Yankton Indians -- Government relations; Yankton Indians -- Social conditions; Yankton women -- Biography; Zitkala-Sa, 1876-1938
"* * * The story of the mismanagement of Indian Affairs is only a
chapter in the history of the mismanagement of corporate trusts. The
Indian has been the victim of the same kind of neglect, the same
abortive processes, the same malpractices as have the life insurance
policyholders, the bank depositor, the industrial and transportation
shareholder. The form of organization of the trusteeship has been one
which does not provide for independent audit and supervision. The
institutional methods and practices have been such that they do not
provide either a fact basis for official judgment or publicity of facts
which, if made available, would supply evidence of infidelity. In the
operation of this machinery, there has not been the means provided for
effective official scrutiny and the public conscience could not be
reached."
AMPLE PRECEDENTS TO BE FOLLOWED.
"Precedents to be followed are ample. In private corporate trusts that
have been mismanaged a basis of appeal has been found only when some
favorable circumstance has brought to light conditions so shocking as to
cause those people who have possessed political power, as a matter of
self-protection, to demand a thorough reorganization and revision of
methods. The same motive has lain back of legislation for the Indian.
But the motive to political action has been less effective, for the
reason that in the past the Indians who have acted in self-protection
have either been killed or placed in confinement. All the machinery of
government has been set to work to repress rather than to provide
adequate means for justly dealing with a large population which had no
political rights."--Edict Magazine.
* * * * *
_This Book should be in every home_
Old Indian Legends
25 Seminole Avenue, Forest Hill, L.I., N.Y.,
August 25, 1919.
Dear Zitkala-Sa:
I thank you for your book on Indian legends. I have read them with
exquisite pleasure. Like all folk tales they mirror the child life of
the world. There is in them a note of wild, strange music.
You have translated them into our language in a way that will keep them
alive in the hearts of men. They are so young, so fresh, so full of the
odors of the virgin forest untrod by the foot of white man! The thoughts
of your people seem dipped in the colors of the rainbow, palpitant with
the play of winds, eerie with the thrill of a spirit-world unseen but
felt and feared.
Your tales of birds, beast, tree and spirit can not but hold captive the
hearts of all children. They will kindle in their young minds that
eternal wonder which creates poetry and keeps life fresh and eager. I
wish you and your little book of Indian tales all success.
I am always
Sincerely your friend,
(Signed) HELEN KELLER.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of American Indian stories, by Zitkala-Sa
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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