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 "The Indian in Agriculture. 
 
 By J. E. SHIELDS. 
 
 A _ Eapcr Agad b^for^-t^^ ^ r-^t Annual rnnfer^nre Ql_Th p American Indian As 
 86e7--9hiD-State-Unwrsity-, Columbus^ October 12 to 15, 191 J. 
 
 ArilUCri.TURE AMONG THE INDIANS FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW. 
 
 One of the greatest problems that has confronted the government of 
 the United States has been the question^ ef how to deal with the Indian, 
 and lead him from former environments^ sever him from the previously 
 fiAi iivx! noi iiadic habits of liuiiler and plainsman, and transform him 
 into a citizen and agriculturist. 
 
 There have been volumes written upon this subject, and I do not 
 presume to, within the short time allotted to the reading of this paper, 
 advance any new theories or t enter into a discussion of the many com 
 plicated questions that naturally present themselves in relation to the 
 Indian affairs and the governmental policy in dealing with him as a 
 ward or as a citizen. My purpose is to state as briefly as possible to what 
 the Indian has accomplished in Oklahoma^ and to point out some things 
 in connection with his development which are within themselves a splen 
 did prophecy of future success. It must not be forgotten that but little 
 more than a quarter of a century ago, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians 
 were restless, wandering plainsmen, for whom the reservation had no 
 attraction and whose untamed spirit tenaciously held out against the 
 restraints which the rapidly advancing westward marching civilization 
 was slowly but surely throwing around them. The buffalo had disap 
 peared from the western plains. The settlements were gradually push 
 ing westward and the time had come for the passing of the old and the 
 ling of the new. 
 
 As far back as the early seventies in the last century, the Cheyennes 
 and, Arapahoes had commenced to take hold of the new problems of 
 citizenship upon which hung their future destiny. 
 
 To describe their first steps in the new way, I herewith submit an 
 extract from Agent Darlington, in the third annual report, dated August 
 26. 1871. which illustrates the early steps taken. 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to report considerable advancement in 
 .he objects connected with this Agency since my last report. 
 
 We know of but one instance of any depredations being committed 
 since our last annual report. The last winter s hunt realized a bountiful 
 harvest of excellent robes. A member of the Arapahoes were ready to 
 raise corn and other produce. "Big Mouth" was the leading chief in 
 
4Aventy-five acres of corn, of which he is justly proudx" 
 kl" that they would not take the corn road until they 
 saw how the Arapahoes succeeded. Some little farming was being done 
 by the Indians from 1871 to 1877, but for the lack of plows and other 
 farming tools the farm work was limited. 
 
 In 1877 our Agency received a large s^wpmenTctf plows arid wagons, 
 which were shipped to Wichita, Kansas, wtuigliuis then our nearest 
 railroad point. 
 
 The Cheyenne and Arapahoe Transportation Company was com 
 posed wholly of Indians, and as "they set out from the Agency with / ^ x ^ 
 160 of their best horses and mules, bound for the city of Wichita in f 
 charge of two Government employes wlio acted as wagon masters, it ^ 
 was a unique company. Their arrival was a novel sight to the citizens 
 of Wichita, Crowds of them were soon at the depot. Some of them 
 offered to assist in "setting up" the wagons, but the trainmasters would 
 accept of no help except from the Indians. 
 
 Awkward as they were at first, they soon learned how to put a 
 wagon together. In three days they were ready to hitch up and pull 
 out the train of forty, four-horse wagons, hauling sixty-five thousand 
 pounds of supplies, which the Indians delivered to the Darlington 
 Agency in good order and condition. Then the Indians were the happy 
 owners of wagons, harness and plows, paid for by their own honest 
 labor. Thus the Indians were able to farm on a larger scale, and^were fi 
 making good headway, as there were a good many small fields being 
 opened up along the river bottoms. 
 
 In 1889 and 1890 the allotting of this reservation begyin, and each 
 man, woman and child was allotted -hip ur-.imr 160 acres 6i lancl and it 
 was intended- that each family of Indians alould move on their own 
 allotment to live. This of course was some thing new for the Indians 
 as they had been in the habit of living in 4tttie-villages wherever they 
 choose, but after some little time and with the untiring efforts of the 
 Agents, the Indians were finally induced to move on their allotments/ 
 and those that were able began building and opening up little farms. In 
 all the farming that they had been doing they had to use their small 
 ponies for work stock, and this was becoming somewhat discouraging, 
 and some of them were about to give up farming, but somtTof the more 
 industrious fellows who were drawing -kig. annuity, managed to get 
 money enough to buy farm horses. About this time the Indians began 
 leasing their lands, and white^this was considered by some/ a drawback 
 to their farming, for it enabled them to have their lands worked by the 
 white people, yet some of the Indians made good use of their lease 
 money, by buying a better class of horses. In the last few years the In- 
 dians have been selling their inherited lands and this^ together with their 
 lease money has enabled them to buy up-to-date farming implements. 
 
 
 
I have often heard the remark made that the Indian could never 
 be induced to farm his own land, but I must say that this is a big mistake, 
 for in looking the country over you will find that the Indians have many 
 nice little homes and model farms in connection with these homes being 
 operated by full blooded Indians. 
 
 The Indians are rapidly advancing in agriculture, as has twice been 
 proven frr the last two annual fairs that we have had for our Indians, 
 and wit!T>me exception, that of live-stock, we have proven to our white 
 brother that we are his equal as^agriculturist. At our annual Indian Fair 
 which was held at Weatherford, Oklahoma, and by the way which was 
 our first real Indian fair, we had about 30 entries in the live-stock and 
 poultry department, and this year with our fair at Watonga, Oklahoma, 
 we had 90 entries in the live-stock and poultry department. Showing a 
 great advance over last year, and as we are yet young in the fair busi 
 ness, having had just the two Indian fairs, we expect grea^jresults in the 
 near future, for I believe that our Indian fairs are doing as much as 
 any other one factor towaid advancing the Indian in agriculture. 
 
