The Coconino sun., 1923-08-31


| less, whether he is a kicker or not,
/ he will tell these people who want to
find fault the things he has found out
by skillful questioning or listening, or
watching, or all three, they want to-
hear. That's one of his traits part
of his diplomacy and philosophy
sides he thinks it sometimes pays.
He speaks Of the more progressive
as prosecuting the conservatives for
wanting to hold on to their old Gus
toms. | have found it the other way
around. The conservatives sometimes
make life miserable for the progress
sives and returned students. Iona
tivu has my sympathy, and by that
I'm not saying whether the snake
dance is right or wrong. Since it is
q religious ceremony-not indecent or
shocking to the morals of the COM
munity, or of those who look on, it
would seem that whether it is perpet
uated or not, is matter for the In
dians to decide for themselves, and
Lomativu has given his vote already.
The human society might object to it,
however, on the ground of cruelty to-
animals-the snakes.
We of the Indian service welcome
real, honest to- goodness, simon-pure,
constructive criticism, but we detest
officious intermeddling of any sort,
which seeks to tear down without
building up, which would destroy but
would give nothing better in its place
destructive criticism of the worst
sort It is hard enough at best to
make headway, with the Indians in
herent antagonisrn and dislike of the
white man and his. ways to oppose,
but when irresponsible, well-meaning
or ill-meaning busyboddies too fre~
quently rush in where those who know
better fear to tread-to saw the least
makes pious people "wish they had
Mt come"
All this loose talk of morbid senti-
mentalists, who think they know all
about the Indian and the wrongs that
are being done to him by the Indian
bureau and its field employees besides
being rank injustice to it and them,
cannot but work fearful injustice to
the Indians themselves, by undermine
ing their trust in those who work
among them as well as their trust in
Washington. If successful it will dis
courage the progressive Indians SO
to turn Oh, the pity Of it all!
In all my teaching Of the Indian
children | have always urged them to
hold fast to the good things Of their
fathers, but to discard the bad; to
take and use the good things the
white man had to offer him but to
fling away the evil, wickedness and
immortality that is sometimes held out
to him by the worst classes of the
whites, and above all not to try to be
a white man, but try to be good In
dian. The Indian has many good
| things to offer the white man; it's not
a one-sided proposition by any means.
| And if he learns and uses what the
white man has to offer, he is that
much ahead of the game. He has one
and he gets the other. | say, go to it,
Lomativll, you and all your kind; don't
| let this fellow and his crowd diseour-
age you. 1t seems that you have
| grasped some of the truth of what the
government is trying to do for your
| people. / want you and your tribe to
| show this skeptic and all his kind, that
! there is one Indian and one tribe that
is going to make good You have the
stuff men are made of. Develop it
and make your and my country the
richer thereby. The more is the credit
due you, the more you are attempted
to be hfndered, if you are "there with
the goods" for better things for you
and your people, and this Good Old
/ United States, to which you, /, and
even Mr.. James, owe so muchl
Recurring again to the "bungling"
Indian bureau of which Mr.. James
speaks, want to say that if it is in
efficient and a bungler, every state
government of the United States is
lbungling and inefficient Why, /
know boarding school plants that in
their health, water and sewerage sys-
TENS would far outclass a majority of
towns of the United States of popula-
| tion of 5000 to 5000, and as to the or
ganization Of their schools and per-
I sonnel, industrial and academic--of
4 employees in general and OF general
/ discipline, there is no comparison with
that Of many of these towns. | know
one town of 5000 inhabitants which
in 1917 had no sewer system except
! that at the courthouse and schools
belonging to the town, and at that
time it had no health department. /
don't know whether it has made these
improvements since or not. 1t is q
good average town, having a college.
high school, etc. But please show me
an Indian boarding school plant under
! the "bungling" Indian bureau SO poor
ly equipped. Why doesn't he and those
he seems to claim to represent, COM
mence at home, in California, and
/ straighten out his state government
on the Chinese and Japanese ques-
tions, Why don't they go into rhap-
sodies over the poor heather Chinese
and Japanee, and into tantrums over
the wrongs done by California to him
and his. Charity begins at home"
Again, why don't these people get
facts, not fancies, in their investiga
4 tions of the Indian bureau? These
women's clubs, which such men as
James and Charles E. Seldom mention
SO freely, and for whom they would
seem to have it understood they are
mouth pieces, why don't they employ
! women, honest, sympathetic women,
fair women-women who can look
Iboth on the paid and unpaid side of
a question? I've no fault to find with
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