The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1916-10-27
MARS FOLLOWING
M0NTANA'S LEAD
MEN OF ULTRA PROGRESSIVE
PLANET STOLE IDEAS FROM
FLATHEAD INDIANS.
Skull of Chief in National Museum
at Washington Proves Tribe Prac-
ticed Headshaping in Accordance
With Aboriginal Ideals of Beauty.

a novelist who transports his char
acters to Mars tells of how the wise
men OF that planet direct the occu-
patlonal destiny of the inhabitants
from birth molding the heads of in
tants. making prospective civil en-
glneer of one. giving another the am
alytlcal mind of the scientist, hard
enng the Uranium of another. per-
haps. to qualify him for the career of
bill collector or a baseball PLAYER.
This practice of shaping the head be-
tore ii ossities is not original with the
Martians. however.
Governor Stewart has remarked
that Montana 'has been first in gold;
II has been first i'll silver; it has been
first in copper; it has been first in
beef: it has been first in sheep aud
wool. - TO which it should properly be
added that Montana was first in the
industry of shaping heads-at any
rate the Montanans beat the Ma,tians
to it by several centuries. The mo-
tive Of the Martians was sordid, but
the motive of the early Montanans
was beauty, as with the Greeks in
their eNaggeration of the facial angle.
as the kalmucks flattened the nose
and the lIottentot thickens his or her
llps-to conform to an ideal of
beauty.
Harrison Badge In Canoe.
Among the early Montanans who
shaped their heads We're the Crows
and the Flatheads. the latter people
giving their name to the lake that is
one of the wonders of the state. In
the national museum at Washington
is the flattened skull of the Flathead
chief, Redgrass, who died in the for
ties of the last century. His body was
deposited on posts six feet high and
IN his canoe were found beads and Il
General Harrison badge of 1871.
In sending this skull to the museum,
William Meinold wrote:
''When the child is about one week
Old it is put on board and tied hand
and foot. "A small bag of sand is tied
"NNI lIS l'ltllcuu anu remains III lnIS
position ei CHIT or ten DAYS. 1t is then
taken off for a short rest and after
wards fastened to the board again.
This continues from six weeks to six
The head then has its shape
and grows in the right direction.'
"Stuffing'' Encyclopedias.
1t appears, however, that in later
years the Flathcads for the most part
abandoned this practice of compress
ing the head, but that this was an an
Gent custom in Montana, the evil
dence at Washington would seem to be
evidence. Someone has
been "stnffing' the encyclopedias
for three of them in brief articles ON
the subject take the position that the
Flatheads did not flattcn their heads.
Says one: "a TRIBE Of Indians with
skulls, as distinguished
from the peaked heads who did com
press their skulls and who gave to the
others the name of fatheads. " Says
another: "It is not known how this
name came to be applied TO them be-
cause they never seem to have prac-
tlced the head reformation of the
Chinook and other western tribes.
Scientists Interested.
This practice of head shaping is of
particular interest to scientists in
consideration of the question as to
whether the shape of the skull has a
direct effect upon the intellectual
of the individual and as to
whether the artificial molding Of the
skull for several generations or CEN
turtles will result in the evolution of
a new type. That there is a marked
in the skulls of different
races is an established anthropological
fact, but the observation of headflat-
tening of American Indians does not
afford a single ease Of hereditary de-
formation resulting from the prac-
tice.
1t may be that in future centuries
scientific housekeeping will be prac-
tlced Oh our own planet. In that case,
Just as astrology is regarded as the
Of astronomy, the head
or head peaking' of
Montana and other northwest Indians
may come to be regarded as a fore
runner on our earth Of the practice
now supposed to obtain on Mars.
Ideals of Beauty Vary.
Meanwhile the stylish women of the
with their wasp waists,
forms squeezed into corsets and shoes
hat enable them to walk on their
toes, are helping us to remember that
L is possible to pervert the "human
form divinc.' Their motive, as with
the Flatheads, Chinooks and Crows
Of both sexes, is the maintenance Of
am ideal of beauty. This desire to
make ourselves "what we ain w
finds its counterpart in every part of
the world, but the ideals Of beauty
vary somewhat.
With the Sumatrans, the ideal evil
IDENTIFY is that of the iackass for. says