The American Indian in the United States, Period 1850-1914: ... The Present Condition of the American Indian; His Political History and Other Topics; A Plea for JusticeMoorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
History
The American Indian in the United States, Period 1850-1914: ... The Present Condition of the American Indian; His Political History and Other Topics; A Plea for Justice
Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King)
Indians of North America; Indians of North America -- Government relations -- 1869-1934
Dark as is our picture, recently it has become brighter. The past two
years conditions have greatly improved. There are more adequate
appropriations. But this realization of our responsibilities at a late
day, does not absolve us from past responsibility. We had been
repeatedly told—nay, warned of the consequences, yet we continued our
“same old story, in the same old way,” until the white people living in
Indian communities complained. Now, when Indians complain we pay little
heed, but when the representatives of the white people cry, “menace to
public health”, we heed and we speedily send help to allay the fears of
the good and substantial citizens. The appeal from Macedonia is not
uttered in vain.
We now have hospitals building, and they may take care of a third of the
sick. We also enforce stricter sanitary laws. So we may look forward to
saving some of those who suffer from the “coughing sickness”, and as to
the other scourge, it is so contagious that heroic measures have been
adopted, and the light will not go out forever from Indian children’s
eyes.
I present two field reports, sent by competent observers who traveled
extensively in Wisconsin and Oklahoma, and both of whom have long
resided among Indians there.
“When I came to the Lake Superior country in 1878, I found the Indians
of Lac Courte Oreille Reservation and of Lac du Flambeau, living almost
entirely in birch-bark wigwams, also in Bad River Reserve, near Ashland,
Wis. In Courte Oreille, I counted about six log houses, mostly inhabited
by French half-breeds. In Bad River Reserve (now Odanah) perhaps about
the same number; in Lac du Flambeau also about six log houses. But as
soon as the Indians got their pine-money and their allotments, they
immediately began to build houses, many of which were large and
commodious. Others were of hewn logs, rather small and low and very
unhealthy on that account, as there was very little ventilation, and in
the winter they would be huddled together, most of them sleeping on the
floor in a blanket, or poor bedclothes. The stove was very hot until
after the fire went out, when, of course, towards morning they would be
shivering with the cold. Cooking, smoking, living, in such a small room
would naturally cause colds, and consumption. This may be justly called
_the Indian’s Disease_, as it is the most common sickness of which they
die; they generally die of consumption, brought on by their total
disregard of the laws of health. Sugar-making early in spring, when they
used to gather the maple-sap in the woods, walking in the wet snow and
cold water, shod with soft moccasins, made of deerskin, and not much
better than common stockings; then went the whole day with wet feet—this
no doubt laid for many, the seeds of future consumption. Then, gathering
cranberries in swamps, wading in the water for hours and hours, was also
highly unhealthy. Their cooking was also very poor. Bread, tea, and pork
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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