l!'REEDOM'S SIGNAL F OR THIJ;. INDIA . 8

Vol. I, No. 8 Issued Monthly N o:vember 1916.

LOGIC IS LOGIC. No organization or society can make

''show'' work with the Indians and thus help the Indians. They may say they help the Indians, but that is all.

The Indian Office is one continuom _ panorama of st aging the Indians be­

fore the public, so that it may live. 'l'he Indian Office is awfully busy assorting 'the Indians into ''competent'! and '' incompetent,'' making far mers and cattlemen, and giving them better schools than the puhlic schools. Howl­ing the popular craze, tuberculosis, t racoma, liquor and babies : 0 Lord! W hat pamphlet next will the Indian Of­fice send out to Rhow that it is doing something1

'l'hese arc cloaks an<l shams of the highest class. 'l'ry as you will, Indian Office, you eannot lir in order to tell th t' truth. You are a strong monster, holding down t lw rights of t hr Indian ra ce. Doing for a snhjret is not giving him his freedom.

1t makes no difference how good and just they may appear-transactions founded on a wrong basis arc unjust still. W A SRA,JA, who Rpcaks for the Indians of the country, cannot yet sec that black is white or that white is

, black . - The Indian Bureau is wrong and it makes no difference what it does for the Indians, it is wrong · just the samr.

ARROW POINTS. Educators Are Easaly Deluded.

Educators can come into Indian work and see thing~ as they are and express themselves. Their expressions are valueless, howe er, for the best interest of the Indians . These educa­tors advocate the continuance of the System and the improvement of the System, which is all wrong. Why con­tinue a system which has produced the present condition ? Why plant the same aced to get the same results as they see today?

Indians "Catd:1, On." Organizations to a.id the Indians

have grown greater tl:-• ..-,;n, the object for which they were orgi\\ilimed. That is why they are silent on the main issue ( freedom and cifuenshi:p for the In­dians) and blowing thrc·iit horns for the Indian Bureau and non-easentials.­"lnjmis he.ip savvy!"

Indian Producers a.re .Better Than Paupers.

The shortest and most E"ffective way for the Governmentt Uo !!'et out of the Indian Bureau businest b to turn the current of Indian expendntm'es toward the work of putting the Y.ndians on a self-supporting b.uis iam,it,a.d of keep­ing them in the po!nbom, o•f wards.

2 WASSAJA

"WASSAJA" as a useful factor m the industrial Vol. l No. 8 November 1916 world. SubGcription SOc a Year Single copies Sc

100 for $2.00 Address all communication to

CARLOS MONTl!.ZU M:A, M. D. 3135 So. Par k Ave. Chicago, Ill.

Poor Way of Paying Debts. The Government owes the Indians a

great deal, but to pay that great obli­gation must it kill the possibilities in the Indians? We Indians know what the reservation system is and we do not want it. Who knows better than we Indians what we want?

Defending, Not Antagonizing. WASSAJA is not antagonizing any

one, but we are defending the Indian race and strjking at the Indian Office, which / stands in the way of Jndians' freedom and rights. If defending the Indians and helping them to get their f. eedom and rights is antagonizing, then we are antagonizing.

Much Ado About Nothing. What is· there in the freedom for the

Indians that will be harmful for the Indians? Did it ever llurt you? Has freedom got to be like a rattle-snake? Is it too much of a dose for the Indians? Do you think freedom is good enough for you and not for the Indians?

Personal Effort Is What the Indian Wants, and Not the Indian Office.

· So long as the Indians are subjected ·to the domination and influences of the reservation system, they are being unjustly deprived of the inalienable rights of free men, and are being in­volved in an atmosphere promotive of immorality. The only effective aid which the Indian needs, or ought to have, from the Government or from individuals, is that which has for its purpose the preparation · for him for self-reliance and self-support.

Anything done for or contributed to the Indian, which tends to lessen the necessity for personal .effort on· hia own part, is a bindrance to his development

Truth Is Strong, Mighty and Will Prevail.

