The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-11-22
LEADING 10 TO THE ALTAR
Red Man Being Married Off the Face
of the Earth.

Red Man Being Married Off the Face
of the Earth.
The red man is being married off
the face of the earth; in few more
generations he win practically have
disappeared.
This is the prediction, though not
the exact words, Of Frank La Flesche,
who san Omaha Sioux Irnian three
quarters full blooded, and an ethno
logist in the employ of the Smith
sonian Institution.
The doom of the red man has been
pronounced before. For about two
and a half centuries our ancestors
worked hard trying 10 exterminate
him with rifles, knives and axes. 1t
was freely predicted that he would
soon be extinct. But he survived in
considerable numbers and had 10 be
put on reservations lie was zeal
ously poisoned with bad whiskey by
Illicit traders, new and deadly disease !
germs were planted in his system,
and he was sent to climates which |
did not agree with him. The best au- |
thorities said he was doomed, Bat |
when it came to a count of noses, it |
was found that there were still a |
good many Indians left. The doomed |
red man today numbers over thifl |
of a million and it is doubtful whet |
her there were ever many more than !
million within what is now the |
United States.
! Now a new peril has beset these |
! survivors, in the form of matrimony. |
The Indian has survived the white
mems warfare, his whiskey and his
diseases, but when it comes to the
white mans Cor rather the white wo-
mans marriage. he is helpless. Ills
proud aboriginal blood is rapidly be-
ing so mixed that soon it win take an
expert to detect its presence.
mtcrmaTiage between the white
man and the red woman is OF course
thing of long standing. Captain
John Smiths friend Pocnhontas started
the games, providing a fashionable
precedent Since then many thous-
ands of white men have married In
dian women, producing a large race
of hGlf-breeds who are always treach'
erous Williams in literature and gener-
ally pretty good farmers in real life.
But as long as the Indian man con-
tinuod to prefer the Indian woman,
the aboriginal blood was safe Real
Indian children continued to be pro-
duced in fair numbers. The thing
which has doomed the red man is his
growing tendency to marry the white
woman.
AS soon as an Indian can prove his
fitness for full citizenship, he is given
an allotment of the tribal lands and
the tribal money, and is turned loose
from the reservation as an American
citizen. free TO 20 and como as lie
Dlea9es, to buy, SELL marry, vote and
make speeches, drink soda pop, and
exercise all the other priceless prercs-
atives of American freedoml
Now this neWly-madc Indian citizen
is seldom poor, and often he is rich.
for. as everyone knows, many of the
tribes own rich oil and mineral lands.
as we'll as farms. There has never
been strong social prejudice asainst
the Indian in this country On the
other hand, Indian blood is usually
considered a thing to boast of, as wit
Pocahontas which are to be met with.
Therefore a young Indian buck who
is a citizen OF the United States, and
very substantial citizen at that
is recognized by the American girl as
her natural prey. Poor 10 stood off
the white man for a couple Of cenur-
les, but now he is up against thn
more deadly half of the species lie
is being conquered almost without a
struggle
Their are some Indians, accor' RS"
to Mr.. La Flesche, who prefer to
marry in their own race put many of
the young men are frankly eager to-
obtain white wives, and most of them
succeed. At the same time the
wealthy young Indian woman is at
ractive to the white man. The re.
suit is that in many sections where
Indians make up a considerable part
OF the community, intermarriage has
become almost more common than
marriage within the separate races
And the half-breed is emphatically
no longer an Indian He may look a
good deal like one, but he doesn't feel
like one He abandons completely
the traditions, superstitions and
customs of the tribe. When i thun-
ders he no longer things that the great
= spirit is humping around on the roof
of the heavens, but he hopes II will
, not rain and spoil his new derby.
And he again will marry white wo-
man or a mixed blood III ali probable
ity. Thus the process OF absorption
goes rapidly forward. af course
there are whole tribes that still live
on their reservations and keep their
blood reasonably pure These will re-
sist absorption for a long time The
ten thousand Navajos in New Mexico
and Arizona, for example, will remain
Navajos for many generations. OF
other tribes there will not be a full
blooded specimen left in three or
four generations. But whether the
process is fast or slow, it is sure.
- Mr. La Flesche believes that this in
fusion of Indian blood is a good thing.