The Chemawa American, September 25, 1929, Page 2, Image 2

The CHEMAWA AMERICAN
Page 2
CHEMAWA
AMERICAN
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Published Weekly at the U. S. Indian School, Chemawa
Oregon. Address all communications to
Ruthyn Tumey, Manager
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M aurice S witzer S ays :
It isn’t the things we really need th <t worry us, it’s
the things we’d like to have.
When we can afford to buy everything we need, we
do not seem to need anything.
Your clothes, or lack of them, should not attract
more attention than your conversation.
The first real sign of intelligence we display is when
we begin to get wise to the fact that we have limitations.
The trouble with most of us is our unbounded con­
fidence in our ability with no appreciation of our
limitations.
Perhaps we should not despise ourselves so much
for our vices, but rather respect ourselves for having
strength to overcome them.
Some people who pose as examples of pious recti­
tude have a code of morals that ought to be dragged
out into the back yard with a bale-hook and fumigated.
A man may not always be able to meet his obliga­
tions but he should always be able to remember them.
Many a good dog never got a decent bone to gnaw
until his teeth were all gone.
Enthusiasm is a fine thing when founded on reason,
but you should remember that enthusiam without ex­
perience is what led the misguided pup to grab a
bull-dog by the tail, and you can imagine what hap­
pened to the pup.
THE INDIANS’ LACK OF THRIFT
Secretary Wilbur’s praiseworthy desire to set the In­
dian on his own feet would be immeasurable advanced
toward realization if the secretary could find a way to
recast the attitude of the aborginal toward property.
A certain amount of thrift being essential to security
under the system which encourages the development
of individuality, we cannot disregard the requirement
that our present wards shall not only be industrious
but that they shall put by something out of their earn­
ings against the proverbial rainy day.
Only occasionally is the idea impressed on an Indi­
an, and then with curious consequences. The red
man's code of hospitality does not permit him to turn
a dependent, however shiftless or undeserving, from
the door. The prosperous member of the group be­
comes the prey of all and singular, with the result that
incentive to accumulate is impaired or destroyed. One
of the problems of the new Indian commissioner is go­
ing to be the inculcation of the precept about earning
one’s bread in the sweat of one’s face.
The present relative dependency of a quarter of a
million natives who have been awarded citizen status
but are not yet economically free, is due in no incon­
siderably measure to the circumstance that the govern­
ment has been playing the part of rich relative to its
complaisant wards. As a permanent policy, this has
worked no better in the one case than in the other. It
has been demonstrated that unbridled charity is not
true benevolence.—E ditorial , P ortland O regon ­
ian .
It is comparatively easy to cite instances proving
the evils of the “potlatch.” This is a poverty-breed­
ing custom and there is usually want and misery in
its wake. A few days of the “potlach” and the sav­
ings of a life time are no mote.
Our good Indian folk should take heed of the fact
that times and conditions have changed and that hence­
forth they can no longer look to nature to supply
their needs. For the Indian, as for the rest of the
civilized world, it is from now on to be a matter of
competition largely, and we shall have much or little
according to our willingness to think and to sweat.
Responsibilities hedge about us and we are all com­
pelled to meet them. Circumstances have left us no
choice in the matter. If our Indian friends are desir­
ous of succeeding they must roll up their sleeves and
go to work—make all they can and hoard it for the
“rainy day” that arrives sooner or later. Commence
now to roll up your sleeves and make a gesture that
in reality is work—in school and out—and continue to
make the gesture.