Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, July 19, 1914, PART TWO EDITORIAL, SOCIETY, Page 5-B, Image 15

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    THE OMATTA SUNDAY BEE- JULY 19, 1914.
5-B
Civilizing and Educating the South American Indians
(Copyrighted, 1S14, by Frank O. Carp nter.)
A PAZ, Bolivia Before leaving
womnKton, I had a talk with ,
Snor Don Itruoio dlder.n !
the minister from liollva to th.i i
United States, w.th ram
to my trlD to hl muni-v ,
Among the other things rt, agkrd mo to
Investigate and report upon to the Ameri
can people were the efforts that aro now '
wing mane to start an Industrial mission
among the Aymara Indians atout lake
Tltlcacn. I have been mak nc- lnnulri.
a to this In my travels about ths lak
and La Pai, anil have found the beginning
of a work that may farm the o oi.nr
wedge for the clvlllmtlon of millions. ,
You have all heard of the eml- clvlllrcj ,
nations who Inhabited this Andean pla- '
teau shortly after Columbrs d s ovcrrd
America, at the time fe pil. am
came. The whole country was ti.en peo
pled with seml-civlllzed tribes. Thoo
were the Chlbchaa In Colombia, the C.i as
and Chancas of Ecuador, the qulchuas
of Peru, the Aymaras In Bolivia, and fa
ther south tha brave Arnucanl?ni. who
are said never to have been I'oiviurrcd
The Chlbchaa wtre sklllel In weav ng
and the making of pottery. Thy h 1 1
paveu hlghwnys, and their farrmnir was !
carried to a high degree of success. They
had weights and measures, and a ojr
rency In the form of goM disks. Tie
Araucanlans had a confederacy, and tt ey
met In grand councils to decide tliel.
public affairs. The Caras had a high civ
ilization, with a military and tribal or
ganization, and the Aymaras, who formed
the chief race of Bolivia, were akin to the
Qulchuas, thoso wonderful Indians of
Peru, the subjects of the Incas.
finer Populous Country.
At the time the Spaniards canto, It Is
estimated that there were from 20.O30.000
to aO.000,000 of these Indiana on the high
plateau of the Andes. They were en
slaved by our. Christian white race, and
the life was ground out of them. As
late as 1675 the Peruvian Indians are said
to have numbered S.O0O.WO, but 200 years
later this number had dropped to l.EOO.OOo
while that of the whole Inca empire
which had numbered 20,000,000, had been
cut down to less than 4,000,000.
Today the greater part of tho popula
tion of Ecuador Is made up of Indians
There are about 1,000,000 Aymaras and
Qulchuas here in Bolivia, and thero aro
more than twice as many, mostly Qui
chuas, In the Peruvian republic All of
these Indians aro In a low state of civ
ilization. Not one In a hundred of tnem
can read or write, and the great major
ity are more like animals than like civil
lzed men. They -are mere hewers of
wood and drawers of water. Nearly all
aro the slaves of tho alcohol habit; all
soak their brains with cocaine, by chew
ing tho coca leaf, and altogether they
aro a race from whom active mentality
seems to havo departed. They nre nomi
nally Catholic; but allied to their Cath
olicism are many superstitions connected
with the worship of the sun. They have
also strange customs such as eating the
dead bodies of their enemies, and carry
ing written messages to tho gods when
they die, as I shall describe later on.
Live In SI u (I Hutu,
These Indians live In mud huts scat
tered over the high plateau of thn Andes.
Their huts are without windows, and arc
lighted only by the doors, which are so
low that one has to stoop to go In. They
havo thatched roofs mado of thu giaso
of the pampas. Thtlr only furnlshlnu?
are tho skins of alpacas, llamas an
sheep, upon which they Bleep at night,
and In some cases a ledge of mud, bn"'
up across one side of tho hut as a bed.
They cook in clay pots over a fire of tho
droppings of llamas. There are no chim
neys and the smoke gets out as It can.
