Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Grand Ronde, OR
About Weekly Chemawa American. (Chemawa, Or.) 189?-198? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 1901)
CHEMAWA AMERICAN. MEETING OF THE BIG CHIEFS. Commissioner Jones Speaks of the Obstacle in The Work Of Reform. Col. Vra.it advocates abolishing all Indian Schools LAKE MOHONK, N. Y., Oct. IS. Wil liam A, Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, was the principal speaker at the evening session of the Indian conference. He said that the most importantstep taken by his department during the year was securing the record of Iudian births, mar riages and deaths. Iu working for Indiau reform grave obstacles were encountered. The Indiscriminate issue of rations, unwise s appropriation 'of money, and the leasing of allotment. were some of the obstacles. An- other grave obstacle was the educational policy which prevailed. Not earning their , education, in too many cases they failed to appreciate it. The Indians weie hardly more self-reliant than they were a quarter of a century ago. The time has come to make a vigorous move to end such guardian ship and to throw the Indians on their own resources. Other speakers of the evening were Gen eral Whittlesey, of Washington, who pre sented an abstract of the forthcoming an nual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Congressman James S. Sherman, chairman of the committee on Iudian af fairs, and Captain Pratt, of the Carlisle In dian School, the latter saying he was in favor of doing away with Indian schools, including the one at Carlisle, at an early day. Ex. -Once a year the big chiefs of the Indian Service meet in couuHel at Lake Mohonk, New York, at the beautiful mountain home of Mr. Smiley who entertains them in royal style, while they deliberate on the past, present, and futre condition of Poor Lo. The guns of civilization have been shel ling the Red Men with hot industiial shots for another year, and a court of inquiry is necessary to decide the questions, - what has been done, what are we doing, and what shall we do? Some of the chiefs claim, that there is a defect in the kind of weapons used. Others assert that the Carlisle Gat ling or rapid firing gun'does more harm than go j l, and crams the Indian with too much civilization before he' is able to un derstand or digest it, while others argue for the continuance of the good old fash ioned squirrel musket as a slow and eur.e way of killing the Indian. Some suggest the use of smokeless and noiseless powder, believing there is a great deal too much smoke and noise in this grout work of Indian education. So much so that the Indian himself is often lost" sight of in the midst of the battle,. On the whole the proceedings -of the meeting will afford the friends of Indian education much pleasure to note that great progress and many refo rms have been made duung the,past few years, notwith standing some very discouraging features which are hard to overcome. JM uch stress was placed on the importance of more work and less books in. the schools, and attention was directed to the fact that the Indian , youth needed to learn a good trade thor oughly and have it backed up with a com mon school education much more than to master latin, algebra, geometry and the higher studies. There are great many white people iu this world who do not appreciate the comforts and privileges which they enjoy. The In dian should not be censured too severely for failing to appreciate what the Govern ment is doing for him. Schools and educa tion have been dished out to him for years without his even asking for them, and he has been forced to take them not apprecia ting their value or Uncle Sam for his great kindness. When Indian schools are closed, as sug gested by Col. Pratt, probably those Indians Mho are ungrateful will come to their senses and then realize what they have miss ed and lost. It is but right to say, however, that there are a large number of Indhius who do appreciate schools and education, who improve their opportunities in every ' way possible. ; We will suggest that before the Indian Schools cau be abolished the whites of our