Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1914-08-14


The Following article BY James 4.
Morrow. which appeared in the Sun
DAY metropolitan newspapers, will be
of local interest for the reason that
the subject of the article is Gabe e
Parker, Register Of the United States
Treasury, who Is resident of Bryan
county nv W
An Indian Is now writing his name
on the bonds and paper money Of the
Government His signature Is a
beautiful example Of penmanship.
No one would know, unless told,
that Gabe e. Parker. register OF the
United States Treasury. is an Indian
though his hair is black as polished
ebony and HIS face is tinged with cop
per. But he Is redman, Napoleonic
|is stature. with eyes deep blue as
new gun barrel.
THE time will come" Pushmata-
ha, statesman and orator and pro
Dhet, told a conference Of his tribe
In 1926. when the highly improved
Choctaw shall hold office in the coun
ellis OF the Great Nation of the White
people," W
That was good medicine. Gabe e.
Parker Is a Choctow. His mother
was member OF the Choctaw nation,
His father was Kentuckiany who
Iunreconciledl TO- the verdict Of the
Civil War. drifted westward, married
and became the owner. of many cattle
and horses. He was one of the first
ranchmen in the old Indian territory
to shut his acres with wire fences.
His pasturage stretched away in
three directions to where the sky lost
itself in the-earth. le1pisi wiaiii9
Beef was cheap, cattle travelling to
market mostly on foot, money in the
hand was a rare instance, but nine
children came to the cabin standing
out on the hili near the fringe Of the
forest. cabe learned to read at home
his mother had been a teacher in one
OF the neighborhood schools, main
tained with money out of the Choc-
taw, treasury, His father showed him
how to ride a pony and bulldog q
young steer I'D, sfo,ess WA a..
II was sent away. when old enough
to Choctawa academy he told me.
Completing the course there Iathen
entered Henry Kendall College, nov
located at Tulsa. Oklahoma where i
remained four years. Law was to be
mytwork, i supposed but / began to
thinkoof the debt / owed ray people.
The Choctaw nation had paid, for my
primary education at the neighbor-
hood school. and the, academy had
helped me while was a student al
the college. 1877
oa "Being an Indian IS serious busf-
ness. I'll tell you why, i The white
man has two mental pictures. Look
IN into the past he sees q painted
brave clothed In breech-eloth ant
head feathers. Coming into the pre-
lent he, sees a red vagabond sunr1inf
himslf onathe platform of "a little
railway yistation built in the sagebrusf
or among the cactuses. The frs
picture may be true to nature but 4
us obsolete. idThe second picture Is 4
slander upon race that Il honestI,
trying ito, adjust themselves to tn,
civilizations of the aliens now tn,
lord masters OF the continent. avi9a 5
s'fh am no sorehead. The govern
ment5ld am sure, and the people O.
the Uniteda States have wanted
toytreatathe Indian fairly. The whit,
man was destined to rule this coun
try9l q Some day the Anglo-saxon,
will govern the world. The deere.
has been written and will be carried
out !. Nothing could have stoppd thi
conquest of America by the whit
men who came to these, shores Ii
the strange looking ships, niH8 q
ifephe philosophy of the Indian que
tion' and the tragedy of a vanishin:
people gripped my mind while I wa
stili a student at college. Further
more I was grateful. Law, realize,
should I become asuccess.l would bl
personal advantage to me, put wa
in debt to my people. l will go n,
further into my mental proceAsesJ
thought ii my duty to becom an IN
dian teacher,to to help along ,Iif could
! the fitting of one race into another
Education. Lwas convinced. wasyth'
soiation, of the Indian problemgoi il
/ 40 Armstrong Academy, aoschool 70
boys, belongs tod my tribe. III wa
there four years as principal an,
nine years as ssnperintendents cominI
! from that office ito the place nov
fill in the United States Treasury
am willing to talk to you about tn