The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-08-31
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director,
Washington, d. c.
FIRST FAMILIES OF AMERICA

1 L
Der, form one American community
which has been relatively little af-
fected by fluctuations in the cost of
living.
These Indians are the communal
owners of rich tract of valley farm
ing land, upon which their pueblo
| stands, and of many square miles of
the mountains adjoining it. Their
ancestors were living here when the
Spaniards came. The Spanish, Next
can and United States government
have successfully confirmed them in
the title to these lands.
The Indians meet the cost-of-living
problem in a way which may be
| adopted by other farmers in this coun-
farming more profitable as a com
mercial venture. While the cotton
planter in Texas raises nothing but
| cotton, sells it for less than it cost to
produce, and faces bankruptcy and
! want, the Pueblo Indian raises almost
! everything he needs, sells little and
buys little. His lands produces wheat
corn, beans, potatoes, all sorts of
melons, and fresh vegetables and
! little fruit. On his mountain range
| ne raises cattle enough to keep him
in beef In the fine trout stream that
flows down the Pueblo canyon he can
catch all the fish he want all summer.
He grinds his own meal, dries fruits
and vegetables, and jerks meat for
| winter consumption. If shoes are high
he makes his own moccasins, and the
| rest of his clothing is not elaborate.
! He makes his own pottery. He builds
] his own house and keeps it in repair.
/ There IS little he must buy except
! sugar coffee, lard, and a few things
( in the way of clothing and utensils
Examinations of conscripts' showed
| that large percentage of the Next
cans in New Mexico are undernour-
lshed. 1t showed the same thing with
! regard to poor people all over the
| United States. The Indian is gener-
| ally poor man, in that he has little
| money and few possessions, but he is
| almost never undernourished. He looks
well-fed, and he has the physical
j stamina and prowess of which civiliza-
| ton is robbing the rest of US. In the
| foot races which take place at his
| flestas he shows great wind and speed.
He can do as hard a days work as
any man on earth. The Indians have
! only a few acres of land per capita.
but they have enough sense to make
| that land nourish them, instead of
| trying to make money, and thereby
nourishing the jobbers, wholesalers,
| retailers, and all the rest of the COM
| mercial army.
a Spartan Bather.
The Indian preserves another vir-
| tue which civilized man often loses
when he is poor. and that is cleanli-
| ness. There is nothing sordid or dirty
about the way the Indian lives. Every
| bathes in the clear stream which runs
past his door. He will not battle in
| warm water, not even in natural
warm spring. But he will chop a hole
| in the ice in January and battle him.
self and his papoose in ice water.
The inside of his house, if he is
poor Indian, is sparsely furnished, but
it is scrupulously clean. Walls and
ceiling are covered with special
whitewash that the Indian himself
makes, and it gives the plastered
adobe the appearance of polished
ivory. In a corner is little fireplace.
Along one side of the wall the bedding
is rolled up and covered with a, bright
blanket to make a sort of divan. The
effect is one of cleanliness, simplicity
and a pleasing harmony of colors.
Some of the Indians. who have made
money by working for the white men
or by trading in cattle and horses,
have furnished their houses with
chairs and iron bedsteads and sewing
machines.
A young man from the east was in
troduced to an Indian of about his
own age. The Indian shook hands
with him, and invited him to visit the
pueblo on the next day. AS they drove
out the Indian said:
You are my brother. AS soon as I
shook hands with you, I knew that
you were my brother"
He led the white man into his house
and babe him be seated.
Entertained by an Indian.
This is your house." he said.
Later he asked the white man if he
would like to hear some Indian music,
and getting an affirmative reply, he
sang a native song of his own compost
ton. He was an ideal host, courteous
and sincere. He did not apologize nor
bluff, nor indulge in elaborate and
mendacious protestations which make
up such large part of our own COM
pany manners.
The Indian is moral man and he
perceiveS the fact that the real founda-
ton off ethics is honesty. He be-
lieves in keeping his word. What an
Indian says he will do, he does, even
tho the matter is of no Importance
An Indian was visiting a friends in
town when he suddenly noticed that
his horse had strayed away. He went
after it, saying, TN be back"
He came back about five hours
later, in the middle of the night, and
walked his host. His only purpose in
coming was to keep his promise.
OF coure not all Indians are so
quixotic, nor SO honest. There are
crafty Indians and weak Indians, Just
as there are weak and crafty men
among all other races; The point is
that absolute honesty is a real moral
ideal to these people, while among
US it is only a nominal ideal, false |
mood and fraud being Indispensable
parts of both our social and our bust |
ness system.
The Indian is also a sincerely re- |
hgious man. He has long had a re-
ligion of his own, which sees and wor-
ships the divine will in all the phe-
nomena of nature. When the Span !
iarGs came along they baptized him
Christian and built a Catholic church |
in each of his villages. Ever since |
then the Indian has had two religions. |
He still holds his pagan dances and |
ceremonies. just as he always did, and |
he goes to the Christian church also. |
tho he is not regular attendant of |
mass.
There is only one Cod he says. |
RIB in he