 The fair which we held at Weatherford last year, as before stated 
 was our first endeavor along that line. The results were very gratifying. 
 The fair at Watonga this year was a revelation to many people who did 
 not know the capability of the Indian along agricultural lines. The fair 
 at Watonga was well attended by people from all over the country. They 
 were there from many states. ^People from other states who were at 
 tracted to the Watonga Fair by the extensive publicity given it through 
 the local and outside press, were surprised to find a large concourse of 
 Indians, not the wild man of the prairie, but many of them exhibitors 
 of agricultural products, and deeply interested in farming. Of course 
 there were divers exhibitions of old time Indian customs and traditions, 
 such as war dances, sham battles, etc., for amusements, but all this was 
 more in the way of stage play than anything else. It bore the same 
 relation to the past that the modern stage does to past history and 
 conditions. 
 
 It was a representation of what had been and not what is to-day. 
 Xo better representation of the real merits of the fair at Watonga could 
 be given than an extract from the recent article in the Post-Dispatch, of 
 St. Louis, by Frederick Barde of Guthrie, newspaper correspondent and 
 magazine writer, who attended the Watonga Fair to secure data for a 
 number of newspapers and magazine articles in relation to the Indians. 
 Mr. Barde, among other things, had the following to say in his Post- 
 Dispatch articles: This fair movement was organized, primarily, by the 
 Superintendents of the United States Indian Department, of whom there 
 are four, William I>. Freer of Darlington, Walter F. Dickens of Colony 
 Oklahoma, Byron E. White of Cantonment, and Willis E. Dunn of 
 Red Moon, Oklahoma. It is the intention of the Federal Government 
 
 3 
 
that the fair in time shall be managed by the Indians. These Superin 
 tendents are merely teaching the Cheyennes and Arapahoes to walk in 
 the fair business. The president of the Fair Association, John Otterby, 
 is a full-blood Cheyenne and a man of keen intelligence. An advisory 
 committee is chosen each year by the Indians, and consist of 28 members 
 of whom 17 are Cheyenne and n Arapahoe, in proportion to tribal 
 population. The white men of Watonga and Elaine County looked with 
 astonishment upon this second Indian fair. There were visitors from as 
 far north as Chicago and as far south as Houston, Texas. Notwith 
 standing the bad crop year no better corn should be found in Oklahoma 
 than was shown in the pavilion devoted to agriculture and domestic 
 economy, and much of the corn was equal to the best grown in any sea 
 son in Missouri, Nebraska or Kansas. There were exhibits of Kaffir 
 corn, wheat, oats, watermelons, pumpkins, squashes, alfalfa, onions, 
 potatoes, tomatoes and other garden vegetables. 
 
 I,n several, booths were exhibits of the work of the boys and girls 
 in the Indian schools. The Indians seem to enjoy even more than white 
 persons the sight in this .pavilion, and all day long they stood and gazed 
 at the exhibits. A Cheyenne father with a blood red feather dangling 
 from his scalplock stood with his squaw and pointed at this apron or 
 dress, or at that cake or jar of jelly that had been made by their daughter, 
 and both, seemed mightily pleased. 
 
 Tfre Indians began corning to the fair a week before it was opened. 
 Some of them traveled more than a hundred miles by \vagon, camping 
 along the way. On Sunday night the Indians assembled in the grand 
 stand, where prayer was offered by missionaries and by converted Indians. 
 There were "experience" talks by Indian leaders and the singing of 
 hymns. 
 
 The preceding quotation from Mr. Barde s article is introduced here 
 to show what was thought of the Indian argicultural exhibit by one who 
 has no special interest in the fair, except as writer and newspaper re 
 porter. It was common talk at the Watonga that the Indian agricultural 
 exhibit surpassed in quality and quantity those of the Elaine County fair 
 which had been put on exhibition by white farmers when that fair was 
 held in August preceding the Indian fair. While we all realize that the 
 Indian has to move on slowly and will be encompassed by many diffi 
 culties in his sudden transition from wandering plainsman to farmer, 
 yet enough has been seen of his work to demonstrate that he can and 
 will, become a successful grower of corn and raiser of stock if given an 
 opportunity to show what he can do.. 
 
 The Indian in farming, is like a child learning to walk. He has to 
 take short steps and he may fall now and then, but, like the child, he 
 will get up and try it over until he succeeds. 
 
Husbandry was man s first occupation and it is the foundation of 
 success in every true civilization. 
 
 The progressive Indians all realize that the farm is. the hope of 
 their people, and they are determined to make the best of it. 
 
 Traditions and customs could not change in a day. 
 
 The Indian had to work up to the new problems gradually. But no 
 one knows better than he knows that the traditions of the past now live 
 only in dreams and the visions of the night. The old days have gone 
 never to return. They have passed on, but cannot come back. The 
 plains where his fathers chased the wild buffalo, are now covered by 
 farms. The wild deer have gone, and the lands where they roamed have 
 become the homes of the domestic horse and the cow. Out of the stir 
 ring and eventful past, the Indian has come with his eye now fixed on 
 the sun of the future. He realizes that his road is not through the past 
 but that it leads far into the future. His eyes are not fixed upon the 
 setting b*ut upon the rising sun. When the sun of past traditions went 
 down in the west, the new sun of hope and promise arose for him in 
 the east. 
 
 He now stands ready with the white man to go forward and work 
 out the problems of civilization. 
 
 Give the Indian an opportunity. Lend him encouragement. 
 
 He will do his duty and not long be behind in the race of life. 
 
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J. N. B. 
 
 "The Indian as a Skilled Mechanic." 
 
 By CHARLES DOXON. 
 
 A Paper read before the First Annual Conference of The American Indian As 
 sociation, Ohio State University, Columbus, October 12 to 15, lilll. 
 
 In speaking of the Indian as a skilled mechanic I shall endeavor 
 to show you the actual advancement he has made up to the present time 
 as such, and what his opportunity is in reaching the point of excellence 
 that draws the attention of the mechanical world. 
 
 The word "mechanic" covers a great many trades, but I can speak 
 of only a few which are followed, so far, by the Indians. 
 
