The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1910-04-01

oent ROOSeveltian ~
would search in vain
In that particular Sec
Clon OF the desert for
indication of race sui
eide. With wives and children worth
I6O-acre farms land their value guar
ahteed by the government, just like
silver certificates and banknotes),
these commodities are worth having
and the Navajo buck who has neither
is hustling for both, while he who has
one or both is hustling for more.
But the fact that a wife is worth
100 acres of land has boosted the
price OF wives to such an extent that
a poor man can hardly, if at all, raise
the wherewithal for the purchase Of
one. For the Navajos have bought
their wives since the beginning of i'm
memorial tradition paying the
squaw's father in ponies. sheep, goats,
cattle, hides, wool, silver or any other
commodity acceptable to both buyer
and seller. Naturally the father of a
manageable girl feels that she is
worth $50 acres of land to him. If
some brawny brave wants her he
must raise the ante. So it happens
that Uncle Sam has been a real bull
on he squaw market, giving her a
higher valuation thar was ever be-
fore dreamed Of by the warriors of
the southwest.
So the poor but ambitious buck
finds it difficult to better his condi-
ton by entering the state of matri-
mony as an investment. The price of
wives is too high for any but the
wealthy to afford such a luxury.
AS might be anticipated, neither the
rich nor the poor of the Navajoes are
at all pleased with the rumors that
have reached them of the govern
ment's ultimate intentions. They are
we'll satisfied to take their land allot-
ments, but if any attempt is made to
compel them to live upon their lands
there will be trouble. They have been
accustomed to wandering wherever
the spirit moved them-driving their
focks and herds before them and
stopping wherever water was abun-
dant and pasturage good. To be cor
rallied in fenced-in farms and COM
PEELED to live year after year in the
same place will prove intolerable. To
confine a Navajo on a 160-acre farm
will work as great a hardship on him
as to shut a white man up in a six
by ten prison cell.
The Navajo reservation comprises
an area of perhaps 5000, 900 acres
and estimates of the number of
tr~ibespeople vary all the way from
5000 to $4,000. 1t might appear,
then, that their reservation was big
enough to give them all elbow room.
The Navajos have never thought so
and pay not the slightest heed to res
~ervation limits. : Without so much as
saying "by your leave" they have Ia
ken possession of the major part Of
the reservations of the Hopis of Ari-
IONA and the Zunis of New Mexico.
Then they are scattered all over
southern Utah. southwestern Colorado
and the public lands of northern New
Mexico and Arizona. They occupy
an area larger than the entire state Of
Pennsylvania and will do a lot of
grumbling at any attempt to curtail
their liberty of movement. OF course
they dc not need more than a small
fraction of this land for the p%asturing
of their sheep, goats, cattle and
horses; but they have always been
semi-nomadic in their habits, moving
to a new location whenever they felt
like it.
In many ways the Navajo is not a
bad fellow. His peculiarities are
faults when judged by the white mans
standards. But why should we pre-
sumo to measure the red mans oats
in our h~alf-bushel basket? For one
thing, he knows no distinction OF
meum and tuum and would rather
steal than buy from any person or at
any time. Again, the truth is not in
him; or, if it is, it is so deeply buried
that 1t never reaches the surface; and
tngratitude is so universal that its
opposite is inconceivable in the con-
duct of a Navajo. Then his weakness
for many wives may be counted
against him; but perhaps this should
be considered lack of wisdom rather
than a moral lapse. Two wives II the