Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-08
PLAY6ROUND APPARATUS
Is BEING INSTALLED

reation and play grounds for PITTSBURGH.
inspect our schools and make suggestions
reation and playground work along
health producing lines. Because OF our
supera bundance OF space on the reser.
Nations We have better opportunities 10
make such work a great success than
have the cities One good result OF dr..
Johnsons inspection has been a demon
stration of how We can make group ath-
letics successful. Unusual interest has
been aroused during the past spring In
organizing base ball clubs-a number In
each of our schools. We are also en-
couraging the girls to play basket ball
and engage in outdoor sports. as much
as possible. They take the regular set
ting-up drill that is given the boys and
at some Of the schools girls drill boys.
Our Indian children make splendid
athletes. We now have some remarkable
examples-Thorpe. the Carlisle alumnus.
who recently captured the majority OF
the prizes at the Olympic games. and
Louis Tewanima, the great runner.
Extension of recreation work to In
dams in their homes. was another mat
ter which Mr. johnson has investigated
for me- His idea is that especially those
youths who have returned to their homes
from the schools should have their in
terest stimulated in athletics and games
such as would occupy their idle hours BY
such a system We hope to substitute bene-
fetal recreations for features OF indoor
life which are not Of the best.
LAS some OF the native Indian dances
are detrimental, 1 had a number Of them
repeated on the reservations for Mr..
Johnson's special benefit that he might
have an opportunity to study them. He
has suggested q number of beneficial fol &
dances, which could be blended with or
substituted for the aboriginal dances. and
/ am hoping to get such a movement
started.
Il am doing all that I can to interest
in the Indian all persons who are con-
spichously identified with social progress
activities. Thus. Meyer Bloomfield is go
ing to give us such aid. while I have
been consulting Ernest Thompson-Seton
regarding the expediency of forming Boy
Scout organizations in our schools some
of which are already testing the success
Of Camp Fire Girls organizations"
How long do you think tie Indian will
preserve his racial identity-will survive
as an Indian?" l asked the commissioner
in conclusion
Il should say that 100 years from now
there will still be a good many people
in this country whom one could recog-
nize as Indians" he replied. But. with
in two centuries. l predict. the population
having the greater amount or ABORIGINAL
blood in it's veins WILL practically all or
them look az little like Indians as do
Senator Curtis of Kansas and Sen: tor
Owen of Oklahoma. each Of whom boasts
Of his good Indian blood.
There is now on foot a movement for
the preservation OF the Indian as an In
dian, upon our big national parks. ana
IL this gets under way the result may De
that on these presentations Americans.
many generations hence. will still be able
to behold some few distinctively Indian
tribes. The purpose OF those interested In
this movement, is not TO thus preserve our
aborigines as curiosities. for exhibitor
purposes, but to employ the men as game
wardens and forest rangers. and the
women as self-supporting basket weavers
or adopts in other lines Of native ART
worthy of perretuation.
But for my part. fail to see how in:
termarriage between the white man ana
such last remnants of the great Indian
tribes could ever be prevented, even IL
the latter should be thus isolated in The
great forests, and even IL we should sur
round them with a moat 100 miles wide,
lined with federal troops"
Copyright 1912. by John Elfreth watkinA)