Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1919-01-17
TO SAVE LIVES Of
INDIAN BABIES
APPEAL MADE TO PRACTICALLY
EVERY INDIAN AGENCY IN
THE v. S.
WONDER PRIMITIVE PAP00st LIVES
Carlisle School Gets Interesting Re.
ports and Contrasts From the
Reservations

Carlisle, Pain response to Com
missioner of Indian Affairs Sells APP
peal to superintendent of Indian
schools, urging them to do their ut
most to save the lives of Indian babies
Superintendent Oscar ii. Lips of the
Carlisle Indian school has received in
tnresting information relating to abo.
riginal babies from practically every
Indian agency.
Commissioner Sells believes that
this campaign for better babies, the
rescue of race, calls for redoubled
energy and zeal throughout the III"
clan service, for Ii means personal
work and tireless patience.
Some of the photographs of Indian
babies cared for in primitive fashion
present rare contrasts to those of the
r,ore fortunate little reds who have
advantages OF civilization, such, for
example, as the children of Carlisle
graduates. All are fascinating speci
mems of babyhood, though, and the on
" wonder is that the primitive pa
poose ever lives to grow up.
DR.. w. X. Callahan states that the
papooses commonly come into the
world well endowed physically, but
old Indian customs of carelessness
and neglect are responsible for many
.bsequent ills. The new born child is
Usually wrapped up in an old blanket
fer the first two or three weeks of his
life and is not bathed until the moth
e. is able to battle it herself.
DR.. Charles l.. Zimmerman of the
Ponca agency, Oklahoma, believes
that the first step in the instruction
of the Indian mother as regards the
health of her infant should be that OF
proper feeding. An almost universal
disease of Indian children is tubercu-
,osis, and when one considers that SO
Ier cent of all children Of 10 years OF
age in the white race are said to have
iubercular implantation, he can appre-
ciate its danger and Importance in the
tepee Forced feeding and daily bath
for these cases will do much to over
come an inherited weakened body. =
Bridget C. Keough, field matron, st.
Xavier, Mont, reports that in the Big
Horn Valley, on the Crow reservation,
indian mothers are learning to take
better care of their babies. While
some still lister to the medicine wom-
en-, or old grandmother, when the baby
is sick the majority go to doctor for
advice and try to follow suggestions
as to cleanliness and diet. The Crow
mother will not prepare layette for
her baby, as it is a superstition among
them that the baby will die If Its
clothes are made in advance.
DR.. Martin r. Reiber of Arizona,
writing concerning Hopi Indian babies
remarks that the living quarters and
conditions of this Indian are not such
as would be conductive to the health
of the infant, and consequently the
death rate is extremely high. Like the
entire family the infant reposes only
on blankets or sheep pelts on bare.
hard floor of clay. The one room
house necessitates its occupancy by
the entire family day and night; a
door or window, if they have one, is
StluOui htpb Opch CNCh III thO
weather; remnants of foodstuffs often"
litter the floor, and facilities for the
disposal of garbage are deplorably in
adequate; and moreover, the Hopi fire.
quently does not take kindly to any
suggestion that might remedy the sit
uation. The water supply is made
auate, as it usually has to be carried
mile or more on the backs of the wom-
en- or borros, and is often used for
culinary and other purposes when
alive with various larvae and absolute
~ unfit for human consumption.
Concerning the Apaches of Arizona,
Tassie Mary Scott of the San Carlos
Indian Agency, writes that the MOTH
ers, bundle the babies into the car
riers, tie them, allowing no room for
the movement of the babies lower ex-
lremities (Which is necessary for mus
cular development and exercise), or
for the proper expansion of the abb
dominal muscles, or necessary respir-
alton. They leave them so for hours,
generally with heavy blanket, thru
which no air can penetrate, covering
the whole carrier.