The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1919, Page 35

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Mhe Lutheran Pioneer. 85

An Urgent Appeal.

It was once thought that the Indian question
could be easily solved by herding the red men of
the country into a number of reservations, where
they could be taken care of as long as they might
last, which was supposed to be but a very short
time. But the “vanishing” Indian race refuses to
vanish; there are to-day’ as many red men in
America as there were when the white men first
came. At the present time there are more than
300,000 Indians in the United States, not including
Alaska. They are principally found in Oklahoma,
South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, New
Mexico, California, Montana, and Washington. Not
one-third of them are American citizens, and only
a little over one-third speak English.

Missions of various denominations are support-
ing 76 schools for the red men, but there are 16,789
Indian children of school-age who attend no school.
When we remember that some of the founders of
our Church in this country were among the pioneers
to do missionary work among the red men, our
Lutheran Church might be expected to be doing a
great part of the work. But in reality our Church is
spending less than a cent a year to make the Indian
a Christian. The Synodical Conference is working
among the Stockbridge Indians of Wisconsin and
among the Apaches of Arizona. In both fields the
workers are laying great emphasis upon the teaching
of the young, which is done by means of Christian
day-schools, where religious instruction is a part of
every day’s work.

In 1908 it was decided to open a boarding-school

ma. . ‘ “ . cS . °
~ for Indian children in connection with the mission

conducted among the Stockbridge Indians located
in Shawano County, Wis., and a suitable building
was erected. ‘This boarding-school has by this time
outgrown its quarters. Last year ninety-six pupils
were enrolled in this school, of which number no
less than seventy-five had their home in the: dor-
mitory, and were fed and largely clothed by the
mission during the school-year. A new building
ought to be erected to remove the present congestion,
and it is estimated that about $28,000 will be needed
for this new building and other necessary improve-
ments.

There can be no doubt that the only proper way
of carrying on work among the Indians is by means
of boarding-schools. Among the Indians the bring-
ing up of the children is left to the mother, and
she has absolute power in the home. Habits which

the children acquire under her teaching they will
carry with them the rest of their lives. It is in
the homes and in the tepees on the reservations
that Christian workers are needed. It is here that
the diseases which work such hayoe among the In-
dians get their first start. Three-fifths of the Indian
babies die before the age of five. About thirteen
per cent. of the Indian population is affected with
tuberculosis and more than twenty per cent. with
trachoma. Dark tepees. or huts, dirt, unsanitary
conditions, and lack of fresh air lie at the bottom
of these troubles. But no white missionary, if he
values the success of his labors, will go into the
tepees and houses, and tell the Indian woman that

Indian Mission Church, Gresham, Wis.

her dish-pan needs washing, or that her baby needs
a bath. The squaw would consider this an intrusion,
and would not hesitate to say so. Native Indian
girls and boys, Christians, who have been thoroughly
instructed in the theory and practise of housekeep-
ing, and who from practical experience know what
it is to live in a truly sanitary and healthful way,
are the only people. who can successfully carry on
the work of lifting up the Indian to a truly Chris-
tian level. While we do not attach any saving
properties to soap, water, and sanitation, we are of
the firm conviction that, all other things being equal,
the Gospel will make greater progress where the
preaching of the Word goes hand in hand with the
application of a generous quantity of soap and water
and a liberal supply of fresh air, together with
thorough sanitation.