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Show Threatened with death by the Bursum bill, the Pueblo nations for the first time in history united in an All-Pueblo Council Y'\[>A'AS' *c-fvv:'.-" \ K. TbeP ast ue If the Arizona and jHew JVLexico. lrihes Lose 1 heir-Land, Their Ancient Qjivilization Dies THF Pueblo Indian communities of Arizona and New Mexico are the oldest self-governing democratic institu- Inns in the Western Hemisphere, heir civilization is contemporary with liat of China, and is more spiritually onscious than the Chinese because West-rn so-called civilization has crowded them nd steam-rollered them, though unsuc-essfully, as it has not yet done" with hina. Their system of moral education uts Americans to shame, and goes be-ond that of the Chinese, while their co-perative arts of song, dance and drama ir excel anything reported from China. iewed merely as curiosities they are as ;iteworthy as the Grand Canon or the ant Sequoia groves of California. Viewed sociological experiments they are of-orld interest, because in them is going be answered the question: "Can races different origins, with civilizations rest-g on different ideals and different ental foundations, live side by side, leratc each other, enrich each other and >rrecr each other, or must they only >ison and devour each other?" Unless at question is answered "Yes," then trc is no hope of putting an end to wars By John Collier Author of: Plundering the Pueblo Indians and not much hope for the spiritual and esthetic future of this planet. I he Pueblos have started to answer "Yes" to this supreme question, and now the forces of greed and beaurocratic ruthlessness have started to wipe them off the map. The Pueblos are American Indians. America's great effort as a "colonizing f ovver has been her effort with the ndians. It is a record of preposterous blunders and betrayals, stubbornly persisted in. The American people has been an uninformed and passive partner in this travesty. Now the last chapter is beginning, and that chapter is going to be a picture of ruined souls and poisoned and famine-pinched bodies and of a culminating betrayal of trust benefiting nobody other than a few thousand adventurers. That is what it is going to be unless the American people arouse themselves. '1 bese most civilized Indians, the Pueblos, happen to be the first and, for the time being, the most sensational of t be victims. 'I be first skirmish in a long battle for the Indians and for the American, people has been won. I be January SUNSET told of the Bursum Indian bill, framed by R. E. Twitchell, Government attorney paid to defend the Indians but acting for Secretary Albert Fall of the Interior Department, passively endorsed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs which is under Secretary Fall, and not openly fought by the Indian Rights Association which previously had denounced a similar but less sinister measure. This bill was introduced in the Senate and referred not to the Indian Committee of that body but to the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, which is ignorant of Indian questions. This committee was informed, and the Senate was informed, by Secretary Fall and Senator Bursum of New Mexico, that "all parties of interest" endorsed the Bursum bill. As the main party of interest was the Pueblo Indian, the Senate was unsuspicious, especially as the bill was declared by Secretary Fall to he an "administration measure." I be Senate passed the bill. The General Federation of Women's Clubs by swift action blocked it in the House of Representatives at the last moment. |
