The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 18, 1898, Page 19

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1898. 19 HEN the news of the struction by fire of the noted totems at Fort Wrangel reached the thousands of tourists and returned gold seekers who had visited this interesting village almost at the en- trance to Alaska, a feeling of for one of a passed away for- 11 be seen at s, the reg 8. trip will Who th ever fo ts before the Indian ho lian villages of Sou e all built in shelter the beach just de- | | hooks, | so it can eas out of the reach of tide water. As] the principal occupation is fishing, the | reason is easily understood. While the steamer was docking all eyes were turned toward these mysterious, elab- orately carved poles standing like giant sentinels, apparently, to protect the homes of their builders, and surely guarding their own history. Many have an idea that these totems are objects of worship, but such is not the case. They are the genealogical history of the builder, whose home they usually adorn. If placed over a grave they commemorate some deed of valor. The old Indians are exceedingly re- ticent about enlightening the curious, and very little knowledge has ever been obtained from them even by the mis- sionaries or the sclentists who have spent time in investigation among them. The word “totem” is derived from an Ojibway word, meaning a tribe, or fam- | ily. An Indian totem is his crest or coat-of-arms. Each tribe is composed of several distinet clans. ach clan has its emblem, as, for example, the eagle, the raven, the wolf, the frog, the bear or the whale. The Thinklets, the the natives of Southeastern Alaska are | known, have two great phratries, or groups. The Raven (Yehl) Phrah")‘.l with Raven, Crow, Frog, Beaver, Sal- | mon and Owl clans, or sub-tote the Wolf (Khanukh) Phratry, with Wolf, tagle and Whale clans. name by which Auk, Bear, Membe: f the same phratry can- i When a man marries he takes his wife’s totem. The chil- dren all belong to the mother's clan. As in every family the father and mother are of different clans, no single | clan can live apart from the rest, and Iy be seen that where the totemic relationship is strictly enforced it becomes a great social institution, keeping down clannishness, and, in a great degree, preventing war. The Thinklets carve or paint their to- tems on their houses, the prows and sterns of their canoes, chests, halibut bows and arrows and their | The whole family, done in bone, wood and ivory. Their bowls hollowed from wood and quaint- ly carved with the totems and studded with abalone and the teeth of animals; their grease spoons, with bowls grace- fully fashioned from the white horn of the mountain sheep, while the handle is the black horn of the mountain goat, artistically carved with totemic em- blems, are treasured by those tourists who are fortunate enough to secure | them for a good price, as these Indians are shrewd salesmen and know the value of their wares. The totem poles are only erected by the chiefs and the wealthy. The greater the chief, the higher the totem. Many of them are of yellow cedar, from 60 to 100 feet high and nearly five feet in diameter. The carvings represent suc- cessive ancestral totems, the owners being on the top and the next below that of the family from which he is descended through his mother; the one still farther down his mother’s grandfather on the maternal side, and so on down to the ground. The value of the totem pole is not reckoned by the labor employed in the carving, but the amount of money ex- pended on the “potlatch,” or feast, that accompanies the raising of the totem. the whole village and villages hundreds of miles distant are. invited to the ceremonies, the num- ber that are bidden depending on the wealth of the The distinctive feature of the “potlach” {s the distri- bution of presents, such as blankets, callco, beads, furs, knives, guns or pow- der, each guest being remembered. Many have in this munificent manner given away their entire fortunes or the accumulation of years. But what care they? 'Their position in society is as- sured and they will always be spoken of as wealthy, for does not the totem pole indicate that? Does not the mems ory of a fine “potlatch” live? Further, will he not be invited in return to other “potlatches” and, having gained a rep- utation for great liberality, come home with the finest that is given away? The “potlatches’” conclude with sing- ing and dancing, and often in a drun- ken debauch. As many Americans had formerly been invited to attend household utensils. The carvings are these ceremonies and found them ob- Jects of ridicule and amusement, the whites are now rigidly excluded from a “potlatch.” Each Indian dresses as gayly as he can and paints his face in strange, grotesque designs. Many appear arrayed as their own totem. The chief wears his storied conical hat, the sign of his rank. These hats are ingeniously woven of inner bark, or roots, gayly decorated with totemic em- blems, and the stories signify the num- ber of “potlatches” the chief has given. One dancer wears a Chilkat blanket in three colors—black, white and yellow— exceedingly beautiful in design and workmanship, picturing the conven- tionalized totems; another carries a rattie, another a drum, another wears a hideous mask, and all strive to make the greatest amount of noise. The main street of Wrangel leads along the water, and what a field for thought. What a mingling of the past with the present! The totems, the pride of the Indian; the stars and stripes floating from poles equally high, the pride of every free man. Fire has effaced the history of the totem