INDIANS IN THE ARMY
Sells, Cato
Indians in the Army By CATO SELLS. AFEW words can scarcely suggest the progressive awakening of the native American in recent years, and notably in these fiery war-days which are fusing all...
...Many of them hold commissions, and many more are non-commissioned officers...
...AFEW words can scarcely suggest the progressive awakening of the native American in recent years, and notably in these fiery war-days which are fusing all American thought and purpose into an invincible, composite loyalty to our ideals and civilization...
...On April 17, 1917, we announced a Declaration of Policy, which contemplated the release from governmental supervision, with all of their property, of practically all Indians having one-half or more white blood, and those with more than one-half Indian blood shown to be as capable of transacting their own affairs as the average white man, also all Indian students over twen...
...The Indians of the United States purchased of the first ar.d second issues of Liberty Bonds nearly $10,000,000...
...Within the last five years they have practically doubled their cultivated acreage and quadrupled the value of crops and livestock produced, and sold, and still own twice the value of live stock they had in the beginning of that period...
...At least 75 per cent are volunteers...
...During the war the Indians have increased their soil production by an average of 50 per cent over ante-war yields...
...ty-one years of age who complete the full course of instruction in the Government schools, receive diplomas and demonstrate competency...
...They are in every station of defensive service side by side wit:i the white man, not as Indians, but as Americans...
...It is the beginning of the end of the Indian pro>-lem...
...As a class, they are manly fellows and brave soldiers, quietly responsive to military discipline...
...In its application thousands of Indians have been given their freedom, and while some of those released have not sustained themselves, on the whole, this advanced step has been fully justified...
...Approximately five thousand Indians are in ihe training camps, or in active service on land or sea...
...Within the last few years he has advanced greatly in health, in education, in agriculture and industrial production, in temperate living and home-making, in competition with his white neighbor, and conspicuously in his patriotic allegiance to the principles for which we entered the v/ar...
...Generally speaking, the Indian is no longer a semi-barbarian...
...In the work-out of the "New Policy" the Department is able to release from governmental control the "White Indians," and those who have demonstrated their capacity at the same time enlarge and intensify its interest in the Indian who really needs aid and protection...
...They are gaining by contact an education that will lead them away from tribal relations, and give them a definite comprehension of the genius of American institutions...
Vol. 10 • July 1918 • No. 7
