at some length on the
striking contrast between the old Apache warrior and
the young gentleman soldier before him.
Written
down, in the language of an erstwhile famous editor,
it would read something like this:
For more than a million years, man has been toiling upward,
impelled by the mysterious law that causes the pine to spring
toward the «nn. Sometimes the advance is by leaps and
bounds, as when some giant intellect—some son of God,
especially gifted with the attributes of his Sire—brushes aside
the obstructions at which lesser men toil in vain; sometimes
the Car of Progress stands still for a thousand years, else rolls
slowly back toward brutishness, there being none of sufficient
strength to advance the standards further up the rugged
mountain-side, nearer the celestial city. Thus ever in ebb
and flow, gaining and losing, only to regain; nations rising
and falling, but to serve as stepping-stones whereon mount a
nobler race, a grander people. The irrepressible conflict of
the God-like, with the beast-like in man, goes bravely on.
In half a million years we have come far—won many a fair
field from the dominion of Darkness. We no longer dwell in
caves and hollow trees, fighting naked with the wild beasts of
the forests for our prey. We have made matter so far subject
to mind that Nature’s mighty forces have become our obedient
bond-slaves. We have built societies, nations, weighed the
world, and measured the stars. We have acquired not only
knowledge and power, but love and modesty. Life is no longer
mere animation, content to gorge itself with roots and raw
meat and sit in the sun. The ear craves melody; the eye,
beauty; the brain, dominion, while the soul mounts to the very
stars.
Who then, shall say that the Indian in time, will
not also take his place beside the thinkers and workers
of other races and prove himself a permanent and
valuable economic factor in the world’s onward march?
THE WAY OUT FOR THE INDIAN
There are those who contend that the way out for the
Indian is to put the Indian out, meaning to turn him
loose from all Government control and supervision and
let him sink or swim, survive or perish. In other words
let him be submitted to the full operations of the law of
the survival of the fittest. There are others, who be
lieve that this dictum, applied literally and indis
criminately, would be a harsh and unjust policy. But
as rapidly as circumstances and conditions will permit,
the Indian should be made to realize that the biggest
factor in the solution of his problem is himself.
The social and economic independence of the Indian
must come then, if it comes at all, largely through
his own efforts. Unless we can in some way inspire him
with ambition there appears to be very little future for
him. We cannot apply civilization with a trowel.
These are the results of growth and development.
The best we can do is to provide the right atmosphere
and supply the incentive, and awaken ambiton, and
endeavor to inspire you people with the desire to be
come industrious home-makers and self-supporting,
intelligent citizens. The fact that a great many In
dians are economically independent, and educationally
and socially the equals of their white neighbors is
evidence that the chief reason why many more do not
achieve these attainments is because they fail to take
advantage of the opportunities offered them by the
Government and by the communities in which they
live.
There is an economic law, as universal and in
exorable as the law of gravitation, which decrees that
each individual is the arbiter of his own destiny.
Therefore, the young, able-bodied Indian who would
acquire independence and self-reliance, must observe
this great economic law just as all others must observe
it. He must work, and through work learn the value
of time and money. He must be taught to transact
his own business and thus learn to manage his affairs.
He must learn to use his lands for his support and
happiness if he would appreciate their worth. And
he must keep his hands out of missionary barrels and
his name off of ration rolls if he would maintain his
self-respect. He can do these things only after proper
education and training, and by the exercise of his
own will and his own industry. He cannot hope to
keep the lands and money that have come to him
through no effort of his own, or to use them wisely,
unless at some period in his development he learns the
lessons of industry and thrift; he must learn by doing.
Indians who continue to possess valuable property
which has come to them as an inheritance must work
to keep it, and those without property must work to
get it. Our big problem is to teach the Indian these
simple truths.
Through education, right training and sympathetic
leadership lies the only hope for accomplishing lasting
and beneficial results, and we shall succeed in benefit
ing the Indian only as we succeed in getting him to
do things for himself. We might pour all the money
in the United States Treasury at his feet and forever
exempt him from all effort and toil on his part, and
he would soon vanish from the earth. No race in
the history of the world has ever made any substantial
progress or advanced to a state of enlightened inde
pendence and prosperity except through its own efforts.
About all we can do for the Indian is to give him a
white man’s chance, which he has not always had.
Naturally timid and self-conscious, he needs encour
agement and intelligent sympathy, and at times a
helping hand.
These we should give freely when
needed, and in the spirit of friendly interest. And he
needs also, to be taught to pray, not that his just
burdens be lightened, but rather that he be given
strength to bear them.
The important thing with you is to believe in your
self—to have faith in the Indian and to be true to the
best traditions of your race. Do not permit discour
agements and disappointments to weaken your efforts
or to lessen your determination. Rather, they should
urge you on to greater effort and point the way to
victory. Faith in ourselves preserves our enthusiasm
undiminished and bids us endure the pangs of mis
fortune and bide our time, believing as we do that
the sun shines for us also.