poles, but fire or shell cannot obliterate the meaning of the thirteen stripes and the forty-five stars. The most interesting totems among those destroyed at Fort Wrangel were those before Chief Kadashan's house. The one to the left had at the top the conventionalized eagle, the great crest of the family to which his mother be- longed; below that is apparently a chief; then the beaver, the frog, the eagle and so on. This was his genea- logical tree. The one to the right had at the top his own image, wearing his storied cone-shaped hat. Many tourists have wondered at such ancient poles before the modern bay- windowed house. Kadashan lived in a small hut when his totems were erected. He accumulated considera- ble wealth afterward and built a new house and gave another great “pot- latch” at its dedication. The crouching bear and whale totems before a Stickeen chief’s house were very old and moss covered. The bear's tracks were carved to the top of the ole. § These historical totems just destroyed in the big Wrangel fire can never be - replaced, as the Indians of these days are not clever enough to do the work. The newer poles were painted in many brilliant colors, and the carving was very smooth and exceedingly modern. Some of the Indians made money enough during the Klondike craze last year to erect themselves totems dur- ing the winter, the favorite time for “potlatches.” ‘Who is chief among these interesting people? That is hard to tell. In one village you will find several who claim the honor. If an Indian becomes wealthy he rises, and all of his totem with him. He will give a “potlatch” to insure himself the title. At the ranch in Sitka, the one who possesses the great totem hats—one wooden and the other the cone-shaped one, both gayly pictuyed—is the chief. Not long| ago an Indian stole these hats from Tlantech, the chief of the Sitkas. The matter was brought into the United States District Court, and Judge John- son returned the hats to Tiantech, who since that time carefully guards them. No stranger ever sees these rare and wonderful pieces of work. When the chief becomes well acquainted with you he will show his appreciation of your friendship by allowing you to ad- mire his greatest treasures. I asked him, through an Interpreter, to explain the many peculiar markings, but he shook his head and said that they could only be revealed to his suec- cessor. I have my serious doubts as to whether he really knows himself. The summer tourist must content himself, now that the totems are no more, with the houses at Killisnoo, whose front elevations are completely covered with totemic inscriptions; the one pole over an Auk Indian's grave at Juneau, signifying that he was Eagle and his mother’s family were of the Raven clan; and such totemic cu- rios as he may purchase either from the natives or in the stores. Lastly, | with a fine marine glass, he can descry | the dead houses of Bella Bella as he enters British waters. From tall poles streamers of rags of all colors float in the breeze, and other poles bear the to- tem of the clan to which the deceased belonged. These interesting natives may truly say with Hiawatha: P O O R R R R I S VO R e S R O R R S R & = R R RN S S S Trade and Labor __irflur New GColonies. et H+ 44 HE question of cheap labor in Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Phil- ippines and a good many other things will have to be deter- mined by Congress after careful investigation. There is a provision in the treaty with Hawaii which covers fhis point temporarily, so far as that new possession is concerned. The com- mission appointed by the President will consider the conditions which exist there and on their report the action of Congress will be based. As to Porto Rico and the Philippines, if we keep them—and I hope we shall—we must investigate them separately before we decide what to do. These new possessions do not come into the United States as new States or Territories. Their people do not nec- essarily come into the Union on an equality with the citizens of the United tes. All the talk that we have heard about not having the power to govern colonies is worse than twaddle. The United States the plenary power to govern any new possession in whatever part of the world and in whatever man- ner Congress may see fit to provide. ‘We are governing Alaska now, but not as a State or Territory of the United States. 1 am not prepared to say how Porto Rico should be governed, or Cuba, if Cuba should ever ask for annexation; but they will not have to be admitted to the Union as States or Territories. I believe that any colony should be gov- erned by giving to its people the great- est amount of self-government consist- ent with the conditions. But every col- il A I IR T BY SENATOR FORAKER. ony must be controlled according to local conditions. In this we must consider the example of England rather than that of the Continental powers. I don’t mean that we should imitate England, but that so far as we consider the example and ex- perience of other nations we should prefer that of England to that of other countries. It has always been the pol- icy of the Continental countries—Spain, for example— to make their dependen- cies a source of revenue. England, as I understand it, has always made her dependencies self-supporting so far as possible, but there she has stopped. She has depended on trade advantages for her profit. Wherever she has found a people to govern she has found a way of governing them. We can do the same. But we must not try to make our dependencies a source of direct revenue. We must ad- Just their revenue laws so as to make them self-supporting—if necessary, so as to support