Arizona republican., 1921-11-08
By Frederic j. Haskin

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Nov. 7.-What is said to be one of the finest col lections of aboriginal American relics and weapons in the world is the work of Edward ". Payne. banker of this city.
 Not only the collection a most un- usual one, but the making of it is most unusual avocation for an Amer ican business man. It is true that some wealthy men in this country collect pictures, prints or rare books, often employing experts to do most of the work of selection and buying. But these men enter well known fields, and for the most part obtain treasures which would otherwise be more available to the public in other places. Of course, the majority Of business men devote ali of their leisure to amusement
 MT. Payne is the rare example of man who has devoted his leisure for 30 years to collecting material of high scientific value, much of which would never have otherwise been brought to light. He contemplates eventually presenting his collection to some pub lie institution, perhaps together with a building to house it. At present less than one tenth of it is in cases which fill four rooms of MT. Payneis
 
 away five vaults being filled with the more valuable objects.
 Most of the objects in the Payne collection come from the great cen tral region of the continent in which he lives. This region. as you may know, it dotted with artificial mounds, varying from relatively small ones to some that rival the pyramids in bulk. It is from these mounds 1f s1,. fDor ,l1t, ton has come. It includes innumer able arrowheads, spearheads and ax heads, and is especially notable for the beautiful carved tobacco pipes, and the stone butterflies and cres- cents, which were evidently religious symbols to the ancient men who made them.
 Theory of Vanished Race
 These articles deeply impress one with the artistic skill of their mak- CTS, and seem at first to indicate that they are the product of a race far more cultured than the Indians as they have been known in historic times. In addition to this, the enor- nous quantities of such articles that have been found, and the great num- Der of mounds would seem to prove that the people who made these things were more, numerous than the Indians whom Columbus found here. The occurrence of Lake Superior cop per far to the south and other like facts show that commerce existed among them.
 These mounds and the men who built them have engaged the Ameri- can imagination for 100 years, since first they were noticed. The view long accepted, and still held by many persons, is that outlined above-that the mounds were built by race far more numerous and more advanced in culture than the Indians as we know them This view seems to be shared by MT. Payne, who, however, frankly approaches the matter as a collector rather than as a student.
 Science no longer accepts this view of a vanished race. Extensive study of the mounds by the bureau oi American ethnology has convinced the world of science that these mounds and all of their strange and beautiful contents were the work oi the ancestors of the Indians whom Columbus found here. Tn fact it was established that some of the more western mounds were built after the white men came, as shown by the finding in them of steel knives, Flu ropean glass beads and other articles which the Indians had obtained from the white men in trade. Moreover the mound building habit. though largely abandoned, still asserts itself occasionally. American ethlologists have witnessed the building of sew eral mounds by modern Indians.
 The great number of the mounds which seems at first to prove a nu' merous people. is explained by thu fact that war. pestilence and famine always cause primitive men to change their habitats at frequent intervals It is probable that only a small per ccntage of the mounds were occupied at any one time. The same phenom enon is observed in the southwest where there are hundreds of ruin for one occupied pueblo includini cliff dwellings and other types o habitation which have been aban doned because they are no longe necessary.
 The Scientific View
 All of the information upon whic' this view of the mound builders based was gathered by the burea of ethnoiogy and published in hug