 The first trade that was taken up by an Indian, that I know of, is 
 that of carpenter trade. I have known one for many years. That he is 
 skillful at the trade is shown by the fact that he always has a job ; doing 
 the inside finish as well as the outside from the foundation to the top. 
 He is spoken of by his fellow carpenters, (white men) as ranking amongst 
 the best mechanics in their union. The inside and outside finish of his 
 own nine-room house is the work of his own hand and compares very 
 favorably with the finest homes along the city line. 
 
 Another Indian mechanic that I am well acquainted with is a black 
 smith. He is not employed in the city, but has a blacksmith shop of 
 his own. He does all the resetting of wagon tires and horseshoeing to 
 be done in his neighborhood both for whites and Indians. He can weld 
 a new steel on an old axe, so that it would sink into the wood like a 
 new axe. In describing the perfection of the old axes he has repaired, 
 his customers use the old saying, "The chips fly before it strikes the 
 wood." Is he not worthy of the name "skilled mechanic?" 
 
 There are a few machinists that I know of who are steadily employed 
 in large shops throughout the country. While I am unable to point out 
 to you some great examples of what they have done, it is not a proof 
 that they are not as skilled at their trades as those of the carpenter and 
 blacksmith I spoke of. If he is a lathe hand, the parts he finishes are 
 lost in the construction of a machine. If he is a fitter or assembler his 
 part of work is lost when the machine goes out of the factory. If you go 
 into a supply house for inspection and ask the salesman who made the 
 machine you are pointing at, he will tell you it was made by such and 
 such a firm. All the credit of fine workmanship of the machine goes to 
 the president of that firm. But the machinist does not think of that. He 
 begins his work every morning with the full sense of responsibility for 
 speed and accuracy of the work to be turned out. Even if the machine 
 he is running is an automatic one, he must be constantly wide awake as 
 
to the accuracy of its operation, lie must see that the size and shape 
 of the work he is turning out do not vary. This is clone by frequent 
 tests and a proper care of the machine and the cutting tools. In fact, 
 he must be on the job all the time, mentally if not physically. 
 
 If a mechanic is employed in fitting or assembling he begins his work 
 with the same sense of responsibility as that of the machinist ; he picks 
 up the finished parts that are sent to him and places them in their proper 
 positions. He must know the duty of each part ; in other words he must 
 be theoretical, in the common sense of the word, at least. If a piece is 
 to have a running fit it must be thoroughly tested ; if it is to have a 
 driving fit it must receive the full share of consideration. So as he 
 assembles the engine or machine he corrects the faults as he goes along 
 by chipping or filing. While the whole construction must receive the 
 greatest of care, it also requires a great deal of muscle. The mechanic 
 must shove, pull and drive with a hard and soft hammer as the case may 
 require, yet when the machine is finished there should not be even a 
 scratch mark left on it. And as you look at it in its brightness you would 
 not think it had received a blow. If a mechanic cannot finish his work 
 like that he is soon detected by the sharp inspectors and is put down as 
 unskilled and undesirable ; and therefore he cannot hold his own. All 
 those Indian mechanics, that I know of, are holding their own wherever 
 they are employed. , 
 
 I have heard and read of other Indian mechanics who have succeeded 
 even better than those I have known. While we cannot yet put up one 
 to equal some of the famous white mechanics yet it is no proof that 
 we never will. In the short time that we have been in actual contact 
 with our white brothers I think we have made a great stride toward it. 
 
 I began my schooling at the age of twenty-one. Just coming out of 
 a primitive state of influences, I found myself as timid as a rabbit 
 amongst the whites. But by a persistent effort I gained and enjoyed 
 respect amongst them far more than my expectation. 
 
 The present generation is now being drawn forward by many forces 
 and influences, the greatest of which is inducement, the same force that 
 has placed the white race at the head of the industrial progress. 
 
 But we Indians, must understand, however, just as the white under 
 stands, that inducement is an independent element. Only those qualified 
 need apply for it. In other words the individual must bear in mind the 
 truth that he must have reached the point of excellence before he can 
 hope to command that valuable element, the inducement. The young 
 generation does not understand the truth of that, and since it will never 
 understand it without the proper training, it becomes our duty to see 
 that it is kept in the field of such activity as shall lead the way to suc 
 cess and when it shall have reached the point of excellence, the induce 
 ment will do the rest. 
 
 2 
 
I 3- 
 j. N. B. Hswitt. 
 
 Modern Home-Making and the Indian Woman. 
 
 By MRS. MARIE L. BALDWIN. 
 
 A Paper read before the First Annual Conference of The American Indian As 
 sociation, Ohio State University, Columbus, October 12 to 15, 1911. 
 
 Were I to follow my own desire I should b e quick to accuse myself 
 of presumption in speaking on so weighty a theme as "Home-making and 
 the American Indian Woman," subjects which have puzzled many minds, 
 but 1 reassure myself with the thought that I am only lesponding to 
 my assignment to this task by the Honorable Committee which prepared 
 the Program of this First Annual Convention of the American Indian 
 Association. 
 
 Reversing the order of the subjects of the title let us ask, first, what 
 \vas the Indian woman of the Xorth American continent? 
 
 To judge from her share in the arts, the culture and the manifold 
 activities of the life of her people, she was a most magnificent savage 
 and barbarian, yet she was none the less a woman human, noble, pa 
 triotic, and above all a mother fond, loving, careful, religious, 
 - whose tireless devotion and self-sacrifice to home, husband and de 
 pendent children yield the first place to that of no other woman. 
 
 The North American Indian woman lived under great differences of 
 climatic and other environmental conditions, for she occupied the entire 
 continent from the cheerless Arctic wastes to the regions of the torrid 
 zone, and in this vast territory there were great treeless tracts, broad, 
 barren and waterless plains and valleys, and rich forested lands ; and in 
 this varied habitat the fiora and the fauna differed greatly ; and it was in 
 this vast territory of propitious and of hostile environments the Xorth 
 American Indian woman kindled the fires of her home and those of 
 sacred altars to her many gods. 
 
