Weekly Chemawa American., February 26, 1909, Page 2, Image 2

2 THE CHKMJ
lions, millions and more millions they
have spent and are spending, that one
day they may take hundreds of millions
more. CREATES LtFE.
Down in the University of California
Professor Jacques Leoh with his bro
mides and his sea urchin's egg, has cre
ated life where there was none. The bi
ologists of the world have given him
great acclaim and the church has held
his name anathema for thrusting in his
hand where tradition says the hand may
not go. ..
Up . in Metlakatla Father Duncan
has created ouls where there were none,
and into the balance against them he
has thrown the millions that might be
his and theirs, and has decided for the
soul?.
If it be left to Father Duncan there
will be' no golden calf lifted up on Met
lakatla to demoralize his children and
wrest from' the altar of the Almighty his
life's offering. New made morals shall
not be pitted against Mammon, nor shall
in any- degree the' people he has lifted
from the depths be exposed to the de
generating influence that comes of much
money and the persuit of it. ,
' , TALKED CHINOOK.
It has been near-two score of years
since Father Duncan hunted out his is
land and began the moulding of the
almost inert clay he found , there. He
named his domain for the tribe, of In
dians he fathered ' The Indian he found
was the aboriginal, known vulgarly in
the" northwest and the Alaskan coast as
the Si wash, or Chinook His place in
civilization's scale is only a peg lower
than that of the Digger Indian of Cal
ifornia. Once he ; had acquired the Chiiiook
WA AMERICAN
jargon, crossed with a smattering of
Russian, which the aboriginals used, the
little priest set about his self-appointed
task. He had before him to fight sloth
and sin and almost universal disease,
but he found his new people curious and
through that cha nnel he proceeded. He
led them from an attitude of tolerant
amusement to a point of' serious consid
eration and on again to acceptance of
his creed and' an Understanding of it.
They, put aside their totem, -cast out the
crow, and accepted God. He eradicated
inherent laziness by showing them in time
the rewards of work, 'and by making
their work to profit them in comforts.
He led them to personal pride through
their "love of color and by the same
rneans finally , liberated their women
from the bondage of the tepee and the
fishing boat, and elevated .them .to the
accepted conjugal plane. He gave them
crafts and tools wherewith to' ply them,
and finally he gave them schools...
Not all of this vvas done With the first
generation, nor with the second, al
though the second demonstrated to him
that his work With the first had made
for the uplift. It was more tractable,
more easily taught, quicker of apprecia
tion. He had bettered the fiber, or
. better, he had made fiber from pro
toplasm and had vivified' it. ,
MAYOR AN INDIAN :
Metlakatla is today a model muni
cipal government, officered and organ
ized by the aborigines, which Father
. Duncan 40 years ago connected with
the uplift.- It. has its mayor, who is an
Indian, and its council, aldermanic
board, also Indians. It has its depart
ment of health,' which has applied to
street construction and to dwelling and
(Continued on page 8.) !