DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 190, 1 November 1927, Page 14

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

AMERICANS (Copyright, 1927) 'T'HOSE people who have the best right and title to call themselves native Americans are the Indians. A great many people believe that the Indians are Asiatic stock who wandered to this country through Alaska. However that may be, they arrived here a long while before the white man did and were the real first settlers, if they can be called settlers. Their mode of life comprises many interseting characteristics. They are an outdoor people and live by hunting and fishing. Many movements, such as the Woodcraft, hark back to Indian customs in their effort to teach the young people the advantages of outdoor life. Every race is interested in preserving all that it can of their autochthonous civilisation. The Germans have a proper pride in their Teutonic ancestry and legends, such as are played upon in the Wagner operas. There is a considerable movement for the preservation of Gaelic speech or the original speech in Ireland, while the Welsh reluctantly gave up their Welsh tongue. Americans of to-day should give more heed to the Indian. He had his art, his code of morals and his mode of life, which are all of extreme Interest. The movement has received the commendation of the Federal authorities in charge of Indian reservations who have not always been as considerate of the Indian as they should. Many prominent public-spirited citizens, especially women, are behind the enterprise. The Indians had some crafts, such as the making of jewellery, basket weaving and the manufacture of blankets which have been handed down from father to son in their tribes. There is danger of these arts being lost unless they- are fostered in some way. Various tribes from all over the country and from* Mexico will send representatives to this fiesta who will bring their handiwork and also exhibit their ceremonial customs.