 In a large number of tribes she was on an absolute equality with 
 her sons and brothers in the exercise and enjoyment of the several rights 
 and patrimony of her people ; and by exceptional environmental condi 
 tions she established matronymical or matriarchal institutions, in which 
 she was supreme in the choice of her rulers who were of course her 
 sons and brothers, and whose titles to ofBce were hereditary in her. 
 own right and over which she had the absolute right of recall. She her 
 self in some cases exercised executive functions in the various activities 
 of her people. 
 
 The division of labor between the woman and her sons and brothers 
 began with the establishment of the first home. And it must be remem- 
 
bered that this division was based on considerations of sex, on mother 
 hood ; and it was emphasized by the invention and use of fire. The 
 woman remained by the fire to feed and keep it alive to warm her home 
 and offspring and also to broil the meat and to bake the roots and the 
 tubers prepared for the food of herself and her family. 
 
 The food quest: The American Indian woman, or as she has been 
 aptly called the Amerindian woman was the fruit-gatherer and the berry- 
 picker, the nut and the acorn collector, and the harvester of grass seeds 
 and wild rice, mesquite beans, and every edible member of the surround 
 ing flora ; she gathered oysters, clams, and other shell fish, and in some 
 regions she dried the oysters for future use ; she was also a fisher-woman 
 as well, catching various kinds of fish and eels ; of the latter many hun 
 dred weight have been found cure:! and store:! in the larder of the 
 lodge; she was not only the food gatherer, but she and her daughters 
 were also the water-carriers and the guardians of the springs of water 
 and pools of fresh water. 
 
 As a founder of Social organization, the American Indian or rather 
 Amerindian woman had to suffer the pains of motherhood, and in most 
 cases she bore this travail alone and without the presence and encourage 
 ment of the father of her offspring, for her mother, aunts, or possibly, 
 her elder sister, acted as midwife and nurse. 
 
 In those regions where nature was niggard of her gifts of food and 
 drink and shelter there often arose the question whether the new-born 
 creature should or should not be permitted to live; and the mother was 
 often the one to raise this question ; this was frequently the case \vith 
 the Eskimo woman; if however, as elsewhere, it was permitted to live it 
 was carefully nursed and educated in the duties of a woman of her 
 people. Its education usually ended with the age of puberty. 
 
 In Mexico, according to the codices there were near the temple 
 buildings used as seminaries for the nurture of girls, over which pre 
 sided matrons or vestal priestesses ; these buildings were guarded by day 
 and by night by old men ; the girls could not leave their apartments with 
 out a chaperon; and if one broke this regulation her feet were pricked 
 with thorns until the blood flowed ; the girls of these seminaries swept the 
 precincts of the temple and kept the sacred fire in it alive ; they were 
 taught featherwork, and were instructed how to spin and how to weave 
 mantles and other useful articles of great beauty ; they were required to 
 bathe frequently and to be skilled and diligent in all duties of the house 
 hold ; they were taught to speak with reverence, to humble themselves 
 before their elders and to maintain a modest and reserved demeanor at 
 all times. 
 
 A WEAVER: The textile industry of the American Indian woman 
 may be conveniently divided into basket-making and weaving; in addi- 
 
 2 
 
lion she spun, netted, looped, braided, sewed, and embroidered. Baskets 
 of splints, of bark, of grass, of bast, of skins, and of roots, according to 
 locality and need, are found; some baskets were woven on a warp, and 
 others were sewed by the continuous stitching of a coil; the types, the 
 fiineness and the beauty of the designs and decorations, are unsurpassed 
 by the art of the women of other races. Unrivalled too in beauty and 
 workmanship were the mantles and the headdresses of featherwork and 
 of the skins of rare birds of brilliant plumage. 
 
 A SKIX-DRESSER: The dressing of a skin was not a short or easy 
 process; the kincl of skin and the object in view largely determined the 
 process through which it was carefully put to prepare it for use. The 
 hides of deer, wolves, foxes, buffalo, musk oxen, antelopes, bears, rac 
 coons, walrus, moose, elk, beavers, gophers, muskrats, seals, skunks, 
 squirrels, porcupines, hares, opossums, alligators, tortoises, birds of all 
 kinds, fishes, and reptiles, and authentic tradition says, of human beings, 
 were some of those which the primitive American Indian woman em 
 ployed in her many industries. And it must not be forgotten that all 
 the tools required in the various processes to make them articles of use 
 were designed and made by her own hands. 
 
 THE BURDEX-I .EARER: In the division of labor which w^e have seen 
 was equitable, the woman became the burden-bearer of the family, a 
 task which she shared with her growing children ; many devices for 
 carrying infants were invented and utilized, as well as those adapted for 
 the carrying of meat, skins, fish, fuel, water, and even clay for pottery; 
 and splints, bark, fibres, reeds, grasses and tough roots were collected 
 and carried home on the back of the woman to be utilized in her many 
 crafts in husbandry, housekeeping and the textile arts, as basket-maker, 
 planter, tailor, and shoemaker. 
 
 A POTTER : In the process of washing and mixing her clay for mak 
 ing pots, she carefully assorted it for different kinds of ware, the coarser 
 grades of clay for the ruder ware and the finer material for her more 
 artistic and pretentious productions ; thus a delicacy of feeling, the 
 training of the judgment, and a keen sense of color, were gradually de 
 veloped in the conscientious pursuit of her craft. 
 
 The beauty and the exquisite workmanship displayed in the decora 
 tion and in the designing of the many productions of her handicraft 
 show clearly that her artistic taste has grown apace with the development 
 of the various departments of her industry. 
 
 AN AGRICULTURIST: The American Indian woman with her children 
 was the agriculturist of her people; she cleared with the aid of fire and 
 
 3 
 
her brothers her fields and there she planted the corn of many varieties, 
 the beans of diverse species, the yams, the sunflowers, and the squashes 
 and sometimes the tobacco. And when the tender plants sprouted she 
 was ready to care for them by keeping down the weeds and by supply 
 ing them with sufficient earth ; it was she too who harvested these crops 
 when they were matured, and she stored them for the sustenance of her 
 family. 
 
