The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-07-28
INDIANS save
THEIR PEI0IF
! II. II K4>s% 49, = II III
SENATE couLD NOT SEE THAT
FUNNY DRIED BUTTON HAS =
RAD EFFECT.
LIQUORS GREAT FOE
DRIED FRUIT OF PLANT USED by
THE RED MEN HAS A DE-
CiDEDLY STRANGE PLY
Steal EFFECT.

United State senate recently was
caught between two warning religious
factions and automatically settled
the dispute by doing nothing. There
fore does the Indian continue the use
Of peyote, narcotic OF most peculiar
| properties.
1t was urged by several missionaries
and others bent on reforming tho In
dams that the use of peyote, q furry
dried button. gathered from a Mex
lean plant. bred q habit similar to
phine acquire, None Of the mission
tee first hand information regarding
this and as 1t was vigorously disputed
| by Indians, the senate struck from
the Indian appropriation bill a pro-
vision that a part Of the appropria-
ton for the suppression Of the liquor
trafiic also should be devoted to
stamping out the peyote habit.
Not HABIT Forming.
Indians who wrote to the commit
tee declared that the peyote IL not a
habit maker and that, instead, 1t has
induced frame of mind among In
dams which accords well with the
governmental policy to make the In
dams self-supporting and able to care
| IUI NuG NAct PIopFEtAFS WHfSh NHc ecF-
eminent now holds for them In trust
Washington. excepting Indian reser-
vations themselves, Ia perhaps the
greatest Indian center in tho United
States. There are three or four
hotels along the lower part Of Penn
tsylvania avenue, which In days past
were aristocratic hostelries where the
barbaric briliiance OF Indian costume
may be seen almost any day.
| Some wear blankets of varied
colors, some adopt the habiliments OF
the white man, except that their garb
| is riot of color that would make
Senator James Hamilton Lewis look
| like a monotone in water color. But.
whatever their garb, poor Lo gets out
among the congressman. And there
! he seems to have done nifty job of
lobbying in favor OF peyote.
| Last winter group OF Indians
visited a congressman and brought
with them a pocketful of peyote. They
! described its effects. The peyote is
either chewed or Is stepped. and the
1 liquor 10 then drunk The narcotic
effect In slow. One must take at least
whole night to get the benefit OF .
peyote spree.
But, instead Of infiaming the imagi-
nation and prompting the Indian to
/ QSelS VI SlVtShNCi ~ tseS ~' ~t~~~~
quite opposite. Instead, the peyote
user becomes introspective, considers
his relations to his fellow-men.
weighs the wrongs he has indicted on
others. and acquires. for the time
being at least, an altruistic phil
osophy quite at variance with the
general tendency of Indians
Wants 10 Be of Value.
Nor according to what this group
| al does
the effect pass away with the recovery
from the narcotic effects OF the pey-
note The dreamer awahes. but ne
retains for q time his humility OK
spirit and his wish TO be of some value
to his fellcwmen instead OF an incum-
brance. So eloquent. in fact. was the
description that the particular con-
gresham decided that treatment
OF peyote might not be bad for him.
So the Indians left few buttons ana
departed.
From other sources the senate IN
dian committee learned that the use
of peynote was proving valuable
among some Of the Northern tribes
which have recently adopted its use,
in destroying the liquor habit. As TINS
ts the besetting sin of the indian. the
committee decided that anything that
would cure drunkenness was worth
consideration. One Indian, a lawyer
who has attained high standing in the
West. said that the peynote was prov
ing to be the Indian "Keeley insti-
tue"
The use Of peynote among Northern
tribes Is relatively new. In the South
ern part of the United States It has
been used for many years. The pey-
ote buttons are inexpensive. wnoie
basketful costing only few cents.
The button, which 10 the dried run
OF the plant. IL fuszy and hardly Apps-
tizing in appearance. Psyots is the
Spanish name for caterpillar. ana tns
name was applied because OF the FURRY
appearance OF the button.
The fruit has been made the tup3ect
of careful study by government ex-
perts, and while they are completely In.
4 formed As to Its effects, grown hnd
appearance; no one has yet isolated ans an tne
strange psychieai effects.
4 General Use Recon- nae nded.
- Informal discussion OF the subject.
brought from several senator's sug-
gestions that the peynote might be used
to advantage by others than indiana.
militant suffragists. the I. W. W., and
others OF that kind, But no senator
has ventured upon the treatment him
self II a dose OF peyote should In.
duce humanity Of spirit the lonely and
out OF place among his fellows.
The furry little button has become
a part of indian religious propaganda,
Christian religion, but the value OF
these tenets In much harder to imprens
upon the original American without
peyots than with the narcotic. II was
In this connection that the religious
4 controversy arose. Although the SEN
4 ate struck from the appropriation bill
| the Inhibition against the use Of pey.
ote. II thereby left the subject Just
where It was before congress- began to
dAbble In 1t, and the reform element
i was left a snhject on which to pre-
| sent arguments when another Indian
/ gress.