Show am 11 0 kew a 11 wa 1151 ach 11 M S adah f no b 0 P MW 0 41 n elnra V c Z 2 1 aff 07 0 7 tx k M IN 00 ar il it e V f k LK T i majr n 50 Z MY V i YA YD daz ZAN aff savors MI 4 YX by ELMO SCOTT WATSON henican ICAN indian day comes on september 23 and in are that it will be more widely observed this year than at nay any time since it was originated in illinois Ill luois in 1019 the purpose of american indian day Is to foster more cordial relations and a better understanding between tho the red and white races but more especially to bring to the attention of the whites the many accomplishments of the indian to that fact the recent appearance of two books written by indians Is especially noteworthy for in both my aly people the sioux by chief Stun standing ding bear published by houghton II alif flin company and long lance by chief buffalo child long lance published by the cosmopolitan cook book corporation the white man can find end an accurate portrayal of the indian character as exemplified in the life stories of these depre senta tives of two of the finest types of north american indians indiana the sioux and the for what chief standing bear says la in the preface to his book applies to both ue he writes the preparation of this book has not been with any idea ot of belf elory it Is just a message to the th white race to bring brine my people before their ebes in a true and authentic manner the american indian has been written about by hundreds of authors ot at white blood or possibly by an indian of mixed blood who has spent the greater part of his life away tram from a reservation these are not in a position to write accurately about ali the e struggles and it disappointments of at the indian white men who have tried to write stories about the indian have either foisted on the public some blood cu rollin g impossible thrill thriller ee or it they have been in sympathy with the have written from knowledge which was not accurate and reliable no one Is able to understand the indian race like an indian A brief review of the career of standing bear will show how eminently fitted he Ls Is to interpret ills people of the red race to the white race ue he was born in when ilen the sioux were stilt still nomads not nails whose proud spirit had not yet been tooled tamed by military conquest and by being penned upon on reservations where they came enough into contact with a certain class of white man to have their primitive virtues corrupted by that contact As AB a boy lie lived in the buffalo skin skia of we the old time plains indians and received from his elders the spiritual and physical training aich resembled that of the spartans spartano Spar tans of ancient times as a young man he knew the thrill of the buffalo chase and the intertribal wars wara which developed a race of first class fighting in men of whom general IT W benteen once said they tle the sioux are the greatest warriors that diat the sun ever shone on although too young to have a part in the last stand of the sioux against the united states government in the war of 77 the fact that he be was the son of joa an hereditary chief of the sioux and one who was prominent to in both the war and pence peace councils of his tribe gave standing anding Sl bear P car an unusual opportunity to know the facts about some of the incidents of that last stand and it may be noted in passing pass ing that bist historians orfan of the future might well take into consideration standing bears narrative before writing again of such matters as the battle of the little big horn where custer perished the death of crazy in the guard house at camp robinson neb and the now famous affair at wounded noce knee which some white while historians have called a battle but which the sioux to this day call a massacre standing hours fleors education in file sense in which the white while man uses ties that term began when he wits was one of nf the first group of sioux children to enter r the school for indians indiana at carlisle ila ia in 1879 it continued there for several henrs was as an employee of icilin Wo at biltz store in philadelphia mid continue its as an employee of the government on the rosebud tind and tillie rl e reser antion as a wel member liber of ruffillo Huf fillo imbie I 1 illi ild show both in this country and abroad and as a movie actor in a southern california where lie he now lives the distance which standing dear of the sious has baa covered in following the white mans road la Is nothing less than amazing in the short space of 0 sixty years there has been written la in the history of this individual at least a thousand years 0 racial history a giants giant stride from barbarism to hot we call civilization soon after standing bear was born ills his people raw for the first time a rati railroad road train on the union pacific railroad which was then being pushed nest with mixed emotions of amazement and fear they watched this great snake go puffing across the prairie little realizing that it was to be one of the vital forces in bringing about the downfall of their race at the hands of a more powerful and ruthless type of civilization the naive attitude of the sioux toward the railroad as well as toward many other of the things used by the white men as reflected in the pages of this red mans book Is the best possible commentary upon the great difference between the standing beer bear of and the standing dear bear of ef 1028 1928 and reading this the nolte man may any learn leam how anju unjust q he has been to the red roan man not unjust in the sense that he robbed the indian of his lands and ills his freedom and imposed upon him restrictions hateful to a free spirited and roving people but unjust in ills his attitude toward the indian the attitude which made him expect the red roan to adopt almost overnight a social and economic order which the white man had evolved only after centuries of painful effort it Is tills fact which makes the reading of mch books as those written by standing bear and buffalo child long lance especially appropriate to the alms of american indian day for by doing so the american of the present day no matter how bow indifferent he may be to the wrongs perpetrated pet rated upon the indian by americans of pst generations can come more nearly having an adequate understanding of the indian point of view both past and present and thus be able to do his share in avoiding further injustice to a brave people who still form a not inconsiderable part of the population of this country what Is true of chief standing bear as nn fin authentic interpreter of the real indian Is no less im true of chief buffalo cl child I 1 ild long lance and the history of his life is as romantic a decori of transformation as Is thit that of the sioux chiefs