Some of the Inulans have flocks of
sheep and own alpacas and llamas. Now
and then you find ono who has horses
or donkeys and cattle. Some are Inde
pendent squatters having their huts out
on the pampas, but many more are the
peons or debt slaves of the whites anil
the half-breeds, or Cholos, who own most
of the good land of the Andes. I have
already described the condition of these
peons In one province of Peru. The con
ditions aro not so had In some of the
other provinces, and also In parts of
Bolivia. But everywhere the most of the
Indians are little better than the slaves
of the landowners, and so far as 1 can
learn but little attempt has been maa
to elevate them. The Roman Catholi
church, which Is such a great rcrco I
our country, Is practirnllv dead as fai
as any civilizing work Is concerned o
tho Andean plateau, and its priests have
either despaired of doing anything wit.
these Indians or they do not care to ot
tempt it. The field Is. 1 believe, one thai
that church should take up. The Indian
are more or less subservient to It, and
tho Catholics could accomplish more i,
the work of regeneration in a fl.xoa tun
than the Protestants. At present the
Protestant missions are to be credltoii
with most of the attempts at elevatin
tho Indians that are now going on
One Man Supports School.
The Industrial school which the min
ister from Bolivia has asked me to In
vestigate Is supported by money left by
on Italian, ens Antonio Chulotti, who
was converted to Christianity in the
i eneu nan mission in 1.03 Angeles. He
aa gone tc me united states as a
young man, hod settled In California, and
had, aa I understand it, thero made a
little fortune in milling. Later on ho
emigrated to Argentina, where he llvel
for a number ot years. He there became
inteiested in the uplifting of the Indians
of South America, and when he taw he
had not much longer to live, decided to
leave his money for that purpose, giving
It to the Argentinians. There was tome
difficulty, however, as to the laws of Ar
gentina that prevented his making a will
to this end, and ho therefore came to
Bollv a, where the legulatkns srj dif
ferent. Here ho left his estate, co s st-
irg of about 133.0 0. for the .tartlnj- cf
this mission. The money was j.ut In the
hands of the Methodist Episcopal Church
mission, or rather Into the hands of
three trustees, one of whom was the Bev.
George McBrlde th. president ot the
American Institute ot La Paz; another.
Hugo Wenburg, formerly of the American
Bible stclety, and u third, Dr. Foster, a
medical missionary.
Cultivate. 1-iirne Farm.
These men have taken the Italian's Le
quest and have tought a farm of abjut
ECO acres on the shores of Lake TlHeaa.
about forty-five miles from La Paz. The
farm slopes down to the lake under the
shadows ot the mighty snow-o'.&d peaks
of Soratl and Illlmani. The greater part
of It Is level, and it consists of good agri
cultural land, which has been In cultiva
tion since the days of the Inca. The
land was bought of a Bolivian hacien
dado, and it hus about 289 Indiana living
upon it- According to custom, these
Indians went With the land. They have
certain tracts there which they have
farmed from generation to generation
and others upon wh'ch they have flocks
eetaM-LaK d. school " U) ! &WfL M
of one kind or another. They work about
two days of the wtek for their rent
These Indians form the nucleus ot the
missionary work, and It Is among them
that the Industrial movement Is now
going on. Tho trustees have established
a school, and both children and grown
ups are attending It and learning to read.
They have Introduced new plants and
grasses, and they are experimenting with
grains to seo if better conditions of farm
ing cannot be created on theso high
plateaus. They expect to lmprovo tho
breeds ot sheep and to bring in goats
and American cattle. They hope also to
teach the Indians the several trades and
to uplift them In every possible way.
Finally Won Confidence.
During my stay here I have mot Mr.
Hugo AVenburg, who Is now managing
the farm. Ho tells mo that the Indiana
would have nothing to do with the mis
sionaries at first. They had been told
by their, neighbors that the Americans
would work them to death and thai thoy
would be cheated out of all that they
had. Tho trustees had great trouble In
getting their confidence, but finally suc
ceeded, and a great desire for education
has sprung up. The Indians are send
ing their children to the school, which,
owing to the lack of buildings, is now
held In the patio or open square Inside
the farmhouse. Tho school day Is short,
as tho children havo to work for their
parents. Tho hours are from 7 to 9 in
the morning, but the children are so
anxious to learn that they come before
the teachers are awake. The llttlo In
dians are bright and are about as quick
to learn as tho Cholos or whites.
I asked Mr. Wcnburg how ho was get
ting along Introducing new methods of
farming. Ho replied:
Stick to Old "Vny.
"We have had great difficulty in get
ting tho Indians to try anything new,
but I am sure that as soon as they can
see that our ways aro better we shall
have no further trouble. Among other
attempts wo have made was tho Intro
duction of the American plow. The In
dian plows are of wood and are little
more than forked sticks, that cut a fur
row of only two or threo Inches. We
Imported some plows, but had great
trouble In persuading the Indians to
yoke their oxen to them. The plows are
yoked to tho horns of the oxen and tho
oxen push the plow-tongue along with
their heads. We showed them that we
could plow twice as deep with our plow
as they could with theirs, and when our
crops rise high above theirs I am suro
we shall have no further trouble."
