Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-05-03
SALVATION FOR SAVAGES
Facts SHOW That Civilization Has
Done Little for Wild People.
HAS CAUSED DEATH OF HUNDREDS
Reason to Suspect That We Are Not So
Far Ahead of Primitive Man-Pueblo
Indians Remain Unchanged After sou
Years-Many Travellers to Hawaii. Z

Indians Remain Unchanged After sou
Years-Many Travellers to Hawaii. +
(By Frederick J. Haskin).
Washington. March 1.-ThouSauds
of wealthy persons are now booking
trips to Hawaii and a good MANY to
Tahiti and other South Sea islands.
These places, Of which you seldom
heard a few years ago. are now in all
the prints. Numerous books are writ
ten about them. Pictures Of them are
painted. They are the fad.
And the romantic element in each Of
these places-the real center Of inter-
est-,is native population which still
wears picturesque clothes and follows
picturesque native customs: The civil
lied man seems suddenly to have dis
covered that the primitive man Is an
interesting chap, worth knowing for his
own sake.
When you, come to think about 1t
this attitude toward the Tah!tlans and
the 'Hawaiians is probably the begin
ming Of a great change in the attitude
Of civilization toward savagery. Only
consider what the attitude toward the
savage has been in the past. First he
must be conquered. Every savage or.
primitive people on the face OF. the
globe has been more OF less shot up by
some civilized nation. Then the savage
must be civilized He must be given
clothes and religion. He must be
taught to farm and make change. In
cidentalIy he has nearly always been
introduced to whisky, morphine, CO.
game, tuberculosis and various other
perquisites Of civilization.
The civilizing process has been almost
as hard ON the savage as being con-
quered. The classic case Of the Hawa-
iians, who were induced by the mis-
sionaries to wear clothes, with the re-
suit that they all caught cold and many
Of them died, is typical. It may. be said
that almost no part Of civilization has
really benefited the savages. He SIM
ply isn't ready for 1t. His only hope Of
survival is to be allowed to go on being
a savage in peace. And that is what,
ut last the civilized man seems inclined
to let him do.
The Case Of. Gauguin..
It really seems to be the artist who
has come to- the rescue Of the savage.
Take the case Of Tahiti. Some years
ago a French painter named Gauguin
went to that remote island. He stayed
there the rest of his life, living with the
natives and painting them. He became
famous. He suddenly called the atten-
ton Of the civilized world to the fact
that the Tahitians were most pictur-
esque and beautiful people, who should
be preserved as they are, like any other
wonderful nature, not converted into
commonplace civilized persons Then
Somerset MauSham, an English novel
ist. wrote a novel based on the life OF
'.iaugrlin, and in this he told most e'-
f.ativcly how the great artist, battered
hr'lhc uEliness of commercialism, hal
foilnd beauty and puuca in TIC tropical
island Third came anoLhe" a"tts: in
words Fi't derrick O'I3r!pn. who wr"t" ::
book about Tahiti and ,neiShbortng IS
l;,nd3 which was one OF the most popt:-
!ar travel books ever written. III effect
all three Of these artists were apollo
gists for the savage as he is. They
said, in the first place, that he IS Il
picturesque and interesting fellow. who
is not bothering anyone, and who
ought to be allowed to live his life as
he pleases, both for his own sake and
for that Of the rest Of humanity. In
the second place, these artists intimat-
ed that perhaps civilization is not such
a blessed thing as it is cracked up to
be-that possibly the civilized man
could even learn something about the
art of living from the savage. Such
thought would have been considered
insane generation ago. Today 1t is
merely regarded as mildly herltical.
The. new and thriving science ol
anthropology also comes to the support
of the artist in this contention. The
have been studying
primitive men with unusual zeal. They
find that in some respects at least lie
may be considered the superior of the
civilized man. For instance, the prlml-
tive man has a better sense or beauty.
His pottery, his weavings, his dwellings,
his dances, his ceremonies, are all pic
turesaue and often OF high artlstlc
merit. In civilization the real appre-
citation Of beauty seems to be limited TO-
a very few. The majority Of us nave
lost all taste. The things we use ana
wear the houses we live in, our dances
and ceremonies are for the most part
ugly and often even grotesque.
Nose Rings and Hobble Skirts.
One woman scientist, Elsie Cle"s
Parsons, has gone still further ana
shown that most Of the queer behefs'
customs, taboos and superstitions OF