Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-14
CRITICAL PERIOD FOR INDIAN
DR.. Susan La Flesohe Piootte Dis
cusses Allotment Scheme.
PLAN HAS NOT WORKED WELL
Member Of Omaha Tribe Says IL Has
Reduced Indian from an INDIE
pendent Character to Posi-
tiOn of Dependency.

NAVh OF b~epehuencys
WALTHILB, Neb., Dec. 13.-To the Ed
itor Of The Bee: The Omaha Indians are
passing through a most critical period,
and having been asked many times for in
formation concerning the well being and
recent development Of these Indians, and
the conditions surrounding them, l feel II
fairly due the public 1 make a plain state
ment of fdcts.
Much discussion has been current during
the past year Of these existing conditions,
which are slowly forcing them into ANAL
gamatlon with the white people. Assimila-
ton is a problem of the future, a solution
of which Is dependent on the combined eff
forts of the white people Of this state and
the Indians themselves. and perhaps the
politicians. who are in a class by them
selves, whose influence is usually retro
grade.
I am a member of the Omaha tribe, hav-
Ing worked among them for about twenty
years as a practicing physician and medical
field missionary.
During these years I have observed
closely the influences, progressive or re-
trograde, concerned in molding the devel-
opment Of my people. 1 have seen a gen.
GRAFTON pass away-a generation which was
Of the old and represented the prlmeval
with all its nobility and grandeur-who
never felt the tumult Of the new life and
with its tragic passing left behind it an
echolng note Of sadness for that life which
is but q memory to those who are entering
into the new life unknown as yet, ur-
tried as yet, as far as achievement Is
concerned.
Indians MisunderstoOd.
| How LITTLE have most IF those who hatya
controlled the destinies of the Indians
understood their inner life-their thoughts,
rllelr hopes, their aspirations, and the con-
dltions surrounding them.
There was much that was noble and
beautiful in the primitive American In
dian-he was taught in his early child
hood, and clear through manhood. that he
owed to himself and to those around him
the proper cultivation of his physical and
moral nature, and the Indian was clrcum-
scribed by laws and customs as we'll de-
fined and more easily applied and better
observed than the most refined code CT
laws in our own modern state. The strict
observance of such laws brought practical
results which I defy your so-called civil
ization to equal or surpass-there were no
murderers, no robbery, no petty %thIeving,
no drunken brawls-no subjectlng of man
uOOu Vi WOIuduuOOu 10 SOCldl lHpuIllys
The generation before you today is
passing, this is a stage of trasition-
although influenced to some extent the
traditions of the old. they have not yet
grasped the good influences of the new
life. The Indian is struggling to adjust
himself to the new ways, which he has
no alternative, hut to accept, he has to
assume Ii whether he likes it or not, he
has to put 1t on whether he understands
1t or not. He is passing, without much
understanding from his own civilization
into a so-called higher civilization.
The white man may stand beside him
from day to day and may honestly desire
to help him, and yet cannot do so fully
because he cannot understand the Indian
nature and knows nothing of the struggle
going on among the b~enighted, bewildered
people as they journey out Of the old life
into the new. Without understanding you,
cristicise us and try to teach us.
Nature of Old Indians.
The government says, we must become
"self-supporting'' in the past we did not
gather into barns, but the Indian never
went hungry. He utilized to the utter
most the resources of nature that God gave
him yon day, We are somewhat tacking in
our solicitude for ." a rainy d~ay,"-stop and
llSdllLG I a OlllC Lial " lldll Jul
turtles these people lived a true simple life
at peace among themselves, away from
a struggle for existence, deserving their
ample nourishment from bountiful nature
believing eQually-free as air, water and
unshine!
They gained more than the American
people receive in their mad struggle for
existence-they gained the universal pursuit
and desire OF all neutrality-suspicious.!
Having lived such a life for centuries, is
1t reasonable for white people to expect
them in one generation to cast off all the
old and take up a new life with all It's
complexities and play the game with the
same zest as they and their vanished kin !
MANY white people have died, and more
will die in the future, Of "Americanitis. }
Many years ago my people made a num-
Der of treaties with the government of the
United States defining the limits Of their
lands. which were held by tribal owner
ship, and then on August 7 1882, congress
passed an act providing for the
separate allotment and assignment
to the Individual Indians of certain
tracts to be held under individual
ownership, the government, however, hold
ing the title in trust for twenty-five years.
Effort to Change Character.
The avowed object Of the allotment was
to teach the Indians habits of industry and
thrift and better prepare them for the
complexities ana responsibilities of modern
life.
The twenty-five years was presumed to
be a period Of development under the be.
nevolent guidance of an all-wise govern
ment.
TIC a limited degrees this dream has beer
realized, and the present generation Is
much better prepared to meet the modern
conditions and demands than the genera
ton that has passed away.
The twenty-five years have expired and
the government admits that the lesson is
by no means learned-that the Omaha In,
dians are ill-prepared to pass from under
guardianship. with full title to their lands
A 70 ~A@A L@4AI r