The Chemawa American, October 16, 1929, Image 1

CHEMAWA « AMERICAN
Printed at Chemawa, Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Education
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Wednesday, Oct. 16, 1929
Vol. XXXI
No. 6
LAW AND ORDER ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS
(Report of a Committee of Superintendents to the Conference of
Superintendents held in Washington, D. C.,
August 7th to 15, 1929)
Education and Reservation Conditions
(F rom
the
Q uiver of “T he H oughton L ine .”)
After all, matrimony is the greatest intelligence test.
Education is getting to be almost as expensive as
ignorance.
/
Many a kid is lost now-a-days because he cannot reach
his mother’s skirt.
Never conclude that an illiterate man is necessarily
an unwise man.
► *
»
Of course a college education pays.
great coaches college graduates?
»»
Are not all the
►
Affections that may be alienated are never worth
the price asked for them.
It is the nut that holds the steering wheel that is re­
sponsible for most automobile accidents.
You can’t cure the world’s ills by taking wealth
from one class and giving it to another.
We took this country away from the Red Man. Let
us be careful that we don’t turn it back to the Reds.
F rom O ur O wn Q uiver :
All that a laggard can do well is to lag.
Good Intention needs help to build houses.
Who is there among us that needs to be reminded
so-called fun is not always funny?
On the Indian reservations of the country are situ­
ated the homes of the young people who make up the
legitimate enrollment of our Government Indian
Schools. They arrive at such institutions with many
preconceived and, in many instances, ineradicable ideas
of chastity, the sacredness of family ties, sobriety, and,
in general, the reciprocal rights and obligations of
people in their intercourse with one another. Exist­
ing conditions within the reservations are such that
these ideas are very often so perverted that no good
soil is provided for the planting and cultivation of cor­
rect idealsand habits of thought and action.
We are not able, under existing laws, adequately to
invoke the aid of the courts to correct these unsatis­
factory conditions that are working so disastrously
against the progress of the Indian, and to remedy the
situation, the following is presented:
Laws of Civilization Should Apply to Indians
We respectfully invite attention to the needs of
ways and means to enforce the general laws of civiliza­
tion on Indian reservations. Some local state officers
and courts take jurisdiction of offenses committed by
Indians on their reservations, but on many reserva­
tions they do not. Without going into detail, the fact
of the matter is that there are many deplorable con­
ditions existing on the reservations that must be cor­
rected.
Educational and industrial progress are
materially retarded, to say the least, by lawless con­
ditions on the reservations. We are told that legisla­
tion is required to extend the jurisdiction of the courts.
We, therefore, desire to impress upon the Indian
Office the urgency of the need and to request that
efforts be made to obtain the necessary legislation at
the earliest possible date. We recommend that if
practicable, concurrent jurisdiction be given to the
federal and state courts to handle such cases and that
plans be worked out to extend the operation of the
state courts on Indian reservations as rapidly as pos-
ib le.
Courts of Indian Offenses
To reverence superiority and to accept a fact though
it slay him are the final tests of an educated man.
For the interim of time that must elapse before legis-
(Continued on page 2)