"The Crime Against the Yakimas"
"Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia"
"Rebellion (?) of the Yakimas"
"The Continued Crime Against the Yakimas"
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when
we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
For there they that carried us away captive required of us a
song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing
us one of the Songs of Zion.--Psalms 137:1-2-3.
_Foreword_
An explanation is the only excuse for this little publication. =The
Discards= were primarily to appear in the Second or Summer Season Number
of =The American Indian Tepee=, a quarterly launched for the avowed
purpose of combating the manifest evils of the Indian Bureau; the fraud
and graft imposed with impunity on the child-minded tribesmen by the
robber speculator, land thief and all round crooks who swarm the
reservations; as well as creating a deeper sentiment of respect for the
Red race by giving first hand the Indian side of life; his poetry,
music, philosophy and tribal history.
As an adopted Yakima, the chief editorship was tendered me and was
accepted with no thought of compensation other than the satisfaction of
attempting to do something for a greatly maligned and hampered people.
The first editorial in the initiative number of the =Tepee=, reveals the
faith that was placed in the declared purpose of the management, which
would now appear as mere ostentation. This became more apparent as work
on the second number progressed. Reproductions foreign to the vital
Indian cause were given precedence over "fighting" originality; and when
the Wolf =howled=, he was summarily =bounced= by the Fox, who then assumed
full control as both manager and editor.
The contribution by =Hal-ish Ho-sat=: Klickitat for "Old Wolf"; was the
first of a series of hitherto unpublished legends of the Yakimas and
kindred tribes contemplated for the =Tepee=. This, with some editorials,
one or two incomplete, were retained and made use of, while the
=Discards=, a few in galley proof, were returned to me. The editorial
explanation of my severance with the =Tepee= was in bad taste and my own
card was censored to suit the drawing.
Perhaps the Wolf was too strenuous and the =Discards= had no place in =The
Tepee's= pages. Doubtless the Manager will receive laudation from certain
elements for his action; but believing it good at times that the public
be made acquainted with disagreeable facts, such as contained in some of
these rejects, they are here offered as mere samples of far reaching
conditions. If "Elasticity of Indian Bureau Promises" appear unworthy of
credence, there are the abandoned allotments, parched and dry, still in
evidence, as well as voluminous correspondence on file in the Indian
Department. The pie from the Indian Bureau bakery may look appetizing
and palatable on the printed menu. Lift the crust! then--shield your
nose as you watch 'em crawl. The "consideration" from the honest
business man for Poor Lo's heritage ofttimes shows glitteringly
munificent. Insert the probe! gilded illusion--"mess of pottage"--vermin
infested and stenchful.
And all this under a Government of the people ($), by the people ($$)
and for the people ($$$).
=He-mene Ka-wan=: "Old Wolf".
(L. V. McWhorter).