The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1913-07-14
RELIGIOUS WAR
HELPS INDIANS
retain A DRUG

" dSHlh hElbl, JuiA 10 ne I M
ed States Senate recently was
caught between two warning fac
tions and automatically settled the
dispute by doing nothing. Therefore
does the Indian continue the use of
peyote, narcotic OF most peculiar
properties.
1t was urged by several mission
aries and others bent on reforming
the Indians that the use Of peyote,
q furry, dried button gathered from
a Mexican plant, bred "A habit SINH
"a to that which users of cocaine
and morphine acquire. None of the
Missionaries gave the Senate commit
tee first hand information regarding
this, and as ii was vigorously dis
puted by Indians, the Senate struck
from the Indian appropriation bill
a provision that a part OF the appro-
priation for the Suppression OF the
liquoc traffic should also be devoted
to stamping ont the peyote habit.
Ca< tai Indian Center.
Indians who wrote to the commit
tee declared that the peyote is not
a habit maker, and that, instead it
has induced a frame of mind among
Indians which accords well with the
governmental policy to make the In
Slians self-supporting and able to
care for the vast properties which
the government now holds for them
in trust.
Washington, excepting Indian res
eryations themselves, is perhaps the
greatest Indian center in the United
States. There are three or four no.
tells along the lower part of Penn
sylvania avenue. which in days past
were aristocratic hostelries, where
the barbaric brilliance of Indian
costume may be seen almost any
day.
Some wear blankets of varied col
ors some adopt the habliments OF
the white man, except that their
garb is a 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 a
nifty job Of lobbying in favor OF the
peyote.
Last winter a group of Indians
visited a Congressman and brought.
with them a pocket fun of peyote.
They described its effects. The pey-
ote is cither chewed or is stepped
and the liquor is then drunk. The
narcotic effect is slow. One must
take at least whole night to get
the benefit of pcyote spree.
But instead Of inhaming the
and prompting the In
dian to do deeds of violence ii has
an effect quite opposite Instead the,
becomes introspective,
his relations to his fellow
men, weighs the wrngs he has in
ficted on others and acquires, for
the time being at least, an aItrulstic
philosophy quite at variance with
the general tendency of Indians,
DESTROYS Liquor Habit. &
Nor. according to what this group
of Indians told the Congressman,
does the effect pass away with the
recovery from the narcotic effects of
the peyote. The dreamer awakes
but he retains for a time his humil-
ity Of spirit and his wish to be OF
some value to his fellowmen instead
of an incumbrance. 80 e'oquent, in
tact, was the description that the
particular Congressman decided that
a treatment of peyote might not be
bad for him. SO the Indians left a
few buttons and departed.
From other sources the Senate In
dian committee learned that the use
of peyote was proving valuable
among some of the northern tribes
which have recently adopted its
use. in destroying the liquor habit.
AS this is the besetting sin of the
Indian the committee decided that
anything that would cure drunken
ness was worth consideration.
The use of peyote among the
northern tribes is relatively new.
In the southern part of the United
States it has been used for many
years. The peyote buttons are in
expensive, a whole basketful costing
only few cents.
The button, which is the dried
fruit of the plant, is fuzzy and hard
ly appetizing in appearance. Peyote
is the Spanish name for caterpillar
and the name was applied because
of the furry appearance of the but
ton.
The fruit has been made the sub
ject of careful study by government