East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-02-15
HEALTH. INDUSTRY
INDIAN ESSENTIALS
COMMISSIONER VALENTINE
DECLARES IN HIS ADDRESS
Tells Newly Organized brotherhood
That He Has Discovered Many of
Ability In Their Ranks on Reserva-
tiOns.

Joe Craig, local interpreter and
national secretary of the Brotherhood
OF North American Indians, has re-
ceived copy of the address deliver
ed by r. G Valentine. commissioner
of Indian affairs, before the meeting
Of the Indians in Washington recent
ly. The address in full is as follows:
| am very glad to be here today.
never feel so much in the place where
1 belong as when am talking to the
Indians themselves. l regret, | am
very sorry, for the great amount of
time that l have to spend here at my
desk in Washington, 1900, 1000
5000 miles away from where you all
are most of the time in your homes.
1t would be better for me, and by
that l mean that it would be better
for me in the sense that it would be
better for you, if l could be, more of
the time, out among you because it
is out on the reservation and in the
allotted districts and wherever any
single Indian lives that the work of
the Indian service really lies.
There are three big things in Indian
affairs about which l want to say a
word to you. just a word Two of
these things have something direct
ly to do with but the third / have
comparatively little to do with. The
two things are first, the health of the
Indian and Indian children all over
the country, and the second Is the in
dustrial development of the Indian all
over the country. That is the biggest
work and the most proper work for
the Indian service. We want to assist
each one of you to help yourself and
to help your children to have good,
sound health so thai you can do good
work in the world and be happy and
we want also to bring it about that
every Indian in the country will be
working at some job or other all the
time, earning money. Those are the
two big things that the Indian SER
vice considers its most proper work.
There is third which Is mainly the
reason for your being here, and one
of the main reasons why / am glad
you are here today, and that Is your
political rights and privileges all
through the country as men and wo-
men, citizens of this country And
this right and privilege of citizenship
is, in my judgment superior even
to the things which I have mention
ed in certain senses. A man may be
in poor health or a man may be out
of work and still he wants to feel
that he is a man.
1t Is a good thing to be healthy
and well and so have the happiness
that comes from health, and it is a
good thing to be at work. to be busy
and have the health and happiness
and the money tha comes from being
busy. But in certain ways it is a
bigger thing and a different thing to
have that sense of personal manliness
ana personal womanliness that comes
from feeling that you are a citizen
of the United States. That is why
believe in citizenship for Indians
Citizenship is bound to give anyone
who possesses 1t, even If he does not
appreciate it at first, bound to give
him gradually the feelings of man
of independence, of being person of
honor in his community. Conse-
quently / am more than delighted ia
welcome every meeting of the Indians,