Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-02-11
WISE MEN PUZZLED
Much Dispute Over Origin Of
American Indian.
Many Biologists and EthnoIoeists Be-
Iieve That He Was the Original
Man-Theories That Are of
Surprising Interest.

AhO OAl6AlaI Anl61 ICduF vi lllO
American aborigine, or the yellow,
brown or bronze-skinned man some
times called "the redskin," and to
whom the name Indian came to be ap-
piled through a geographical error of
the early explorers, has come in for a
large measure of deep study at the
hands of anthropologists, ethnologists
and other scientific men.
One of the favorite explanations of
the presence of this man on the con-
tinent we now call home is that the
Indian is or was a Monaghan and
came from Asia to the land called
America, instead of being called Co
lombia or Kirkland, by crossing from
Siberia by way of the Aleutian islands
and Boring strait and then j%ourneying
southwark and eastward into his land
Of promise.
There r those men of scientific at
tainments who tenaciously hold to the
opinion that the man we call an In
dian never had any connection with
Asia and is in no way related to the
Mongols, the Tartars, the Chinese or
the Aleutians. The contention of these
learned gentlemen is that the Indian
was an Egyptian or a Carthagenian, Or
one Of the races or peoples occupying
those parts of the world, and that he
crossed to this land in those remote
ages when Atlantis, the tabled CONT
nent which the classic authors limited
at, lay between the shores of Africa
and what is now the eastern coast of
America. He came this far to the west
before three thousand or more miles of
deep green, salt sea rolled and doomed
and glistened between the old world
and the new.
And still there are other grave men
who avouch that our Indian came
neither from Asia nor Africa, but that
he came from Europe, and these gen.
tlemen are divided among themselves
into groups, one holding the opinion
the Indian was a Greek, another that
that he was a Gaul, another that he
was a Welshman, another that he was
an Irishman. Perhaps one might find
scholars and investigators who could
give assurance that the American In
dian vas originally a %Scotchman, an
Englishman, a German or a Swede.
So many opinions are held by wise
men as to the origin Of the Indian that
1t is perhaps not unreasonable that
there should be either confusion or
Indifference on this subject in the lay
mind.
But the list of those men holding
views as to the Indians origin has not
yet been exhausted. There is a COM
bination of biologists and ethnolo-
gists who believed that the Indian
the man whom few Americans have
honored and whom few do honor-was
the original man. They believe that
he was the first man of the earth.
Among biologists are those who be-
lieve that this land which we call the
new world, and sometimes the new
continent, is the oldest land in the
world. They believe that the first
part of this continent to appear above
the seas which enwrapped the world
was that part called the Laurenthian
hills, north of Lake Superior. The
"old world of Europe, Asia and At
RIGA had not then poked its mountain
tips above the all-encompassing flood.
That was many, many, almost I'M
thinkable years ago.
At the recent meeting in Philadel-
phia of the Geological Society of
America one of the distinguished men
of the United tates geological survey
read a paper in which he gave it as
his opinion that the age of the earth
is about 100. 900, 900 years. 1t is be-
lieved by some men that the first
mar appeared in that early land
around Lake Superior and that the In
dian is descended from that man.
However, there are so many expert
opinions as to the origin of the In
dian that there is probably room for a
few more