The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-09
THERE ARE OILERS.
Mormons Not the Only Polygamfsts in
Uncle Sans Domain.

| Mormons Not the Only Po1ygamists In
| Uncle Sans Domain.
| Polygamy is fairly rampant within the
| vast domain of Uncle Sam, not only in
| the continental states and territories. but
in the newly acquired island possessions.
This is strictly upon the authority of men
who have made study of the ques-
ton.
| have just collected opinions from many
of the wise doctors who make speciality
of human customs. There are score of
them in Washington.
with very few exceptions, all Indians
in the United States who adhere at all to
| native beliefs-and few of them do not
are polygamists de facio or de jure.
1T is common when | go to an Indians
abode for the father of the family to
point to one woman and say my wife.
indicating others Of the household as my
wife's sisters To the Indian this very
often means that all are wives. the oldest
only being designated such.'
THE African negro when he arrived in
this country was instnctively polyga-
nous. Plurality of wives is the rule
among negroes In Africa, especially those
of the west coast. who supplied all our
slaves. In studying negroes ethnologi-
cally | have seen many cases of polygamy
and ! know that among the lower ones
of full blood there is much more of that
sort of thing than any one suspects
"Polygamy is the rule among many
primitive tribes of the Philippines and
among Mohammedans there"
What | have quoted are paragraphs
which | jotted, down directly from as
many sources. Pofygamy among primitive
people is a delidate question among eth
nologists. They are all afraid of burning
their bridges.
l once interviewed a full-blooded Pap
ago Indian and CHANGED the question,
What do you do with your old maids?'
Astonshment beamed in his face. He
had to be enlightened as to the meaning
of the two words 1--WE have none" said
he, Every girl is married when So is
very young. Yes, there are fewer men
than women Every woman must have a
husband she will starve.''
The Aleuts. our Alaskan subjects. in the
Aleutian islands. allow their best hunters
the most wives. The reason is that men
who can obtain the most food best
support large families. When Il wife
ceases to attract the husband she is sent
back to her family. The Esquimaux COM
monty has two wives rarely more, and in
spite of the frigid climate in which they
live husbands of this race are noticed to
bestow unusual affection upon their
spouses.
Although the native Hawaians have
be EN- nominaly converted to Christianity,
their marriage relations are conspicu-
ously lax. and. although polygamy is not
practiced legally, married men and wo-
men are equally promiscuous. according
to good authorities. The native Hawaiian
thinks more seriously of his funeral than
of his marriage Expensive marriages
make an eXtravagant funeral impossi-
BILE.
The Bagobos of the Philippines are po-
lygamists. also the Mangyans. The latter
primitive people of the island of Min
doro, marry a plurality of wives when
they can afford it. Professor Dean G.
Worcester, who has been in Washington
this week. and who has made personal
study of the Mangyans. found that both
men and women remain true to their
mates All that he could learn of their
marriage ceremony was that 'the old
folks get together and talk" One of these
people, begged by priest to adopt
Christian modes of life, replied that if he
became Christian it would cost money
to be born. to be allowed to live, to mar
ry, to die and to be buried The sultan of
Sulu. now an American subject is Mo-
hammedan. with Il harem.
The fact that the Aetas, the so-called
missing links of the Philippines, are
monogamists strengthens the theory that
the very lowest classes of humanity. as
well as the very highest, generally remain
loyal through life to but one mate at
time, the intermediate classes being po-
lygamists.
Polyandry, the marriage of one wife to
a plurality of husbands, is also practced
by a considerable number of Uncle Sans
subjects. Alaska is the hothed of this
practice. In Oonalaska, one of the Aleu-
tian islands. woman often lives with
two husbands
1t has been urged that polygamy is I'M
natural because of the equal distribution
of the sexes. In the United States there
are about 600 more men than women,
which is contrary to the general SUPPOSE
ton that women are in excess Polyandry
in Alaska is due to the minority of wo-
men. Among the Indians of the United
States proper there is an excess of wo-
men, because male Indians have always
suffered the greater exposure in the wars
and in the hunt. There is a, theory that
mixture of race among Indians produces
an excess of females in the birth rate
Special Correspondence of the New York
Herald from Washington, D. c.