The Press., 1922-05-25
ON GIVING SPREE
Form of IntoxiCation Once En-
 iOyed by Indians.
New York Newspaper SuGGestS the Idea to CItIzsns of That Great
 Eastern Metropolis.

It 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 lot of ex- citement. 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, g benefactiOn AUn. If you're 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 1t. Then, indeed, the humble Siwash can 1 feel that he has lived up to MT. Car negie's 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 1t is no longer possible for a Siwash Carnegie to win pot latch tournament by giving away more than any of his competitors had to give, and thus becoming the n1oSt hOnored man of his tribe.
 You see it's a plumb reversal Jf the white mans idea of accumulation. And | in a confused and simple way it is an ! affirmation of the philosophic truth taught by the greatest sages in all ages, that material possessions are a burden, an obstacle and an illusion. Chief Billie Assuf of the Alert bay tribe of Indians was the cause of the recent riot there. He started a 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 l goods away.
 To evade the white mans law against the potlatch, Chief Billie cut { & fir tree, called it a Christmas tree
 and began to play Santa Claus with his property. Christmas celebration
 in the middle of February struck the authorities as being probably camou
 Rage potlatch, so they stopped Billie
 after he had given away $1O,OO0 wOrtf
 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 d pOtlatch impulse and fat check book from starting a pOtlatcl
 this very minute, and many worthy l persons would gladly cooperate to th' extent of lending him their fountain pens.