the garrison which shall maintain—but we must be satis- fied with that. I do not believe in a preferential tariff in our new possessions. England has never had a preferential tariff in her colonies, I believe, until one was es- tablished in Canada in retaliation for our tariff law. England has been able to extend her trade without any tariff advantage. Trade follows the flag; and if we give the people of Porto Rico and Hawaii and the Philippines a liberal government they will trade with us and we shall profit enormously. They say we shall have difficulty governing the Philippines. I think not. The Tagals, as I understand it, are the most peace- able of people. They are good-na- tured and easy-going. Any people ought to be satisfied to.be permitted to ® T / VIEW OF WRANGEL'S MAIN BUSINESS STREET. ’ From a photograph taken on Bunker Hill Day, 1898. ¥ The totems shown in the picture were among the oldest In Alaska. They were destroyed by the fire and so were wiped out some of the oldest Indian relics of that country. and number any of the others. Bome of them were at least fifty feet high. elaboratene: 100. The group of these poles that was They were placed quite close The totems destroyed In the conflagration surpassed in destroyed by fire consisted of about together and formed one of the strangest sights on the face of the earth. They were famous the world over and have been studied by some of the greatest scientists of the century. As is usual In such matters there is a difference of opinion as to the exact cause Even the Indlans themselves tell different stories, but out of the whole mass of fact and legend it seems that the poles occupied the same place as the coat of arms does among European nations. that brought the poles into existence. D R R R R R D PP P O G R R R R R R R e R R R R R R do pretty much as they like; and that is practically the form of government which we shall be able to give to our dependencies. I do not anticipate any trouble from the people of Porto Rico or of Cuba. It has become the fashion recently to abuse the people of Cuba. I think they are unjustly treated. They are a peo- ple who have been oppressed for so many years that it is not surprising they should be a little wild. But by na- ture they are a peaceable, easily gov- erned peaple. They are a.better edu- cated people than the Spaniards in Cuba and a much better educated people than the Spaniards in Spain. They are charged with looting. The same charge was made against Sher- man’s men in the famous march to the sea, when they found it necessary to forage. Nothing that the Cubans have done is worse than the charges made against some of our own soldiers of robbing the grave of a Confederate soldier for souvenirs and even of ex- tracting the teeth from the dead:-man's skull for the purpose of getting the gold from them. But we know that the wild acts of a few men do not represent the civilization of the people of the United States; and while we condemn the individuals we do not condemn the people. Many Cubans may have done wild and indefensible things. They could not be any worse than what the Spaniards did just before they left San- tiago, if reports are to be believed. But they are not the Cuban people. And under a benefice:t rule I am sure we shall find that people peaceable and well disposed and orderly. I believe we shall develop a great trade with Cuba, Porto Ric =~ and the Philippines, and one that will be very profitable to us. + + + + + + + + A chemist who analyzed a sample of “hair restorer,” sold at half a crown for & two-ounce bottle, found it to contain only common water, with traces of salt and sage extract. NAPOLEON 11l SNUBBED. “‘One of the best repartees ever made, because the briefest and the justest, was made by ‘the gorgeous Lady Blessington’ to Napoleon III. When Prince Louls Napoleon was living in impecunious exile in London he had. been a constant guest at Lady Bless- ington's hospitable and brilliant but bohemian house. And she, when visit- ing Paris after the coup d’etat, natu- rally expected to receive at the Tuille- ries some return for the unbounded hospitalities of Gore House. Weeks passed, no invitation arrived, and the imperial court took no notice of Lady Blessington’s presence. At length she encountered the Emperor at a great re- ception. As he passed through the bowing and curtseying crowd, the Em- peror caught right of his former hos- tess. ‘Ah, Miladi Blessington! Restez- vous longt..aps a Paris? ‘Et vous, sire?” History docs not record the usurper’s reply.” What Three Big Firms of National Repu- tation Think A Colonial E think the Introduction of American goods into the mar- kets of our recently acquired territory for the next twelve months will be very meager. The peo- ple have become impoverished and the countries laid waste by years of strife, and until the agricultural and manu- facturing industries are re-established and, the burdensome taxation remodeled on an equitable basis, together with unquestioned protection to property throughout the islands, all efforts to push trade will result in loss. We do believe, however, that a wise adminis- tration of the affairs of these countries will bring capital and energy and stimulate the natives to developments previously unknown, which, with mod- ern appliances of production, will in- crease the output proportionately. While these changes must necessarily be slow, we think our country will gain largely by the acquisition we have made—notwithstanding the life and treasure it has cost—and the new ter- ritory will ultimately afford opportuni- ties for trade and commerce beyond our present comprehension. E. C. HAZARD & CO., }‘Iew York. T Porto Rico are to be opened for the products of our farms and factories. Those markets are dependent on the United States for a market for their products—tobacco, coffee, etc.