In talking about the superstitions of
the Indians, Mr. Wenberg said that they
bellevo In witchcraft and that death is
usually occasioned by some one bowltch
ing them. When a person dies his rela
tives and friends are anxious that the
witches should not pursue the soul of the
man after death. Not long ago a man
died on the farm, and his family canio
to tho overseer and asked him to take a
piece of paper with a cross on the top
and to write below that: "I have died
because I am bewitched by my enemies,
and I here pray to tho Lord that I may
be freo from them In the future." This
sheet of paper was put Into the hand of
the dead man and was burled with him.
Natlvcn Ordlnnrlly Quiet.
In the same connection Mr. Wenburg
says that the Indians are very quiet as
an ordinary thing, but they may become
enraged, and that when they fight they
grow savage. At such times a man may
even kill and eat his victim. The Indian
overseer now on the farm belonged to a
family who killed and ate a man in that
why. They then threw his bones into
tho lake. This was discovered, and, as a
punishment, the neighbors took away the
land that belonged to them.
During my stay at Cerro de Pasco I
learned of a similar industrial movement
that Is going, on among the Indians of
Peru. The heads of this work are Inter
denominational, and they come chiefly
from Great Britain and Canada, They
have a mission station at Arequlpa and
ix large Industrial farm not far from
Cuzco. The farm formerly belonged to
the Jesuits, but some time after they
were driven out of the country it was
bought by this organization. It Is of
vast extent, consisting of something like
60,000 acres of good land on the plains
ana running from them high up the
sIopei of the mounts, nnd vAln tne
valleys between. As in th. nn. t ,..
farm on. Lake Titlcaca tho Indians went
with this land. They had their own lit-
tin lintrl Intra unai t r Avon I ., .
tnelr own fIock8( working a par of each
WMk for the farmer. Th .
week for the farmer. The foreigners have
established schools on the estate, and are
Introducing our grains and grasses and
new methods of farming. I am told that
the Indians are learning to plow. They
use one-handed plows of American make,
and now oultlvate their land In deep and
straight furrows, a thing they did not do
In the past. The foreigners have brought
In new crops and new varieties of the old
crops. Among other things they are ex
perimenting with is the Irish potato, of
which they are raising as much as 329
bushels per acre,
Indian llo Are IlrlaTlit,
I talked with Mrs. Austin, a fine Ca
nadian woman, the- wife of one of the
missionary farm managers. She tells me
that. the Indian uoys are very quick to
learn and shnuprl m hrio.li nti
low, belonging to the farm, who ipokuj
E&T3 a COXUT2 w iA tjn-i irj i
Spanish. At the same time, she brought
out some ears ot corn about a foot long
with grains as big as lima beans, and
told mo that It had been raised on tho
farm. I had the boy hold up the cars
ot maize and photographed them. Mrs.
Austin says the mission has already
proved that the Indians can be civilized
and that all they need to get along In
tho world is education and freedom from
alcohol. This mission Is doing not only
work of an Industrial order among tho
Indians, but also evangelical arid even
gospel work among the Peruvians. It
has a thriving school at Cuzco, where
tho pupils aro taught Spanish; and it has
trained nurses who serve among all
classes oC people.
In sailing down the west coast I came
from Lima to Mollendo, with Bishop
Homer C. Stuntz, who has the general
supervision of the Methodist Kplscopal
Prince of Wales Finds
His School Exploits
Closely Scrutinized
LONDON, July lS.-The prince of
Wales, who has Just completed two years
at Oxford, Is finding his exploits In that
Institution of learning under critical re
view in the newspapers. An undergrad
uate, who has had an opportunity to seo
much of this futuro king of England,
notes his impressions In a seemingly
frank manner.
Viewed Impartially," he says, "the
prlnco's career has been neither better
nor worse that that of the average titled
undergraduate. Ho has embarked on
many of tho manly sports of youth and
excelled In none. Perhaps the best com
ment on his good spirit and his lack of
'side' was the fact that ho played consis
tently at association foot ball with the
Magdelcn college second eleven.
"For a long time he was tho despair of
his equerry, but, as a concession to pop
ular opinion, expressed and unexpressed,
ho has acquired some skill in the sad
dle, and with It some of tho standing
that falls to hunting men at Oxford.