 This work in the field was a pan of her division of lab or between 
 her brothers and herself, and usually no man felt called upon to aid her, 
 except when a public emergency might arise. 
 
 The great importance of this one industry of the American Indian 
 woman can be appreciated when it is learned that in many of the tribes 
 it supplied from one-half to three-fourths of the visible available food 
 supply. 
 
 LANGUAGE: In her capacity as linguist, the American Indian woman 
 in the region north of Mexico had developed with the aid of her sons and 
 daughters fifty-eight entirely distinct and unrelated stocks of languages 
 which comprised about seven hundred dialects in this region. These 
 languages and dialects were the treasure-houses of the poetry, knowledge 
 and wisdom of her sons and daughters, the sages, prophets and 
 philosophers of her people ; into them she talked the mythology and the 
 religion of her people, a rich and limitless unwritten literature of which 
 any other race might well be proud, and the Maya and the Aztec woman 
 had aided in devising and developing hieroglyphic systems of writing 
 which modern scholarship ts still unable to decipher. Into the terms of 
 these varied languages and dialects the American Indian woman and 
 her sons have woven with infinite and sacred care and aptitude the life 
 histories and the wisdom of their myriad gods and creators, and these 
 and these stories, traditions and legends they have dramatized into vast 
 and complex systems of ceremonies and imposing rituals. 
 
 The American Indian woman was thus the patron of religion. In 
 the observance and conservation of these rituals and ceremonies in honor 
 of her gods consisted her religion and worship. 
 
 Professor Mason aptly says : "It will be a genuine surprise and we 
 shall fail after long inquiry, if the fundamental ideas of the female 
 pantheon in primitive life be not the four duties or functions that have 
 been and must remain the peculiar province of woman s activity, to w r it : 
 
 "i. The bearing and nurture of children; the maiden, the wife, 
 the mother, (the tutor of her children in all arts, crafts and wisdom.) 
 
 "2. The nourisher of the human family, the one who gives food. 
 
 "3. The maker of the fireside, the house, the home. 
 
 4 
 
"4. The clothier <>f men. the spinner, weaver, and. indeed, general 
 guardian of peaceful industry and practical wisdom." 
 
 One of the most erroneous and misleading beliefs relating to the 
 American Jndian woman is that she was both before and after marriage 
 the abject slave and drudge of the, men of her tribe. 
 
 This false view, due largely to inaccurate observation and miscon 
 ception of American Indian institutions, was perhaps correct, at times, 
 as to a very small portion of the tribes, and only where the environment 
 afforded only the barest necessities and needs of life, and. sometimes, 
 withheld even this scanty meed. 
 
 The American Indian woman being domestic, industrious, unselfish, 
 provident, adaptive to existing conditions, and artistic in her tastes, is 
 well equipped for the making of a modern home, one s own dwelling- 
 place of a time net ancient nor remote. the making of an abiding- 
 place of the present time of domestic affections, of love, of tenderness, 
 of peace that is not ruffled nor broken by the turmoils and tempests 
 of life. 
 
 A home i: not an outright gift of God, but with His merciful help 
 it is acquired in time by a slow process of building upon fixed laws of 
 life and nature. 
 
 Tlie first and most important things about a modern home is a 
 house, and a house to be a true home must be adapted to the require 
 ments (jf its occupants, to their position in society and to their means 
 and income. 
 
 The modern home need not necessarily be large, but it must be of 
 such size as to afford the largest measure of convenience and of the 
 ordinary comforts of life. 
 
 Of course, the woman alone cannot make such a home. The man 
 who is to share it with her must co-operate with her in working out 
 the details of home-making; each has a part to perform and happiness in 
 the home cannot be attained unless the duty of each is faithfully ful 
 filled. 
 
 Among my people, the Chippewa of the great Algonquin stock of 
 languages, each sex has its own peculiar sphere of duty. 
 
 To the man belongs the duty and obligation of protecting his fam 
 ily, his wife or wives and their offspring and near kindred and to 
 support them with the products of the chase and of the fishery, to man 
 ufacture weapons and wooden utensils, and commonly to provide suit 
 able timbers and bark for the building of the lodge these activities 
 required health, strength and skill. The warrior was usually absent 
 from his fireside on the chase, on the warpath, or on the fishing-trip, 
 weeks, months, and sometimes years; and he was subjected to the hard 
 ships and the perils of hunting and fighting, and to the inclemency of the 
 weather, often without food and shelter. 
 
To the woman belongs the duties required in the home, in the 
 lodge. Taking care of the children and attending to the cooking, the 
 sewing, the making of mats, baskets, and pottery, and utensils of bark; 
 she also gathered and stored edible roots, seeds, berries, and plants, for 
 future use and present. consumption ; the smoking of meats, and fish and 
 eels, brought by the hunters; when on the march it was the duty of the 
 woman to care for the cam]) and its equipage and the family belongings, 
 in which labor she was of course assisted by the children and such men 
 as were incapacitated for more active service. Sowing and .cultivating 
 the crops was chiefly the duty of the woman, although she was at times 
 assisted by the men. 
 
 The woman was industrious, frugal, loving and affectionate and 
 performed her duties willingly and cheerfully. She was not a drudge 
 and slave of her husband and the men of her tribe. She was treated 
 with the respect, the esteem, gentleness and loving consideration she so 
 richly merited and appreciated. 
 
 Her native artistic ability enables her to beautify her home in many 
 ways with the materials which the modern merchant has to sell. It was 
 rny good fortune to visit the home of a woman of Indian blood, in 
 which paintings both in water color and oils richly adorned the walls 
 and a large number of embroidered sofa pillows of exquisite beauty 
 graced the sofa, and in which I saw a profusion of embroidered center 
 and individual pieces as well as fine drawn work which adorned the din 
 ner table, and pieces of hand-painted China bonbon dishes, fruit dishes 
 and vases tastefully placed here and there ; and there I also saw curtains 
 of net filled in with darning cotton with designs of artistic beauty, two of 
 which had been originated by my hostess, and the draperies which hung 
 in the space of the folding doors between the front and back parlors 
 were of fish net, edged with tassels of her own handiwork. All these 
 things were the product of this noble woman s own hands and industry. 
 This woman took pride in saying that everything in her home except 
 the furniture, carpets, the piano, and the housekeeping utensils had been 
 made with her own hands or those of her sister. 
 