clile as what that life was la Is intimated by irvin S cobb who wrote in the foreword to long U lance this it was an altogether another and a different book that my friend buffalo child long annee might have written lie ile might have written to tell how he won scholastic and athletic honors at carlisle and at manalus blo nilus of how while mastering tho th white mans tongue ton grue he learned half a dozen tribal languages other than his bis own of how having received a presidential award of appointment to 0 o west point he be threw away that most cherished dreahn of his him the dream of being a tull full blooded indian officer in the regular army to cross the file line irne in 1916 and at the first call tor for recruits for overseas service to enlist in the canadian forbs of how going in as an a private he came out at the end of the world war ns its a captain of infantry hla his body covered with wounds and his breast gift cering with medals bestowed for high conduct and gallantry of how he fought as a sniper a n R raider as a 0 leader of forlorn hopes in the trenches tren chea and across no mans mang land of how his own people conferred upon him the chieftainship of one of the four principal bands of the northern of how beginning as a reporter on a western canadian paper he has haa earned tor for himself distinction as a writer of magazines ile he might have told these things but being an indian he and I 1 lr for one am glad that he be has written thir lily one for here sinking his own angad ing ine personality hiti his own individual achievements in the background lie he depicts deplata graphic phases of a life ile which has ai together vanished of a rare race which 1 la rapidly ani vanishing shing I 1 know of no man better fitted than chief long lance to write a true book about the true Ame american indian and I 1 know of 0 f no book on OB the subject which better reveals the spirit of the indian in the years that are kene gone an the spirit of times limes thol like of which will never neve r be seen again although chief buffalo child long lance Is a younger mun thin than chief standing landing bear ills decol sections of ills his childhood are of 0 those of a people photograph of chief standing near conri tear houghton on company other photograph cour courteny texy cosmopolitan boole corporation e as primitive as the cloux from which standing i ecar dear sprang they were the Clack feet called the tigers of the plains who were the ruling tribe of 0 a wild domain knon as the northwest territories in canada until 1005 1003 when the provinces of alberta and saskatchewan came into being go among those today and they will tell you of their thoughts at seeing their first white men so lately did touch their lives long lances first remembrance is ot of an intertribal battle which took place in northern montana perhaps on the very spot where today some automobile tourist is camping and chief buffalo child long lance is scarcely thirty years of age like standing bear he received a spartan training find learned to ride to shoot and speak the truth and reading in their books of the qualities which this training developed in the indian boys makes one wonder if perhaps the modern civilized american might not learn some profitable lesions in child training from these barbarians although of different tribes and tribes which were ancient and hereditary enemies there Is a striling striking similarity between the narratives of tills sioux anil and this blackfoot foot both bring out very forcibly the qualities of honesty generosity true ree reference rence and simple kindliness of the primitive indian character before it was influenced by the white mans ways A topical incident la Is given in long jances book in telling of a buffalo hunt hum it was the indian mans job to provide the meat tor for the family by killing the buffalo and the in dinn dilan womans comans job to follow the hunt and skin ant and dross dress the dead animals long lance writes each wife knew which animals had been brought d down own by her husband by the arrow which lad had been left in it for every indian had his arrow painted a certain tertale way so that anything he killed with it could easily be identified it if he shot a bul bulfrano buff Talo fralo with a bulet he would circle back and hurl one of his arrows in its body so his wife would know it was hla his the young son of 0 our late medicine man white dog doe was sitting on his pony among us boys boya lip if was carrying on his back a quiver full of 0 his dead fathers arrows which his mother had given him to play with one oils ol of the women came over to this lad and took out one of 0 white dogs does arrows ard walked out on the field and pulled one of 0 her own husbands arrows out of a buffalo bull und and stuck white dogs arrow in the hole she said nothing to anyone but later we saw white dogs does widow squatting over the buffalo skinning it and sobbing quietly over the bloody pelt just its as standing bear has written in his buck book some real indian history from froin the point if iolet of few of the HIP sioux so has long lance written the story of the relations between the white arid and red races from the point of view of illi his people the Clack feet and there Is no more thrilling and inspiring if a person admires pure grit in a man I 1 whether lie he be white or red story anywhere an where ills account 0 of the epic of the indian out law almighty voice almighty voice was the son of sounding sky and spotted calf who were long lances foster parents wherefore he he knows whereof he writes in telling that warriors story almighty voice became an outlaw through on nn unfortunate chain of circumstances liy by mistake lie he had killed a steer belonging to the government of the hie North northwest territories and he fie wits was arrested by the mounted police and lodged in jail one of 0 the police jokingly told him they wore were going to hang him blin for killing that steer little realizing the terrible effect elch tills joke would have on the llie untutored indian iut but almighty voice escaped from j jail all arid and then began what was perhaps th must famous ninn man hunt in the history of that camou noted for the tact fact that it always gets its mail limit it Is true that the mounted police finally did get almighty voice but at a terrible coi i ohi the built for him lusted two years finally the HK cornered blia bill it was tint MI until ni tillery wa brought into action and the place in which at A I 1 fill reis gaty lity voice arid two companions were nere entrenched thoroughly i flint eliat lie was as finally conquered anil and when ile he was conquered lie he ana us no longer able to hiim ills attackers lor for AluiS filst kolev lai la ta i 1 riled ailed fighting |