W ASSAJA stands firm, steadfast and alone for the vital interest of the Indian race, because we know that the truth will prevail in the long run. Trutla always has had a hard road to travel. And we know the real Indians are back of us. We may not have the good will of some palefaces, but we hear the sat­isfied grunts of the Indians far and near.

Mohonk Conference. It was noted at the Mohonk Confer­

ence that when the greatest friead of the Indians was speaking there was a certain telepathy going ,on by means of sarcastic sniffing, smiles and nudging in the audience. Mohonk is no place to belittle a cause that involves human justice, freedom and equal rights, in such a devilish manner. Wassaja comes from the grass huts of Arizona, but he would know how to behave 011

such an occasion. It does seem that the Mohonk

Conference was cut' and dried. After the reading of a paper, the chairman would open the discussion 'by calling on "Mr. S.," and then on "Mr. B.," and then he woul,d say, "The discus­sion is now closed." Fear seems to have affected the Mohonk Conference as well as the Indian Bureau. They are co-workers, you know!

General R. H. Pratt. General Pratt showed the country

that an Indian was a human being, and • within that circumscribed status, at a

time when the whole country cried out that the Indian was "a savage--kill him;" that his children COULD NOT BE EDU CA TED; education would kill the pappoose. "Keep the Indians oa reservations: they do not deserve to live. Exterminate them and make GOOD INDIANS of them."

Now that General Pratt has spoken from the largeness of his heart, and that he has not changed one iota from his convictions, why should we act and

WASSAJA 3

talk to belittle him today? Let ua not forget that he has done more for the .Indians than any other Caucasian who e•er lived or will live.

LET INDIANS DO THEIR OWN BUSINESS.

The Indians ask no odds from any­body; they do not want anybody, much leaa the Indian Office, to do their busi­ness. What each Indian wants is his share of what belongs to him, his treaty rights, equal rights and equal oppor­tunities that every citizen has from Uncle Sam. It is a damn shame and •umiliating to the Indians to be treated a.11 incompetents and unworthy mortals.

ASHAMED TO KNOW THE INDIAN. The Indian has not been known. We

do not want to know THE INDIAN, because we do not want our mistakes to be known. We have blundered with the Indian. Well, let us start him out as we should have started him at first. The Indian is just, a man, no less and no moI'e; let us treat him as one.

INDIAN PUZZLED. The Indian Office, the Indian Rights

Aasocia.tion and other organizations to "help" the Indians, have worked to­l'ether so long that they seem to have been cemented or glued together, 110 tha.t it is impossible to separate them. They see together, they move together and they speak together. WASSAJA would like to know which one is right. They are as one, and one is the same as the other. What in the world is the Indian going to do?

To promulgate the doctrine that the Indian is so different in human charac­teristics from the Caucasian that it is impossible to obliterate the lines which divide them and, therefore, that the work in behalf of the Indians neces­sarily must be limited to what can be done to improve him as a type of hu­manity, is to hold him not entitled to the liberty and equality of rights to which all men are born. To hold him as not possessing like faculties with all other men for the attainment of what­enr is possible, is to ignore the princi-

ples underlying evolution itself. With the Indian, all efforts on the part of individuals or of the government to in­cumber him with the events and things vertaining to his past condition and ~ keep him in remembrance ot' them is the most serious hindrance to which he can be subjected on. his journey toward the civilized life.

OBITUARY. By the untimely death of Mr. Her­

bert Coffeen ( editor of the ' ' Teepee Book" ) the Indians have lost a true friend. He had the right ring, that came from his heart for the Indians. At the time when God too-k him, he was in s~arch of the right trail to do the most good for the Indians, even though in ill health, and he fe ll while in the harness, doing something and standing up for the Indians. We may call him a true friend, litt le known, and yet he touched the chord that no ma• knoweth until "the perfect day."

It is sad to note that one o,f the t rue friends of the Indians, Mrs. E. C. Ster­ling, of Redlands, Calif., has died. She had a great yearning heart for the In­dians and, though in years, she wanted to know the practical way to help the Indian people so that they might hel:p t b.emselves. There was no ot he way but to go to· the Indians and ti n c1 out for herself. So we found her in Cali­fornia, far away from home, goiilg here and there visiting and administering to her dear Indian friends .