 This woman in addition to this did all her own cooking of meats, 
 vegetables, , pastries and breads; she too preserved all the fruit, and pre 
 pared all the pickles, jellies and jams, used in her household. 
 
 She had two children and did all the sewing for them and herself. 
 In this manner she was doing her full share in the home-making; she was 
 a good wife and a good housekeeper. 
 
 This is, I am proud to say, only one example of many happy homes 
 among people of Indian blood wherein the woman by her natural in 
 dustry and thrifty domestic management has done her part in the mak 
 ing of home. 
 
 6 
 
In the home I visited the husband was a printer. He toiled hard 
 to support his little family, often denying himself of personal comforts 
 in order that he might bring some pleasing gifts to his wife or children; 
 he counseled with and confided in her concerning his business and plans ; 
 he realized that woman s quick intuition often sees at a glance what a 
 man is slow in discovering. And so even though she did not give him 
 great aid in his business she was thereby made happy by being taken into 
 his confidence, and on the other hand he was inspired by her trust and 
 encouragement. 
 
 With the training derived from her mother s experience in cutting up 
 the meat products of the chase the Indian woman possesses a knowledge 
 which enables her to purchase the exact piece of meat she may want 
 for a certain dish. I remember many a beef roas-t I was sent to market 
 to purchase was turned into a potroast or a stew by my mother while 
 I was -learning to market, because she recognized that that particular 
 piece or cut of meat that i had carried back to her was not suitable for 
 the oven roast which she had desired. 
 
 But the environments of the primitive life of the American Indian 
 woman have in large measure changed. Conditions have become trans 
 formed and so new invironments have been created; new institutions, 
 customs, laws and beliefs have gradually displaced the old, the ancient ; 
 here lies the difficulty with the modern American Indian woman, her 
 people are no longer independent and self-governing; she must change 
 her motives and ideals in life and so adjust herself as well as she may 
 to these novel surroundings which have unsolicited been brought to her 
 door by peoples of the eastern hemisphere; her outlook upon life must 
 now be in large measure from new viewpoints. New values must be 
 given to the facts of life. To secure welfare and happiness she must 
 adapt and wisely adjust her inherent and acquired talents to these modern 
 surroundings. Many of the things that were useful and necessary, yea, 
 sacred, to her own mother must now be laid aside. Methods of pro 
 ducing, securing and preserving shelter and the necessaries of life must 
 be adopted or change:! or discarded altogether to meet the new condi 
 tions of life on this continent. 
 
 And the American Indian woman who fails to realize this duty and 
 obligation to her race in her home-making fails completely to read 
 aright the signs of the time. 
 
 In short the peculiar customs, laws, beliefs, and institutions of her 
 ancestors which do not comport with these changed conditions and 
 which have come into collision with those which are better adapted to 
 secure welfare and happiness under modern conditions of life must be 
 laid aside ; let them rest with the glorious deeds and attainments, the 
 heroism and the patriotism, of her ancestors, in the hall of fond memory. 
 
j. N. B. Hewitt 
 
 "The Philosophy of Indian Education." 
 
 By ARTHUR C. PARKER. 
 
 A Paper read before the First Annual Conference of The American Indian As 
 sociation, Ohio State University, Columbus, October 12 to 15, 1911. 
 
 At the time of the white invasion of America, beginning in 1492, 
 a new type of ethnic culture was introduced to the continent. Whatever 
 may have been the merits of the institutions of the purely American 
 cultures before this time or since, we must recognize the fact that, 
 viewed ethnologically, the so-called civilization of the whites was a dis 
 tinct advance. 
 
 . Few American Indian tribes at the beginning of the Columbian 
 epoch, especially those north of Mexico, were above the iirst stages of 
 barbarism and some were pure savages. The new culture brought to 
 them new ideas and new materials. It showed them, how by the applica 
 tion of labor and through change of character, many hitherto useless 
 objects could be made to contribute to human enjoyment and how 
 through a systematized knowledge of natural laws that which was 
 better and greater could be devised. The simple American accustomed 
 dily to the simple things about him and familiar only with utilizing 
 tilings nearest at hand, saw a demonstration of the supreme power of 
 knowledge when he saw ships and horses, guns and implements of 
 steel. These things gave men power, power not only over beasts and 
 other men, but po\ver over space and elements. The Indian was subtle 
 enough to see his own weakness an 1 thus in his own w r ay he sought the 
 pmvcr that the higher culture gave but at the same time protested 
 against it. 
 
 TJTJS education., which a higher culture gives by contract with an 
 other culture is termed acculturation. Ordinarily we_calljt Civilization. 
 
 When the white race sought to teach its culture to the Indian and 
 when the Indian endeavored to acquire it both races discovered that 
 there was some fundamental difference that prevented immediate suc 
 cess. The fault lay in the chasm that separates one stage of ethnic cul 
 ture from another, it lay in a difference of mental texture, in a difference 
 of hereditary influences and in a difference of environment. The fault 
 did not lay in a difference in capacity. In the earlier days no one 
 stemed to recognize these facts. The white race thus regarded the Indian 
 as an inferior and accounted for his failures on that score. Here it 
 made a serious mistake for the relative position of any race as a higher 
 or lower human group is not measured by their present cultural attain- 
 
nient b ut by their capacity for advancement when placed in a favorable 
 environment.* That an ethnic group is found in a lower stage than 
 some other races does not signify incapacity. It may show, on the other 
 hand, a healthy conservatism that under proper conditions and with 
 proper stimuli will develop a vastly superior culture. Culture scale is 
 no measure of capacity or of ultimate attainment. The Teuton and 
 the Gaul were hairy savages delighting in devouring one another when 
 other races now decadent enjoyed the acme of contemporary civiliza 
 tion. 
 
