The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-06-29
OF MOHA VIZ INDIANS
TO HAVE NEWSPAPER IN THEIR
own TONGUE.


The Mohawks OF Canada and New
York state are to have a newspaper.
1t will be edited by Charles A. Cooks,
a full-blooded Indian employed in the
| department OF Indian affairs at Otta-
wa, says an Ottawa correspondent Of
the New York Sum Some time ago
Cooke began publishing the Onkweon-
we, semf-monthly magazine, printed
| in the Mohawk language, and it was
SO successful that he has decided to
turn it into newspaper, the first of
It's kind in Canada and the second In
America. There are other Indian pub
lications not newspapers, but the ma
| Jority of them are issued by mission
ary societies and they are edited by
white men. The Cherokee Advocate,
published in Indian Territory, is the
only other Indian newspaper in North
America. The Onkweonwe will pub
ish some telegraphic news from differ
ent parts of the world, market news
and reports of prices Of furs, skins,
fish, etc., and will have an inquiry de-
partment, which will be one of its
leading features. Editor Cooke is the
son of Mohowk chief and was edu-
Gated at government schools and after
ward took course in Canadian col
lege. When he had been graduated he
got clerkship in the Indian depart
ment. He is a dark-skinned young
man, with pronounced Indian features.
He is good singer and is member Of
the choir of the leading Methodist
! church in Ottawa. Two other Mohawk
Indians, Miss Maracle and Joseph De
! Isle, are employed in the same room
with. Mr.. Cooke. All are well edu-
Gated. Few of the Indians can read
English, but about 10000 are able to
read anything printed in the Mohawk
dialect. The Mohawk alphabet con
slsts OF twelve letters and and K are
used much oftener than any of the
others. An ordinary eight-page issue
or the OnkweonWe contains about one
quarter ms and ks. For this reason
i the editor has had some difficulty in
getting his copy set up, as the prinfer
soon runs out of ms and ks. English
characters are used. Here is a specl-
men paragraph from the Onkweonwe:
''KoNoNKWE Ao,rIRIWAsoNHA.
| '1akonnewata iaiakoseke enska ne
tens teken mint jlnikariWes onon-
warejerakerike tionekonties enska me
Jlalalaksera tenwatiaseren senah jiien-
Wakatsteke jieniontste'' ~. :
When the OnkweonWe came out first
many of the old chefs objected to it.
The great Spirit, Gitchee Manitou
the Mighty, says good Indians never
read newspapers" said they to the
younger, braves, but the paper became
popular. Indians like to hear about
the doings of the white men. When
Editor Cooke started the paper he
published incidents about the Indians,
and soon letters were sent to him
from his fellow braves saying, *stop
publishing news about the Indians; tell
us about Laurier and Others They
did not object to the name Onkweon-
we, which means in the Mohawk
tongue, the only human being" or
the real human being,'''' in contradis-
tlnction to others who are looked upon
as being less worthy of the name Of
man, or as lacking in qualities of
manhood. "Onkwe'' means a human
being and would be applied to a pale
race or to an Indian of another tribe
The addition Of "onwe'' is Mohawk for
the real thing" The Mohawks are
lnqu1sitiye. Among the questions Edi-
tor Cooke has had to answer are the
following: Why does the government
try to control Indians?" "What is
electricity Who was Papineau? and
what did he DOR What is an In
dian ? To the last question Mr.. Cooke
answered IAN Indian is an Indian who
has native blood in his veins. and
who is on the reserved lands under the
protection of the government. I, The
OnkWeonWe recently published the fol-
lowing story about an Indian living
near near Eganville, not many miles from
ottawa 81: Indian John, a celebrated
Mohawk guide, who is now 80 wears
Old, has been sleeping in his coffin for
some me months. John, although still a
vigorous man, knows that he must
soon leave for the happy hunting
grounds, so some time ago he made
himself coffin and began sleeping in