"That tho prince should toko an equal
footing with all In undergraduate life
was, of course, an Innovation attended,
as one might expect, by advantages and
drawbacks. The curious Interest with
which he was pestered In his early weeks
soon wore off, but the natural desire to
be Intimately associated with a prince so
easy of access was harder to kill.
"Magdelen second eleven last season
proved far more attractive to many men
than the college senior team. Little or
no concession has been made to his roy
alty. I saw him the other day waiting
at the door of one of the leading doctors
In Oxford. On the other hand, he has
had freedom and ease which he will
never again enjoy; he has mlxod unosten
tatiously with people of all ranks; ho
has endured bravely and well the dis
comforts of camp life as a private; and
he has been treated with a quiet, well
bred respect by every member of the uni
versity." The prince has rather startled his uni
versity companions lately by taking to
the pipe and giving up, for the moment,
the cigarette. A picture of him wlh the
Oxford officers' training corps shows the
prince puffing at a great bulldog pipe,
and apparently enjoying It. The next
day, however, he left the regiment, which
had not finished Its training, and came
to London. Gossips are saying that
Queen Mary, having seen the picture,
sent for him.
Many London Women
Attend Prize Fights
LONDON. July 18, The boxing boom
that London In experiencing has extended
to women. Heretofore it has been a very
rare sight to see a woman at any of the
well known boxing resorts, but this sea
son many women booked seats for the
big fights. The fashion comes from
Paris, where, since the advent of Car
pentler, women have been generous
patrons of the manly art. The promoter
ot the Wells-Bell fight said half his best
seats were booked by women
"It would not be fair to mention
names," he said, "but the ladies are not
only In society, but bear some of the best
missions of South America w ith his head
quarters at Buenos Aires. Ho tells me
that thero are six North American Prot
estant missionary boards on this conti
nent Theso aro the Methodist Kplscopal,
Southern Baptist, Protestant Episcopal,
Canadian Baptist. Methodist Episcopal
Church South and the Presbyterian. Tho
church having tho largest force of mis
sionaries Is tho Methodist Episcopal and
next to It Is tho Presbyterian. Includ
ing tho missionaries from Europe, there
are altogether about 1.000 Protestant mis
sionary men and women, with more
than 1,000 missionary stations and sub
stations. They have altogether 130.000
communicants and naherents, which Is
not very much In tho population of
60,000,000 or moro which South America
now has. They have 193 day schools
and forty-two high schools with about
20,000 pupils. Among the Institutions do
ing mission work Is tho Salvation Army,
which has something like 27,003 adherents.
AnxloiiN to l.enrn KiikIIxIi.
Said Bishop Stunfz:
"In tho beginning about all wo could
do was to carry on the schools. Wo
found that tho people wanted to learn
Br-iristi, and the Itov. William Taylor
opened a chain of schools all along tho
west coast, from Guayaquil. In Ecuador,
to Conception In Chile. At one time wo
had sixteen schools and all of theso were
supported by tho tuitions received. Ot
late tho governments have been more In
terested In education and the schools
have been cut down to ten.
"In Bolivia the Interest of tho govern
ment in the educational, work ot tho
Methodist church Is so great that it has
recontly made an annual grant of $2S,000
for supporting two of our hoarding and
day Bchools, and It expects to add some
thing toward the support of a girls'
school on similar lines. We have In La
Paz the American Institute, with three
or four hundred students. Tills is tho
largest school ot its kind In the republic.
The now girls' school will bo at Cooha
bamba, a town of 30,000 people, on the
known names in tho land. In the lower
priced Beats thero will also be many
women to watch tho contest. Among
these aro the uthletlc girl, the club girl
and tho bachelor girl. They come up to
the offlco qulto boldly and ask for
tlckots for tho fight, and make many in
quiries about the position of the ring,
and whether they will bo able to seo all
that goes on."
I
Motorbus Vibrations
Threatening Ancient
London Landmarks
LONDON, July 18 The effect ot motor
bus vibration, which threatens tho safety
ot such giant landmarks as St. Paul's
cathedral, Westminster abbey and the
clock tower of the House of Commons,
Is being made the subject of careful tests
by tho National Physical laboratory.
Investigators have learned through deli
cate Instruments placed In these buildings
that the amount of vibration Is largely a
matter ot speed of the buses. When
threo buses wero driven past tho cathe
dral at nix miles an hour, no disturbance
was recorded. But at twelve miles an
hour, the vibration was marked. Both
vcrtlcle and horizontal movements were
noted.
