The Discards

For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the Songs of Zion.--Psalms 137:1-2-3.

Foreword

An explanation is the only excuse for this little publication. =The Discards= were primarily to appear in the Second or Summer Season Number of =The American Indian Tepee=, a quarterly launched for the avowed purpose of combating the manifest evils of the Indian Bureau; the fraud and graft imposed with impunity on the child-minded tribesmen by the robber speculator, land thief and all round crooks who swarm the reservations; as well as creating a deeper sentiment of respect for the Red race by giving first hand the Indian side of life; his poetry, music, philosophy and tribal history.

As an adopted Yakima, the chief editorship was tendered me and was accepted with no thought of compensation other than the satisfaction of attempting to do something for a greatly maligned and hampered people. The first editorial in the initiative number of the =Tepee=, reveals the faith that was placed in the declared purpose of the management, which would now appear as mere ostentation. This became more apparent as work on the second number progressed. Reproductions foreign to the vital Indian cause were given precedence over "fighting" originality; and when the Wolf =howled=, he was summarily =bounced= by the Fox, who then assumed full control as both manager and editor.

The contribution by =Hal-ish Ho-sat=: Klickitat for "Old Wolf"; was the first of a series of hitherto unpublished legends of the Yakimas and kindred tribes contemplated for the =Tepee=. This, with some editorials, one or two incomplete, were retained and made use of, while the =Discards=, a few in galley proof, were returned to me. The editorial explanation of my severance with the =Tepee= was in bad taste and my own card was censored to suit the drawing.

Perhaps the Wolf was too strenuous and the =Discards= had no place in =The Tepee's= pages. Doubtless the Manager will receive laudation from certain elements for his action; but believing it good at times that the public be made acquainted with disagreeable facts, such as contained in some of these rejects, they are here offered as mere samples of far reaching conditions. If "Elasticity of Indian Bureau Promises" appear unworthy of credence, there are the abandoned allotments, parched and dry, still in evidence, as well as voluminous correspondence on file in the Indian Department. The pie from the Indian Bureau bakery may look appetizing and palatable on the printed menu. Lift the crust! then--shield your nose as you watch 'em crawl. The "consideration" from the honest business man for Poor Lo's heritage ofttimes shows glitteringly munificent. Insert the probe! gilded illusion--"mess of pottage"--vermin infested and stenchful.

And all this under a Government of the people ($), by the people ($$) and for the people ($$$).

=He-mene Ka-wan=: "Old Wolf". (L. V. McWhorter).

July 23, 1920

That "Same Old Howl"

Many of the Yakimas are wondering how long it takes the Indian Department to make good a promise. Tribesmen have waited vainly the years for a consummation of pledges made, while others, sore at heart and foot weary have passed over the Last Trail with thoughts embittered by the memory of wanton indifference, if not actual connivance of the Department officials in the brazen robberies which they have suffered. Ugly, sombre facts have been unearthed in the no distant past, while others are incubating for an unsavory hatching.