Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-03-15
The Savage's Salvation
by Frederic j. Hasltin

Washington. March Ib.-Thousands
of wealthy persons are now booking
trips 10 Hawaii and good many to
Tahiti and other South Sea Islands.
These places. of which you seldom
heard few years ago. are now In all
the prints. Numerous books are written
about them. Pictures of them are paint
cd. They are the fad.
Aud the romantic element in each of
these placcs--thc real ccnter Of inter
cst-is q native population which still
wears picturesque clothes and follows
picturesque native customs. Tho civil
ized man seems suddenly 20 have dis
covered that the primitive man is an
interesting chap. worth knowing for his
own sake.
When you come TO think about II, this
attitude toward the Tahitians and tho
Ilawaiians is probably the beginning of
a great change in the attitude OF civil
izRtion toward savBgcry. only con-
slider what the attitude toward the saw
age has been I'm the past. First he
must be conquered. Every savage ar
primitive people on tho face of the
globe has been more OF less shot up by
some civilized nation. Then the savage
must be civilized IIc must he given
clothes and religion. He must he taught
to farm and make change Incident
ally he has nearly always been intro
duced to whisky. morphine. cocaine.
tuberculosis and various other per
quisitcs Of civilization
Tho eIvilizing process has been nj
most ns hard on the savage as being
conquered The classic case uf the
Hawaiians who we're induced hy the
oil an
result that they all cRught cold md
many of thom died is typical. u may
~, said that almost no part Of civillza
ton has really benefited the savage.
tie simply isn't ready for t. His only
hope of survival IS - he allowed 90 go
81 boing a savage IN peace And that
j. what at last the civilized man seems
Inclined to lct him do
The Case Of Gauguln.
II really seeus to ne the artist who
has come To the rescue If tho apvaEa.
Take the case " TAHITI Some wears
aso 4 French Iainter named Gauguin
went to that remote island TIe stayed
there the rest Of his life living with
Tho natives and painting them IIo
became famous. IIo suddenly called the
attention " tho civilized world ~ the
fact that the Tahitiane vvore most
picturesque and beautiful penpln. vhr
should he preserved as thoy are. lika
ANY othor wonderful nature not con
r.rtel into commonplace civilized per-
sons Then Somerset Maugham an
Iu.Iish novelist wrote a novel based On
the lifo ~ Gaueuin. and In this he
teli mosf effectively how the great
sr;ist battered by tho ugliness of com
uereiaIien had found beauty and peace
81 tha tropical island. Third came
arother artist in words Frederick
oTrien and wrote book about Tahiti
and neiehboring islands which was one
"a the most popular travel books evar
written In effect an three ~ thpse
Artists were srologists for the savage
al he IS They said in The first Mace
thaeNho is n picturesque and interesting
feilor who is not bothering anyone.
ard WHO ought 10 he allowed to live
hie Ira \ 9 he ploase= Enth f0r HE own
sake ami fnr That ~ the rozt nf hun7a NJ
ftv Iu tho secrnd Ilace those artists
irtiIuated that perhaps civilization ~
for such q hlcescd thiug q 5 IL is crack 81
un tn ho-that POSSIBLY the civilized
n.an could even learn something about
1.a Att af living frem tha savage such
thought wuul1 have leen considered
ns7ra a generation aen. To-day # i=
nteretv regarded ae mildly heretica1
Tho BOW ara thriving science of
suthrarolosy a'9n comes to tho sim
ru1f of tno artist ~ thja coutcutiou.
Th. nthrcpolcEfztH have been study
f-e primitive man With unusual 7cal
Th., frl THAT iu some respects AT iaaet
~ may - considered the superior of
the civilized mar For instance the
primitive man haa hotter sense ~
neauty IIis pottery his weayinRe. his
dwellings, h3s dances. his ceremonies
IA. --- nIotErn.lMa ana nft-n N hieh