BATHTUBS FOR REDMEN

The history of the federal government's relations with the American Indians is not flattering to American pride. Robbery of oil lands and gross frauds by traders have not been seriously checked by the government. Worst of all, ancient tribal customs and religious rites have been forbidden, until at last public opinion has been tardily aroused to the injustices of the government. The latest move, sponsored by the American Red Cross, seeks to modernize the Indian without reforming him, to bring him civilization but to leave his tribal customs.

While the thought of eliminating the squalor of living conditions among Indians is praiseworthy, it cannot be accomplished without also upsetting old religious rites, such as the sun dance, and the snake dance of the Zunis. Modern plumbing an hygienic living conditions, the goal of the Red Cross, cannot help breeding a sense of unreality when the snake dance is performed. The Indian civilization, such as it was must be supplanted entirely or not at all. The mind cannot retain the customs and religion of the past when the body is living so ardently in the present. The Indian himself is an anachronism in the twentieth century, and he must either adopt the habits and customs of the times or suffer extinction.

Snake dancing, pottery making, and other relies of the past must go, to be replaced by bathtubs, radios and toothbrushes. The modernized redman, sitting in the newly-opened movie emporium, and watching a Hollywood version of the sun dance can then ask him self whether the white man got the better of him in this trade too.