The hospitality of the American aborigine, it is told, saved the early
settlers from starvation during the first bleak winters. In
commemoration of having been so well received, Newport erected "a cross
as a sign of English dominion." With sweet words he quieted the
suspicions of Chief Powhatan, his friend. He "told him that the arms (of
the cross) represented Powhatan and himself, and the middle their united
league."
DeSoto and his Spaniards were graciously received by the Indian Princess
Cofachiqui in the South. While on a sight-seeing tour they entered the
ancestral tombs of those Indians. DeSoto "dipped into the pearls and
gave his two joined hands full to each cavalier to make rosaries of, he
said, to say prayers for their sins on. We imagine if their prayers were
in proportion to their sins they must have spent the most of their time
at their devotions."
It was in this fashion that the old world snatched away the fee in the
land of the new. It was in this fashion that America was divided
between the powers of Europe and the aborigines were dispossessed of
their country. The barbaric rule of might from which the paleface had
fled hither for refuge caught up with him again, and in the melee the
hospitable native suffered "legal disability."
History tells that it was from the English and the Spanish our
government inherited its legal victims, the American Indians, whom to
this day we hold as wards and not as citizens of their own freedom
loving land. A long century of dishonor followed this inheritance of
somebody's loot. Now the time is at hand when the American Indian shall
have his day in court through the help of the women of America. The
stain upon America's fair name is to be removed, and the remnant of the
Indian nation, suffering from malnutrition, is to number among the
invited invisible guests at your dinner tables.
In this undertaking there must be cooperation of head, heart and hand.
We serve both our own government and a voiceless people within our
midst. We would open the door of American opportunity to the red man and
encourage him to find his rightful place in our American life. We would
remove the barriers that hinder his normal development.
Wardship is no substitute for American citizenship, therefore we seek
his enfranchisement. The many treaties made in good faith with the
Indian by our government we would like to see equitably settled. By a
constructive program we hope to do away with the "piecemeal legislation"
affecting Indians here and there which has proven an exceedingly
expensive and disappointing method.
Do you know what _your_ Bureau of Indian Affairs, in Washington, D.C.,
really is? How it is organized and how it deals with wards of the
nation? This is our first study. Let us be informed of facts and then we
may formulate our opinions. In the remaining space allowed me I shall
quote from the report of the Bureau of Municipal Research, in their
investigation of the Indian Bureau, published by them in the September
issue, 1915, No. 65, "Municipal Research," 261 Broadway, New York City.
This report is just as good for our use today as when it was first made,
for very little, if any, change has been made in the administration of
Indian Affairs since then.