The Washington herald., 1912-01-21
AMERICAN INDIANS UNITED IN
CIVIC AND SOCIAL ADVANCE
President Taft Asked Commission Study Indians United States
Young Americans with Rights and Full
Capacities for Religious and Educational Progress

The American Indian is not vanish.
Ing. As a race, Indians are increasing
IN numbers. AS a race, too. they have
arrived at racial consciousness. Among
the first to get there are the leaders In
religion. The Bible as foundation. In
dians have recently come 20 a way OF
thinking that leads them to say:
IF the Indians are factors in America,
Indians must make them such. II In
dams secure their rights, Indians must
do their share in the struggle. What
may have answered for the times Of
Providence Plantation, and jamestown,
and two to three centuries ago, will not
answer for the present times, Indians
must adapt themselves. They can do so
and still be Indians"
There have long been Indian associa-
tons, OF course, but the society OF Amer
lean Indians is another thing Indian
associations have included white peo-
pie. Indeed, some Of them have hardly
Ventured to Include Indians, or at least
none who dominated the purposes and
the plans Of the associations. The white
man. IL in at all. is in, for all, and gen
eraily gets Il. The society OF American
indians is the first to be completely In
dian In membership. II is an effort of
young and ambitious Indians, some reli-
gious leaders, some civic leaders, some
educational leaders, to lead American
Indians Of the present and future into
larger and better ways TO compel white
men to recognize them, to yield to them
Ask Taft for CommIssIon.
No sooner is this society in working
shape than It begins a movement to COM
Pei the white man to take the Indian
into larger account. There is pending
IN f,r
pointment by President Taft of a COM
mission Of three men qualified by legal
and sociological training, as well as ac-
quaintance with Indian affairs. to study
the present laws relating to and con-
ditions surrounding the various groups
and classes of Indians in the United
States. The commission is to be a sal
aried one, and is to prepare a bill codi-
Tying existing laws, and providing new
ones that shall give the Indian better
chance for development
This new Indian society is said to hold
that efforts to bring together all the
scattered tribes, nations, and groups Of
Indians in the United States, to uplift
them, TO develop them. and TO adjust
them to the circumstances OF modern
environment are worthy of the sympathy
and support OF white Americans. The
new society says il stands for the In
dian as an American, with all the rights
the name implies. At the same time it
declares it stands Tor the protection of
groups Of Indians who are as yet unable
to grasp present situations. In other
words, the society is a missionary one
to the Indians, led and supported by In
dams Of the younger and brighter gen
Grafton.
Indians for Indian Advance.
There is an executive committee OF the
society whose members will represent the
leadership in this Indian effort at Indian
uplift. The chairman Of the committee,
Mr.. Thomas L. Sloan, is a Winnebago In
dian. IN part white, from Nebraska, for
many years a successful attorney of Pen