No earthly words can speak for her. She had the heart of the Son n'' Ood. In her station in life and at h1• a~e, slie could have lived and die,1 : . lux­ury and ease; not so !-she a•· I' a mission and she communed ,,.ith the higher things of life. She g-a · ilf into the vineyarcl. of her l\fas• · lo-ing for the race that haR hee· ·tly treated. When she was Rho" ' ,..,y of "Let My People Go," Rh "ed five hundred c'opies to d i~1 ·i 1 ig her friends.

Wassaja can but cry Give to us Indians m< our late deceased Mr R. ·

l!

"

4 WASSAJA

CORRESPONDENCE.

GLIMPSE OF INDIAN SERVICE. Dear Mr.

Yours came just a:s I was starting away, so has had to wait a little. We are sorry to hear that any one is trying to make you trouble there, but are not surprised. Up to the time we left about two years ago, the superintendent had gotten rid of about one hundred em­ployes since he took charge, a large shart' of them because the:v would rather leave than submit to further abuse, aml so long as the department keeps in a man who was born slave­driver, overbearing, domineering, one who has absolutely no feelings or sym­pathy for any one, except himself, and just so long as the department sends inspector:-; there who in every manner possible will cover up any and every irr: gularit:v and crookedness possible, so long will he be the only true "Czar," an abt,;olut e monarch and an absolute tyrant. '!'here has many things hap­pened there, done by superintendent, that if the proper officers in Washing­ton had known would have resulted in his immediate downfall, but I am con­fident that they never know the truth and ncve1· ,vill. If the undian Office caren to get to the bottom of things there, it <·onld easily clo so, but never . will h~· sel](ling such as Peairs or Rosen-cranz. ,

\ · er,r respectfully,

Dr. rarlos Montezuma: Dear Sir~ J enjoy reading your pa­

per. J am glad to know that there is some one elt,;e that thinks as I do. It is a 11 too trne and I am glad that you come out an<l write as you do. If all woul(l tl1i11k arnl see alike, there would be something- dqing_a_tid I hope to meet you some day. ·. '

\Ve haYe often talked of you in my home 1\·ith Mr. --- and Mr. --­I guess ~·on met these young men, and if yon CYC'J' c>ome to New York I will be glad to have you call.

No,,·, l<'t me 1hank you for your pa­per, and I will tr,v and have my friends reaq. it, as they think the Government

is doing alright for the Indians. And I hope you keep up the work you are doing until the end.

With best wishes,

Dear Monte: I have been receiving your '· ·wassa­

ja'' since the first issue and I am ve:ry much pleased with it. Yon are doing a good work for your people and they' deserve better treatment than they have heretofore received and I speak from observation and some experience, as you know.

Your address, "LET MY PEOPLE GO,'' I gave to my nephew in Vermont and he read it with much interest and was well pleased with it. I believe it \vill result in much good to the cause of the American Indian. Such addresses anci information, first hand, ought to be circulated extensively among the people in order that they may know the exact conditions as carried out by the Indian Bureau. ·

If this land is worth having it is worth while to care properly for the people from whom it was taken and the United States Government ought to see to it that the American Indian is treat­M at least like a human being, in fact I believe he is quit,e as much of a man and human being as many of the people who come from foreign lands and they arc made citizens many times before they become acquainted with the American Idea and are frequently mueh less qualified for citizenship than many Ameriran Indians I have seen and learned to know and respect. . . I believe the American Indian can be

made as good an American citizen as most an)', if he is given a chance and is treated as though he were made by the same God who made the white race. I much prefer a man with a copper or colored skin and a white soul to one whose skin may be white but whose soul may be as black as night.

Let the good work go on and in the end justice may be done to those wh• are more entitled to it than manv of those who land here from for' igll shores.

1.Yith kindest r egards and greeti.11~1, Sincer ely and fraternall,v,