Plans for a system of steel supports
have already been found necessary for
St. Paul's, owing to the disintegrating ef
fects of a traffic on which Sir Christopher
Wron did not reckon.
FINE POINT LAW RAISED
IN ATTEMPTED MURDER
VIENNA, July 1S.-A fine point in law
has been raised here as to whether a per
son can be convicted of attempted mur
der when blank cartridges have been fired
in the belief they had bullets.
The caso Is that of a young woman who
bought a pistol from a dealer who pru
dently charged It with blank cartridges.
i The girl then shot at her lover without
doing him tho slightest harm. On ar
rest she admitted her Intention to murder
the man, but her lawyers havo now
rained the point that a person can not
bo convicted of "shooting with intent to
kill" when It is Impossible to carry out
the Intention. This viewpoint Is now the
subject ot Ingenious argument on both
sides.
DrcDcnj F Bailkvv
Sanatorium
This institution Is tho only one
In tho contral west with separate
buildings situated in their own
ample grounds, yot entirely dis
tinct, and rendering It possible to
classify cases. The one building
being fitted for end devoted to the
treatment of non-contagious und
non-mental diseases, no others be
ing admitted; the other Rest Cot
tage being designed for and de
ned to the exclusive treatment
of select mental cases requiring
for a time watchful care and spe
cial nursing.
0
eastern slope ot the Andes about 140
miles from La Pas."
(Inlliiok ISncnnrnpilns;.
I asked Bishop Stuntz about the mis
sion work In Peru. He replied-
"The outlook Is encouraging. The Peru
vian congress has Just pieed a law by
a vote of sixty-six to four granting lib
erty of worship throughout tho republic
This the people have not had until now,
although missions havo been established
In certain localities.
"Now the missionaries can go wherever
they pleHse, and there will bo plenty ot
opportunity to do work among the In
dians, as well as among the other clnsses
of tho people. This Is regarded ns a
great step toward freedom of worship
Kcundor secured religious liberty six
ycflis Hgo The Argentine Republic
granted It nearly thirty years ago, and
I'riiguay still earlier. Brazil has not only
granted religious liberty, but It has no
established union of church and state.''
"But has all this been the work of the
missionaries?"
"Yes, to a large extent Dr. Thomas
B. Wood, seconded by Dr. Trumbull ot
Valparaiso, has worked for the liberaliz
ing movement In all ot the countries and
It Is largely due to his efforts that re
ligious liberty has been secured. It must
bo remembered, however, that many of
the South American men do not believe
In any religion. They put themselves
down In tho census as atheists or agnos
tics. Indeed, It Is safe to say that there
aro at least 15,000,000 of the South Ameri
can people who are without any religious
faith at all."
"Aro Protestant missionaries welcomo
In South America?"
"Not by the people as a whole, although
they are welcomed by somo of the gov
ernments. Still, thts Is changing. Last
winter tho Trotestant Sunday School so
ciety of Buenos Aires held a demonstra
tion. Thero were 1,400 Sunday school
scholars and teachers present and among
the guests wore the lending members of
tho Argentina congress, the editors of the
dally newspapers nnd the members of the
diplomatic corps. Tho wonderful work
that this brnnch Is doing for the moral
welfaro of the Argentine people came as
a revelation to many of the citizens."
"What do you think of South America
along ethical lines? Ib thero not an In
tellectual end moral awakening now In
progress?"
"Tea. Tou can see evidences of It in
tho Interest of all tho governments In
education. They nre appropriating moro
for tho schools, and their plans for tho
next five years Include Increases of moro
than 100 per cent. Another proof Is the
greater number of young men who aro
going to Europe nnd the United States
for higher education. Wo have now over
100 studentH from Latin America in Cor
nell university alone nnd there are others
In many other colleges. Most of these
young men ,nre studying engineering of
one kind or other."
rnANic a. carpenter.
SANATIVE
SHAVING
Self Shampooing
CUTICURA
SOAP
Assisted In case of irritation of the
skin or scalp by light applications
of Cuticura Ointment, mean up-to-date
care of the skin and hair.
f Samples Free by Moll
' CuUcure Bop tod Ointment told throulhout the
world. Uberal Mmpleof run raillM tree, wttli 8 J-p.
took. Addraa "Cullcurt," Dtpt, 1211, noaton.
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Cuisine and service unexcelled
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