The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-13
IN HONOR OF POOR 10

This is the day when all good In juns should celebrate, for. according to the dictum of the Society of Amer ican Indians. the second Saturday of May is now and henceforth to be cele- brated as American Indian Day" As the original owners of America, the aborigines believe that they are en- titled to a>hoiday all their own, and what paIeface usurper of the former happy hunting grounds could have the heart to deny to Poor LoS that meas ure of soIace for his vanished herit- age.
 It is the proud contention of the red brother that he is the only American suspicion of hyphenation. All of us, white, black, yellow and mixed, save l and except the noble redmen, have | to admit an European or Asiatfc or African origin. It is true that some students of ethnology attribute to the sinuating that. his forbears crossed l over from Asia to Alaska and then made their way southward, but this is I only a, theory. So far as anybody can prove, the Indian is and has been l a real American ever since-if we ac- cept the doctrine of evolution-he graduated from the monkey class. | The members of the Society of American Indians point out, and not without truth and justice on their side, I ] World have holidays of their own,
 except the original New Worlders. The only American race is the only l American race without a holiday, but 1 this lack is now to be remedied. The
 ceIebration of American Indian Day might properly begin in the White l House in Washington, for the first l lady of the republic boasts descent l from Pocohontas, the beautiful In- l dian maiden who saved the life of that
 most entertaining of fabulists, John 1 Smith.
 One of the purposes of the Society 1 of American Indians is to bring about l a revision of American history, where | by the red-skinned race will receive it's just and rightfu1 need of praise. The paleface of this generation must l have a sneaking, if not avowed, sym pathy with that aspiration, Historians l have too often given the Indian a 'Fraw 1 deal They have been prone to oVere l look the fact that the Indians were | fighting for home and native land and that, in their long and fierce strug- gle with the paleface invaders, they | necessarily fought according to their own methods and practice. When civilized peoples wage ruthless war and excuse themselves on the grounds
 of military necessity and national pre-
 servation, Poor Le doesn't seem such
 a bad fellow, after all. If he mas
 sacred women and children, it was | because that was his way or making 1 war. He wasn't bound by any trea-
 ties or conventions to follow the pre-
 scribed military formulas of his ene- mics. Armed with his toEnahaWk and
 his bow and arrow and his scalpine
 knife, he fared forth in his war paint
 and did his little best. As conquerors
 it is about time that we recognized
 these facts, and accorded to the In
 dians that measure of magnanfmeus
 consideration due to a proud and de-
 feated foe.
 Something of this is expressed in tn official proclamation of American In
 dian Day. One paragraph reads:
 "In the Judgment of wise and i'm
 partial men, the heroic struggle ot 1our forefathers against force which