 Ability to imitate is, likewise, no criterion of position or capacity. 
 A purely imitative race may be a lower race, as much as their outward 
 appearance may resemble a higher order. Contrariwise, a conservative 
 race, such as the aboriginal American, that loves best things which it 
 itself has produced and which makes haste slowly, after all, may show 
 the most healthy growth and rise to a superior position. If that race 
 is ultimately assimilated and absorbed by a greater body its influence as 
 a factor in the blood of the greater race will then be paramount. 
 
 The reputed inability of the Indian to walk in the white man s trail 
 is due to a difference in environment that differentiates ethnic cultures. 
 The Indian rested upon a different base. 
 
 Russell Sage once had a railroad that ran into Poughkeepsie. It 
 was bad enough for it to run into Poughkeepsie, but it couldn t help it. 
 It could run no further. This was not because it lacked fuel or steam, 
 it had plenty of that. It stopped only because it was a physical impos 
 sibility for it to progress safely any further. If it had attempted to 
 switch its cars over on other tracks the train would have been wrecked 
 and the valuable cargo lost. To avoid such a fate it unloaded its freight 
 for the New York Central to carry on. The trouble with the railroad 
 was that it was Narrow Gage. As fine as it was and great as it was its 
 capacity for taking on freight, it could not advance on a road meant for 
 standard trucks. To attempt this with its limited running gear would 
 have meant a smash up. 
 
 Civilization today is the present standard gage. Of what avail is 
 it to load a splendid car with precious freight and forgetting that its 
 trucks are narrow gage, to send it on over standard tracks ? All is lost. 
 So with Indian education and Indian civilization. The underpinning, 
 that which is basic, that which a man runs on, must receive attention 
 and must be standardized before the superstructure, as great as it is, 
 may progress safely. If you don t believe it, look at the wrecks along 
 the way. 
 
 Civilization is a matter of evolution. It is not bred over night or 
 even in a century. It comes to a race by a well balanced development 
 of its mental and moral capacities. No race may acquire the culture of 
 
 * Franz Boas, Hitman Faculty as Determined by Race. 
 
 2 
 
another until every incident of that other s environment is made theirs. 
 Even then the great basic things of the sought for culture must become 
 fundamental with the accreting race before the desired elements of the 
 culture become fixed characters. 
 
 The Indian did not acquire civilization immediately nor could he at 
 once even understand its complexities. He could not become educated 
 in the folk-ways and the folk-thought of the white race for the very 
 reasons given. His mental viewpoint, the result of his ethnic stage, gave 
 him a different perspective and he saw things in a different if not an al 
 together distorted light, though sometimes he saw quite clearly, it is 
 needless to say. 
 
 Until the peculiar elements of the culture of the Indian began to 
 disintegrate there could be little hope of the success of an Indian edu 
 cate;) in the white man s way among his own people and so he went 
 back to the blanket. There was no other place to go. As a matter of 
 fact, the educated Indian of former periods was always a failure unless 
 by rare chance his education had been of the sort that made him better 
 able to live in the environment in which he was placed. With any 
 ethnic group there is always a tendency to a leveling. Progress cannot 
 be made any faster than the majority or their ruling element are willing 
 to make it. He who is in advance is alone, unprotected and despised, 
 i/or very existence he falls back into the group, knowing of things be 
 yond, yet not daring to speak. The exceptions are the great men who 
 cling to their convictions and pull the masses with them but usually the 
 gravity of the greater body attracts irresistibly the vagrant corpuscle, 
 energized though it is. The solitary educated Indian sent back to his 
 own tribe could do little for it. Moreover, he could do little for himself 
 for he had lost his skill as an Indian and his knowledge of most things 
 was of little use to his kinsmen. 
 
 With the gradual acculturation of the Indian and with a changed 
 environment wherein he is dependent for his life necessities upon the 
 commodities of the white man, the field of educational effort has be 
 come greatly enlarged. There is not the impassable gulf between the 
 educated Indian and one who has not received such advantages, for in 
 a general way the external surroundings and necessities of each are 
 the same. With the majority of Indian tribes there is not now the sus 
 picion that the educated Indian is a sort of imitation white man who 
 may betray his people. With this changed condition there is a pos 
 sibility of greater success than formerly. 
 
 As far as I have been able to determine, it is the aim of those re 
 sponsible for Indian schools to study the individual needs of the student 
 and to measure his aptitude along certain lines. Discovering this, his 
 special training arid discipline are directed toward developing him in the 
 most fitting way. The modern way is to teach the Indian to make a 
 
 3 
 
living for himself. There is therefore an elaborate system of practical 
 manual training. There are probably few places in America where 
 there is a better opportunity of obtaining a thorough working knowledge 
 of the necessary arts than at the various Indian schools. As a rule the 
 officers of these schools discharge their work with a zeal that springs 
 from heart interest. They have an earnest desire to develop skill and 
 ambition and to fit their pupils for the world s work. When one of their 
 former students "makes good" they feel amply repaid for their efforts 
 and no parent could be prouder. 
 
 Students that stick and study receive the best of that which can be 
 given. The benefit depends alone upon the capacity of the student. X<> 
 school can train a pupil beyond that. Xo school can produce new ma 
 terial ; it can only shape and polish that which is given it and turn out 
 the finished product when nothing more can be clone. Both the student 
 and the school have their limitations. If the school is to produce better 
 results one of the prime necessities is better material upon which to 
 work. There can b e little improvement, however, until the sources 
 from which the material comes improve. Reservation conditions demand 
 immediate improvement if not entire regeneration. Because reservation 
 conditions are what they are and because reservation ideals are not what 
 they should be, it is not always possible for the schools to obtain children 
 who have had the -best hereditary influences and the best early training. 
 /""Demoralized social conditions are very apt to produce an inferior people 
 l^who beget an inferior progeny. A few great minds rise above such con 
 ditions and are brilliant examples of the possibility of overcoming un 
 favorable environment. To the great majority, however, the moral and 
 social conditions of reservations react doubly. They send out, in the first 
 place, children, who, had their parents been placed in better conditions, 
 would have been given better brains and better bodies, hence greater 
 capacity for development. Secondly, they invite back to themselves 
 their children trained in schools that taught higher ideals and better 
 ways of living. Once back, the student is very apt to follow the lines 
 of least resistance and live outwardly, and perhaps inwardly, like any 
 "poor Indian with untutored mind." This is the influence, among other 
 things, of the "leveling tendency" of social groups. 
 
