The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-08-08
END OLD CUSTOM
Canadian Authorities Forbid
Further Potlatches.
Indians Of the Pacific Coast Resort to
Courts In Effort to Retain
Ancient Rights.

One of the most unusual legal bat
ties in Canadian history has just been
staged on the Pacific coast of British
Columbia, where some forty of the
Kwakiutl tribe have been convicted Of
holding "pOtlatch," and some of them
sentenced to two months impriSon-
ment Among those convicted was
squaw, the first in the history of Brit
ish Columbia.
The potlatch is one of the outstand-
ing events of life among the Indians
Of the Pacific coast, according ITO
Francis Dickie in Popular Mechanics
Magazine, but very little has been
written of it. and this mostly without
understanding of the deep social sig
nifcance Of the feast, dancing, cere-
monies and gift-giving which are a
part of the event called potlatch.
: Tie governments placing restrain
ing laws against the holding of pot
latches was on the ground that In
diaaH on these occasions impoverished
themselves by giving away all their
earthly possessions, often the savings
of years; for when an Indian gave
potlatch, he did give away everything
he owned to members of his tribe
whom he had invited. In some cases,
where a very great chief gave a pot
latch, people Of other tribes, often hun
dreds of miles away, were invited: In
the years before the white man came,
such feasts lasted from ten days to
month.
But though the government was
partly right in its claim, the potlatch
presents a paradoxical situation, for
in giving away all he possessed an
Indian was at the same time acquiring
a vested interest-the potlatch was
nothing less than life-insurance pre-
MUM, old-age pension and endowment
fund all rolled into one. In fact, the
Indians had in operation mutual
benefit system long before the white
man.
After the coming Of the white man,
the potlatches changed considerably.
Instead of furs. the Indians began
giving blankets, -four, guns and ammu-
milton bought from the Hudson's Bay
company. AS time went on they took
full advantage of the wonders of the
white man, so in recent years pot
latches have presented one Of the most
incongruous sights perhaps the world
has ever seen. There came into ex-
istence sewing-machine and furniture
and gramophone potlatches; potlatches
of cooking utensils and clothing; boots
and clothes; frequently furs and some
other articles. But the chief pot
latches in recent times have been
gramophone, furniture and utensils.
The writer has been fortunate in OBJ
tanning the most recent photos of what
may be perhaps the last potlatches
ever held These photos also show the
march of the wild men to the great
ceremonial hall.
Should the potlatches be stopped
forever 1t Is hard to fOretell what will
be the effect on the Indians. 1t is a
fact that quite aside from the vested
interest acquired by giving a potlatch,
the giving of such gave the giver inn
mense prestige 1t was the highest
peak Of social ambition for a coast In
dian, striven for as eagerly as a noH-
veau richie trying to break into New
York's -four hundred" Looked at
from this point of view, the taking
away of it may rob the Indians of in
itiative and ambition to earn money to
hold one-another paradox in view of
the government passing a prohibitive
law because the potlatch impoverished
the giver.