Pueblo chieftain., 1921-09-18
BY Frederic ]. Haskin.

fairs of the House Of Representatives
there slumbers a bill which was de-
signed to take away from the Ameri-
can Indian a certain drug plant which
he uses to bring him dreams and make
him forget his troubles. as alcohol is
used by white men and opium by yell
low ones, and hashish in India and
something or other by almost every
tribe of men on the globe.
The bill was strongly backed. 1t was
given a place on the calendar and a
large sum of the peoples money was
spent in holding hearings upon 1t,
which were duly printed, bound and
filed along with the bill 1t never came
in all probability. that 1t was made
clear to the committee that the In
dians would not stand for it. They
| would have resented to the last ditch
| what they regarded as an infringe
ment of their personal liberty. The
government does not hesitate to try to
| take alcohol away from millions
| of white men who believe they have
I right to use 1t. but 1t does hesitate
| to try to take peyote away from Few
thousand Indians Who believe they
have a right to use it. 1t would seem
that the Indian here has force of
conviction which the white man has
| lost, and a little conversation with the
Indians on this subject confirms one
| in that opinion. The white man. liv.
lDH IN tangleO. WllueFneSS VI HtWS.
! has almost lost his sense of personal
| liberty. 1t has been violated so often
| that he scarcely knows what II Is. The
| Indian. who long lived life OF savage
freedom and who has never really
| become a part Of civilization. really
| values his liberty as he values his
| life. and Is ready to stake his life for
| his freedom.
THE use OF peyote is an Indian
custom. The Indians had peyote be-
fore the white mer came. God gave II
| to them. What right has tho white
give It up.
This was the reply of n "Peyote
Chief to n question as to whether the
| Indians would give up peyote II the
government passed law forbidding
its use.
WHAT PEYOTE IS
Poyote is a plant related to the mes
cal of Old Mexico and growing in that
and other southern countries. 1t ap-
pears to be sort OF cactus. Its fruit
| is in the form of little buttons" about
as big as a quarter. These contain
various drugs which produce a power
ful effect on the nerves. something like
that Of opium or cocaine. but differ
ing in some respects from that OF any
| other known substance. Peyotc Is
taken by sleeping tho substance In
water and drinking the resultant bev-
erage. II has different effects on DIFF
| ferent individuals. but its unique cf-
| feet IL that II gives the ono taking
| IL a feeling OF extreme philanthropy.
He feels that he II the brother of all
men and would do anything for their
good.
Several white men have expcrimented
| with tho drug for scientific purposes,
and one OF these. who testified before
the committee. described his scnsa.
tions as follows:
Il seemed incapable of having q base
thought. but all were of "A high order
seemed to have forgotten that there
was any evil In the world. all was pure
and good
There is usually no tendency to vio-
lenee in oneunder the influence OF
poyote. His need for sleep Is abolish
ed and he stays awake. though inactive
for ~ hours at a stretch. During this
| time he is filled with emotions OF JOY
and love for all mankind. His sensibil-
ity to color is greatly heightened. so
that the world suddenly strikes him
as a bright and beautiful picture. Al
| times he is said to see visions. though
the white men who have tried tho drug
seem not to have had that experience.
must be from tho use of any such
powerful nerve stinyIlant. but those
| who c1pcrimentcd With tho drug do
not seem to have suffered any pro-
ionEcd or severe aftcr-cffccts.
The use OF pcyotc is undoubtedly
growing and has been growing for
years. At first 1t was used only by a
few tribes of Indians, but now II seems
to have spread to nearly all of them.
There IL n sort of national pcyotc 80
cicty with local chapters. which is wcll
organized for the purpose of distribute
ing peyote buttons. 1t has doubtless
helped to promote the feeling of
solidarity among all the different In
dian tribes which has been growing OF
recent years. Few white people real
izc that Indians of different ur!bes
travel long distances to visit each
other. As one Indian said:
We used to kill each other. but
now wc arc always good friends"
Tho use OF pcyotc Is n religious rite
among tho Indians. which makes 1. all
tho harder to interfere with. The pcy-
ota society meets at regular intervals
The amount Of the drug taken by each
Indian is prescribed by the chief Of
tho society. Then prayers arc said and
songs arc sung. Tho effect OF tho
plant IL to hcightcn tho mood OF re-
ligious ocstacy. Most OF the Indian
agent. will tell you that tho religious
ceremony is a mere pretcxt for tho
use OF tho drug. but many Of tho In
dians seem convincingly- sincere in this
as i'm all of their other religious cx-
ercises.
EFFECT OF PLANT
The question as to how much harm
the drug Is doing tho Indians Ia one
upon which you can gather any
amount of conflicting testimony. Some
will tell You that the peyote indian is
a worthless fellow. and that pcyoie
is rapidly debauching the whole race,
Many cases are cited of Indians that
have become shiftless and poor as
result of its use. ON the other hand.
there are undoubtedly industrious and
prosperous Indians who have been us
ing IL for years. One argument the
Indian makes in behalf of his pcyote
is that the peyoto user seldom drinks
alcohol Alcohol win ruin an Indian
more rapidly than anything else. Pcy-
otc has been used by some oi the IN.
dians since time immemorisl. but II
has never DESTROYED tribe. while