Weekly Chemawa American., November 22, 1901, Page 7, Image 7

CHEMAWA AMERICAN.
7
onhsta tbere were certainly finer characters
than among the Indians." I am not bo
fiure of that. Where will you find today
better specimens of meu than Sakapison
Kwasson.Sapiel Saktotna, Sapatis Lola; or
"Old Gabe" Attain? Talk with any of
these men but au hour and you will realize
that you are with one of Nature's noble
innn. But granted that the Puritans cou Id
produce finer specimens of this nobility,
you must grant also that among the Wap
ouakisgood character was more general,
whs well nigh universal.
You may learn of the primitive character
of these people by studying their traditions,
for there you will find a record of the life
of the people and can determine the char
ter which was back of and revealed by
that life. It was the life of a people who
were honest faithful, faithful to obligations,
loyal to their friends and true to their
traditions. Tbey were and still are a
corteuus people, kindly considerate of their
nsjed and helpless neighbors, affectionately
attached to their parents and their chil
dren and respectful to their superiors. In
the old days they were hospitable to a
fault, the women were chaste, the men
were chivalrous, and all were brave. They
wereepirtualin the widest sense, and long
before they had learned of the Christian's
God had offered prayers and sacrifices to
the spirit whom they believed had control
of all nature, and to whom they turned for
help and guidance.
We know also that they were endowed
with a patriotism that withstood all at
tack, and in their struggle to maintain con
trol of their country displayed a heroism
that was sublime. Generation after gener
ation fought against the British for nearly
a century, and all these years they fought
B2ainst odds that would have crushed a less
virile race. Ex.
Rations Pull Down,
Aa for the backward Indians, mostly
fullliloodp, about a thousand in all, it is the
reservation Bystem and government help
that keep many of them from Improving
their condition. The Indian, like some
other people, is consent with the minimum
effort that will support life. Ifgovernment
rations are forthcoming in the hourof need,
if he can get most of the tools and utensils
he needs from the warehouse, the average
Indian is not going to hurt himself work
ing. He will fish a .little, hunt a little,
work a little on farms and in the lumber
camps and let his wife and children gather
wild rice.
A Ration-Getting Device.
Of late it has been made a strict rule to
issue no provisions except to the kick and
aged, but this has not accomplished its
purpose, for the Indian isa natural com
munist, and the moment the old father or
mother gets some flour it is divided up
among the family , no matter how able
bodied the children may be. Iudeed.they
often use the old people as a regular means
of breaking into the warehouse. Thrown
upon their own resources, large number of
Indians of that kind would give a good ac
count of themselves.
The outsider who wants to get in sees
no reason why the reservation should not
be opened up. Conceding that the Indians
have taken the cream of the land in their
reservations and making allowance for a
large part which, has fine land, will not
be open to the homesteader, there remain
thousands of acres of forest and prairie
land of great fertlity and well worth tak
ing for nothing, The total of unallotted
and unreserved land, good and bad, is
842,028 acres. It is said that a majority of
the Indian will oppose the openin g of the
reservation if they are not given title simul
taneously with the opening, so that they
may sell their laud if they choose. Many
of the allotment owners doubtless are pos
sessed of sufficient worldly wisdom to be
allowed to do as they please with their
lands, but it would be most uufortunate
for many of them if they were allowed to
sell their birthrights until they had learned
by experience that land is easier to get
rid of than to get.
The above article clipped from the Jour
nal concerning the White Earth, Minn. In
dians can be applied to all agencies where
rations are issued.