 The recognition of such conditions points to a new field for educa 
 tional endeavor among Indians. To insure a better quality of students 
 and to protect the returned student the adult population of the reserva 
 tion must be reached and taught. Missionaries have done many splendid 
 things but the limitations of their training and the prescribed functions 
 of their calling have sornetimes prevented their highest usefulness. To 
 supplement their work, social betterment stations should be established 
 where the necessary things of hygiene and industry can be taught, and 
 these stations should be under the supervision of responsible bodies re- 
 
 4 
 
porting to the state or to the federal government. The appeal which 
 this idea is apt to make to popular sympathy is very liable to invite the 
 cunning pseudo-philanthropist who through egotism and avarice may 
 do much harm while seeming to do good; hence the need of competent 
 jurisdiction. In this connection it strikes me that if the government 
 and the state can establish experiment stations for growing good vege 
 tables and breeding better cattle, it can likewise consistently establish 
 industrial and social betterment stations among a people to whom this 
 country owes a great debt. 
 
 The first effort of such an undertaking, I would suggest, should be 
 the teaching of independent action, of a pride that would lead to self 
 help, of a sentiment that would clamor for the abolition of special laws 
 that permitted the operation of tribal customs not consistent with mod 
 ern progress and of a lively desire to demonstrate the ability of the race 
 to advance. 
 
 It will be admitted that the Indian cannot survive as an Indian 
 alone. The very fact that at present the Indian is thought to need 
 special laws and government protection is an admission that he is not 
 yet able as a race to compete on an equal footing with the dominant 
 race. The Indian is not in a self-elected position nor is he in an in 
 dependent position, hence he is not in an advantageous position. He is 
 in an abnomTal__rjosition. The modern American ideal is to give to every 
 man the right to occupy a normal position in society, for only the nor 
 mal can survive. In his present dependent position, with a false environ 
 ment, the Indian can only become crushed by the weight of conditions 
 about him. To survive he must become a contributing factor of society 
 and one able by his own efforts to attain a producing status. He must 
 win in competition to succeed and to win he must become as efficient 
 as any other member of society. To make him so is, or should be, the 
 aim of every division of Indian service, from the Department of Indian 
 Affairs to the reservation district school. 
 
 This modern America needs men and women who are efficient. They 
 are an economic necessity to the commonwealth. Dependent, inefficient 
 and non-producing persons or communities are a drain on the resources 
 of the great body politic. Hence the need of normal individuals. ; U i.-. 
 
 No body of people in this country can successfully remain apart 
 and distinct from it, nor can the Indian, whatever may be his claims, 
 hope to be an exception. To survive at all he must become as other men, 
 a contributing, self-sustaining member of society. This does not mean, 
 necessarily, the loss of individuality but the asserting of it. The true" 
 aim of educational effort should not be to make the Indian a white man, 
 but simply a man normal to his environment. Every Indian who has 
 succeeded is such a person. Hundreds of Indians have attained honor- 
 
able positions and are as other Americans, yet they retain their individu 
 ality as Indians and in reality are the only Indians who can appreciate 
 the true dignity and value of their race, and they alone are able to speak 
 for it. 
 
 To place the Indian in a normal sphere the right kind of education 
 must be given him. There may be as much madness in education as in 
 anything else misapplied. Some kinds of education may be sheer folly, 
 a waste of effort and a life long detriment, just as other kinds may be 
 advantageous. Indian education means or should come to mean, more 
 than the inculcation and absorption of certain facts. It should mean the 
 development of the best inherent propensities, the strengthening of weak 
 characteristics and the stimulation to independent thought and action. 
 Indian educational effort should build backbone as well as fatten brain. 
 Any other form of education but adds the sting of bitterness to a former 
 unhappy state. Under certain conditions it may be better for the Indian 
 to be ignorant than surfeited with mal-education, but we desire no such 
 conditions and no such form of education. 
 
 The ultimate duty incumbent on every nation is to insure the quality 
 of its future elements.* Every individual living in a community is an 
 element in its makeup. No nation can offord to permit any person or 
 b ody of people within it to exist in a condition at variance with the 
 ideals of that nation. Every element perforce must become assimilated. 
 I do not mean by this that the Indian should surrender his essential 
 individuality or his love of more spiritual things and passively allow 
 himself, like clay, to be pressed into a white man s mold. I do not mean, 
 by assimilation, that his love of the great esthetic ideals should be sup 
 planted entirely by commercial greed or that his mind should become 
 sordid with the conventional ideas of white civilization, for it is by no 
 means yet established that the existing form of civilization is susceptible 
 of no further improvement nor that the white man as a type is the ul 
 timate model. I do mean, however, that the Indian should accustom 
 himself to the culture that engulfs him and to the force that directs it, 
 that. he should cease to struggle from without against it, that he should 
 b ecome a factor of it and that once a factor of it he should use his re 
 vitalized influence and more advantageous position in asserting and de 
 veloping the great ideals of his race for the good of the greater race, 
 which means all mankind. 
 
 The future endeavors of the Indian American who is in advance, 
 as well as the efforts of the state and the nation and of the philanthropic 
 institutions within them, must be directed, therefore, toward teaching the 
 Indian to adapt himself to modern conditions. The ability to adapt is a 
 
 *A. C. Parker. The Mission of Making New Americans from Old, Assembly 
 Journal Feb. 1<U1. 
 
 6 
 
test of the right to survive and it measures the capacity for assimilation. 
 With this ability once developed and fixed the Indian is ready to surge"" 
 forward with enlightened mankind in the race toward higher goals the 
 nature of which today we may only obscurely dream. 
 To this end all educational effort must be directed. 
 
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