The Washington herald., 1913-07-27
INDIANS Save
THEIR PEY0TE
Senate Could Not See that
Furry Dried Button Has
Bad Effect.
FOE TO LIQUOR HABIT
Strange Psyehieal Effect Of Dried
Fruit of Plant Used BY
Red Men.

Tho United States Senate recently was
caught between two warning religious
factions and automatically settled the
dispute by doing nothing. Therefore does
the Indian continue the use of peyote,
a narcotic of most peculiar properties.
1t was urged by several missionaries
and others bent on reforming the In
dians that the use of peyote, furry,
dried button gathered from a Mexican
plant. bred a habit similar to that which
user of cocaine and morphine acquire.
None of the missionaries gave the Senate
Indian Committee first hand information
regarding this and as IL was vigorously
disputed by Indians the Senate struck
from the Indian appropriation bill a
provision that a part of the appropriation
for the suppression OF the liquor traffic
also should be devoted to stamping out
the peyote habit
Not Hnbit-FOrming.
Indians who wrote to the committee
declared that the peyote is not a habit
maker and that, instead. II has induced n
frame of mind among Indians which ac-
cords well with the governmental policy
to make the Indians self-supporting and
able to care for the vast properties which
the government now holds for them in
trust.
ashington, excepting Indian reserva-
tions themselves, is perhaps the greatest
Indian center in the United States. There
are three or four hotels along the lower
part of Pennsylvania 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 colors,
some adopt the habiliments 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 10 gets out among the Congress-
men. And there he seems to have done
a nifty job Of lobbying in favor of
peyote.
Last winter a group Of Indians visited
Congressman and brought with them a
pocketful of peyote. They described its
effects. The peyote is either chewed or
is STEPPED. and the liquor is then drunk
The narcotic effect is slow. One must
take at least a whole night to get the
benefit Of a peyote. spree.
But. instead Of infiaming the imagina-
tion and prompting the Indian to deeds
Of violence. 1t has an effect quite oppo-
site. Instead, the peyote user becomes
interpretive, considers his relations to
his fellow-men, weighs the wrongs he
has inflicted on others. and acquires. for
the time being at least. an altruistic phil
osophy quite at variance with the general
tendency OF Indians.
Wants to BE of Value.
Nor, according to what this gryup of
Indians told the Congressman, does the
effect pass away with the recovery from
the narcotic effects of the peynote. The
dreamer awakes, but he retains for a
time his humility Of spirit and his wish
to be Of some value to his fellow-men
instead Of an incumbrance. So eloquent
in fact, was the description that the mar.
ticular Congressman decided that a treat.
ment Of peyote might not be bad for
him. So the Indians left a few buttons
and departed.
From other sources the Senate Indian
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 this is 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 fb~ pAvaf> vaa