Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-18
Indian Children and the Fresh All
Problem.

years ago, however, the commissions
which he showed that this form Of ex
preston was merely poetic fiction
AS matter of fact the Aborigne
despite their various wars against tn
whites have held their numbers re
| markabIy well showing little or NJ
1 loss in the centuries that hav
followed the white occupation of Nortl
America
| The oft-repeated assertion that tn
noble red man was passing away wa
merely a figment of the imagination
1t is true that places that "Once knew
him now know him no more" for th'
reason that he has been pretty muc!
moved from his former hunting
grounds onto government reservations
He is less warlike than formerly be-
cause experience has strengthened hi
Judgment. He is better informed now
as to the numbers and resources of tht
whites, and recognizes both the folly
and the futility of waging war agains
| them; but numerically he is about a;
strong as when he followed his old
time leaders in bloody, relentless war
fare against the whites.
AS the general population of the
country has increased with the marvel
Gus rapidity that has marked ouI
national progress during the past few
decades. his numbers have seemed tc
grow less; but as matter of fact this
was only relatively So Actually he
has held his own to a remarkable de-
gree Gradually he has come to see
the advisability of abandoning his old
modes of life. and adopting the ways
of the white man. His old tribal reia-
tions are crumbling away and the age
of individualism is rapidly succeeding
Today his children are being educated
in the white mans ways and the white
mans learning. This change in
methods of life has brought abou,
some unforeseen results. One of these
is the increase in pulmonary troubles
which shows that the life in the open
is. after all, the best possible protection
which the people of any race can have
against the ravages of this dread
disease. Bird Cage" school houses
as they are called-are now being built
on most of the reservations to bring
the Indian children back to nature.
OF this work Commissioner Leupr
speaks as follows:
Our Indian children are particularly
prone to pulmonary complaints. Ever
since we have begun clothing the
Indians and thereby making them
physically more tender, the lungs have
been their great seat of trouble; and
when one child has begun to SHOW
pretty plainly symptoms OF tuber-
culosis, it is not only cruelty to that
child to shut it up where it shall
breath the inclosed atmosphere. but 1t
is a menace to the other children with
whom it is brought thus into close and
unWholsOme contact. 1t is too soon
yet to predict the success or failure of
this experiment, but the cost of giving
it a trial is too insignificant for con-
sideration in comparison with the
great gain to be achieved if it does
succeed"
The result of this experiment will be
watched with general interest. If it
succeeds. as physicians predict it WILL
the question will naturally arise why 4
system of pure air which preserves
the health OF Indian children might not
be of equal value in preserving the
health OF white children, better Injured
though they may be, through the ex-
perience of their race, to the indoor
life. A large number of the school
houses of our country are Wretchedly
ventilated. and to this fact is doubtless
due many deaths among school chill
dren, who succumb to the unfavorable
environments in which their young
lives are largely passed.
Indeed it has been said by some
physicians to be in a measure a
survival of the physically fittest
Strangely enough it appears to be one
of those matters in which school
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. include to be more
or less conservative-have been slow
to take an intelligent interest and
slower still to act.
Massachusetts seems to more adj
vanced than most of her sister states
in this matter There the law requires
every school building to be sufficiently
supplied with ventilating equipment t
give every pupil an average of 80 cubic
feet of fresh air per minute. In Maine
so far as we know there is no law
upon this important matter either as Il
applies to school buildings or to place.
of public assemblage. 1t is eviden
that there is large and very import
ant opportunity for reform in this field
Let us make sure that our schoo
children are given an amply supply o
froSb MIRO air and we NAV rest as