Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1922-03-31
ON GIVING SPREE
Form of lntoxication Once En-
ioyed by Indians.
New York Newspaper Suggests the
Idea to Citizens of That Great
Eastern Metropolis.

1t staggers the Imagination to specu-
late on the things that might happen If
the list of social diversions in New
York were enlarged to include the
potlatch. That's a Siwash celebration
along the northwest coast that the
white man has suppressed by law,
explains the New York Sun. A soli
tary outbreak of it the other day at
Alert Bay, B. c., caused a lot Of ex-
element. The principle of the pot
latch is gloriously simple.
You indulge in an orgy of giving
away your possessions. And you be-
come intoxicated by the act of giving.
You get generosity jag, sacrifice
souse, a benefaction bun. If you're
a real potlatch fan you don't stop
giving until you've given away every
thing you had in the world.
The ultimate ectasy comes when you
give away your last stitch and face the
world in the sublimely unincumbered
condition in which you entered it.
Then, indeed, the humble Siwash can
feel that he has lived up to Mr.. Car
negies doctrine that the man who
dies rich dies disgraced.
But what about introducing potlatch
parties in New York? Popularized on
Broadway, it ought to beat armistice
day. In fact, the day when our lead
ing profteers and war millionaires
compete in a public potlatch will
make history and probably call for the
police departments new riot guns.
On the part of the northwest coast
Indians the potlatch was adjudged by
the whites a disturbing and de-
moralizing institution. For the in
toxication of generosity is just as un-
balanced as any other kind of in
toxicatiOn. SO it is no longer possible
for a Siwash Carnegie to win a pot
latch tournament by giving away more
than any of his competitors had to
give, and thus becoming the most
honored man of his tribe.
You see it's a plumb reversal Of the
white mans idea of accumulation. And
in a confused and simple way it Is an
affirmation Of the philosophic truth
ages, that material possessions are
burden, an obstacle and an illusion.
Chief Billie Assui of the Alert bay
tribe of Indians was the cause of the
recent riot there. He started pot
latch all by himself. He was quite a
rich Indian, Billie was, and he planned
to place himself high in the esteem Of
his tribe. Or perhaps potlatching
seizes a man with a religious emotion
that impels him to begin giving his
goods away.
To evade the white mans law
against the pOtlatch, Chief Billie cut
a fir tree, called it christmas tree"
and began to play Santa Claus with
his property. A Christmas celebration
In the middle of February struck the
authorities as being probably camou-
fiage potlatch, so they stopped Billie.
after he had given away $4,000 worth
of his property, including forty sewing
machines, forty talking machines,
heaps of jewelry and no end Of
blankets.
AS far as can be learned there is no
law against the potlatch in New York.
There's nothing to prevent any person
with a potlatch impulse and fat
check book from starting a potlatch
this very minute, and many worthy
persons would gladly cooperate to the
extent of lending him their fountain
pens.