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Show 20 COMMISSIONEB OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. advice to Indians concerning appropriate treatment, hygienic, die-tetic, medical, or otherwise, the improvement of Indian homes and their outside surroundings, including sanitation and personal hygiene, with emphasis on sanitation. After their initiation I went to Mus-kogee and held a conference with dl of the people engaged in these two drives, finding them deeply interested in their work and their . accomplishments gratifying. While there I discovered opportunity to intensify this health work, and among other things addressed a letter to the chief of the He-doo-wah Society, consisting of Cherokee , Indians, from which the following excerpts are taken: + Shortly after aasuming the dutiea of Commiwioner of Indian Affairs it came to my attention that the Indians throughout the United States were fast becodng a dying race and that it waa la*ly the result of tuberculosis and other diseases. I found this condition so universal and serious that I waa appalled. It appeared to me as almoet beyond belief that a race of people, with such a splendid ancestry and becnuse of their historical pndeur and nobility, should be permitted to diminish and be eliminated as a substantial factor among those who are to live for all time. It occurred to me that the first obligation of the Government to the Indians is to exert itself to the uttermost to save the race-to perpetuate its life. With tbk end in view, more than three years ago the Indian Bureau commenced a systematic and widespread campaign to improve home and health conditions among the Indians 1 throughout the country-to give the Indian baby an equal chance with the white child to live and to the Indian father and mother an opprtunity to enjoy the fruits 1 of life in a manner equal to that of their white neighbors. During these three years we have made a vigorous effort through phynicians, nurses, and field matrons to reestablish their health, with the result that last year, for the fimt time in more than I 50 years, there were more Indians horn than died from every cam. This means that the Indian is no longer a dying race, and yet it is a fact that in spots here and there throughout the Indian country health condition8 are still so bad that the In-d i m are dying faater than they are being born. To remedy this situation, we have recently made a special effort to find funds to psy the expenaea of an organized health drive that is now being carried on in your community. If we are to be succeeaful it must mme about aa the result of coopera-tion, and leading Indians like yourself should join the officere and others who are maEng this effort in behalf of your people. It is wentially important that you and others like you who have influence shall lesd in this campaign, not only because of the work that yon may do, but more especially on account of the iduence you will have upon others. At this time theas campaigns are still on, consequently I am not prepared to make a final statement of the results. However, I have 1 assurance that the expenditure and effort have been more than justified. Details must necessarily await another report. THE MEDICINMEA N.-I have great satisfaction in announcing , the fact that the influence of the medicine man is fast being elimi-nated. He has everywhere been a destructive element. To the extent that he has flourished his tribesmen have been nonprogressive, never reaching their possibilities, suffering for want of the hospital, physician, nurse, and field matron. Hr has been a constant menace to thc. progress, prosperity, moral., and health of the Indian race. |
