Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-07-14
SOME STRIKING FEATURES OF
THE EXPOSITION.
RACIAL CONVENTIONS
Indian May Be Seen in His Primitive
state-In the Philippine Section
Head-Hunters Attract Most Atten-
tion-Maintain Their Native Gus
toms as Far as Conditions Allow.


one evening on the Plaza g, Louis. A
breeze stirs there almost all the time,
even on the evenings when the Their
mometer ranges highest, and from a
seat near the Louisiana purchase mon
ument, the electrical display is beauti-
full beyond description.
In the daytime, apart from the in
dustrial displays, there are few unad-
vertised places that are well worth
visiting even for a person who has very
| little time for sightseeing. First, per-
haps, | should put the anthropological
exhibition of which the Indian school
building is the center. Professor W.
]. MCGEE and Superintendent MCGOWAN
/ of Chilocco have expended the money
at their disposal most effectively. In
the outside camps may be found the
North American Indians in their prim-
tive state, living in tepees, hogans,
sod-lodges and grass houses, just as
enc sees them in their own homes scat
tered through the frontier west. In the
school building, children and adults are
at work at their trades, carpentry, bas-
ket-weaving and the like. The con-
trast between the old Indian and the
new is thus most vividly brought out:
the savage, dirty, ignorant and for
lorn, leading useless and purposeless
existence, the livelihood of his ances-
trail race taken from him and nothing
substituted for it; the government pu-
pill trained to fit a place in the world
of today, his naturally sharp senses
brought to keener edge, his resources
multiplied, and his time given bullion
value which he can coin into dollars.
Moreover, Mr.. MCGOWAN is showing
the progress of the young Indian in
the special field in which he is bound
to excel even the average of his white
competitors, for nature never marked
another human being so surely for an
artisan. The goods he has to sell here
may be seen in process of production,
fact which adds vastly to their value
as souvenirs.
On one side of the Indian school
building is the Alaska house, where
Governor Brady makes his headquar-
tiers and has arranged a striking ex-
hibit OF the natural resources of the
Alaska district, including everything
from gold, copper and tin, crude pc
troleum, and precious stones, up
through the whole agricultural gamut.
In cases in the central building are ar
ranged samples of the native indus
tries, while on either side of the house
are native cabins, built of timbers and
shakes brought down for this purpose.
and faced with a rare collection of typ
ical totem poles leaned by their OWL
ers. The ivory carvings, the fishing
nets made of animal sinew and whale
bone fibre, and the garments made of
the intestines of the hair-seal. are the
most interesting exhibits of native
handicraft. Upstairs is a collection of
paintings illustrative of Alaskan seen
cry and native costumes There is
also a quaint life-size oil portrait OF
Peter the great to which a bit of his
tory attaches. When Seward CON-
pleted the purchase of Alaska in Octo-
Der. 1867, the Russian governor gen.
eral. who was in poor health. made
haste to withdraw and sail for his own
country, leaving a confidential clerk to
close up the business, haul down the
Russian flag and put the Americans in
possession.
The clerk, Leo Nabokoff by name.
performed this duty conscientiously.
The fficial papers of Importance had
all been packed into the governor gem
erals trunks and shipped, but in a last
look through the government house
this portrait of Peter was found still
hanging on the wall. What to do with
it, Nabokoff did not know. 1t was an
awkward thing to handle on account
OF its size and its liability to irrepa-
rable damage through carele ssness
There was no one to whom he could
turn ii over, and he had no notion of
letting it pass into the hands of the
Yankee barbarians. So he kept il
himself, to await further orders from
his government None came. In
course of time he succumbed to the
changed order of things and Joined his
fortunes with the Americans. He is
now gray-haired veteran, a resident
of this city and prosperous contrac.
tor His civic pride prompted him to
offer the use Of his precious picture as
curio when the worlds fair came to
st. Louis, though his Russian sent.
ment is still so strong that he cannot
speak of the lowering of the imperial
flag at Sitka without tears
On the opposite side Of the Indian
building, a broken path leads to the
Philippines section. which is occupied
by specimens OF the various tribes in
the archipelago. The houses in which
they live have been built by their own
labor, of material brought with them
from the orient The Igorrotes. or
head-hunters. attract most attention.
The men, who though not large are ex.
ceedingly well built, wear nothing hut
the Malay form of hreech-cloth. Not