— and it is natural we should send them in exchange labor-saving machinery and provisions. As to the effect on produce in general I do not think the consumption of those countries will be’ sufficiently large relatively to materi- ally advance prices. The United States has a surplus of productive capacity and an increase in the volume of pro- duction has a tendency to reduce prices through the economies which .result from the concuct of a large business; and that is going to have a tendency to increase our exports not only to these countries but to others. CHARLES R. FLINT, Piow York. o awe HERE { no question in my mind that the markets of Cuba and « v e HE opening up of the Spanish ‘West Indies and the Philippines will be a good thing for our flour and grain trade. Before the abro- bout Our New Trade. gation of the reciprocal treatles Cuba and Porto Rico took about 1,000,000 bar- rels of our flour. This is handsome, of course, but it means less than 1 per cent of our wheat crop. As for trade with the Philippines, there is not much opportunity for a flour trade except with the whites. The natives are too poor. As a matter of fact that is one trouble with the possibilities of the flour trade all over Asia and Africa. The vast mass of the people are clothed with simplicity and their own hair; they eat what comes handy and costs least. Still all these markets will help swell the grand total of American ex- ports of wheat and flour, and the West Indian market will be a good thing for some of our 1illers. MITCHELL BROS. CO., Chicago. —_——— VIENNA'S STRANGE WEDDING. OME days ago, says a London paper, a mysterious wedding took place in one of the Roman Catholic churches in Vienna. The bride, “fat, falr and forty,” drove up alone in a hired carriage to the church door. There the lady was received by the bridegroom—a man on the shady side of sixty, and wearing shabby genteel and threadbare clothes. Saying the words, “I am the bridegroom,” he in- troduced himself to the lady, and without a word more the two went to the altar and were married. The lady, with the faintest bow possible, then left him and returned to her hotel. ‘Within half an hour the bride was on her way to her home in the Caucasus, while the old bridegroom found his way back to ‘his home, the Vienna workhouse. Soon it was rumored that this strange lady was the owner of large estates in the Caucasus, and had taken this step in or- der to glve her son an honorable and il- lustrious name. This was done by her marriage with the shabby genteel man out of the Vienna poorhouse; the latter is the last scion of a noble family of lon, lineage in the Transylvania district o Hungary, but he has fallen upon evil times, and, having lost all his property, u,{lad to end his days in the workhouse of the Austrian capital. It was a matter of indifference to this practical mother as to what manner of man gave the pfot&ction of his name to herself and son, and it is highly probable that husband and wife will néver again meet; but she made arrangements for his future by asigning him a yearly income to be pald by a Vienna banker. el i ‘lfi“* ///’1@// § Wl e Lo! how all things fade and perish! From the memory of the old men Fade away the great traditions. oied e e e gt e Great men die and are forgotten. On the graveposts of our fathers Are no signs, no figures painted; Who are in those graves we know mnot, Only know they are our fathers. Of what kith they are and kindred, From what old ancestral Totem, Be it Eagle, Bear or Beaver, They descended, this we know not, Only know they are our fathers. MARY DICKSON. S — PRINCE BISMARCK'S NAME. The origin of the name of the great statesman who has passed from us has puzzled many of his countrymen. On one occasion Count Herbert, his eldest son, gave the following explanation: A streamlet of the name “Biese”” flows into the Elbe, and it has always been believed in the family that in the thirteenth cen- tury a “Mark” existed on the Biese, the commander of which, according to the custom of the day, was called Herr von Bisemark, and that in course of time his Al descendants altered the name to Bis- marck. The Prince was always. Very par- ticular that his name should be spelled correctly with a “c,” Bismarck—not Bis- mark.. A’ well-known correspondent of a London paper, without any sinister_in. tentions, used invariably to write Bi mark in the memorable days at the be- ginning of the seventies, but made the correction at Bismarck’s personal wish.— From the London Telegraph. FORT WRANGEL CHIE POTLATCH _HAT. TOTEM POLES. From photographs by Taber. " the The valug of the totem pole is not reckoned by the labor employed in carving, but the amount of money expended on the “potlatch,” or feast, that accompaniés the raising of. the totem. The whole family, the whole village and villages hundreds of miles distant are invited to the ceremonies, the number that are:bidden depending on the wealth of the host. The dis- tinctive feature of the “potlatch” is the distribution of presents, such as blankets, calico, beads, furs, knives, guns or powder, each guest being re- membered. Many have in this fortunes. munificent manner given away their entire The “potlatches”: corclude with singing and dancing, and often in a drunk- en debauch. Each Indian dresses as gayly as he can and paints his face in strange, grotesque designs. Many appear, arrayed as their own totem. The chief wears his storied conical hat, the sign of his rank. These hats are ingenlously woven of inner bark, or roots, gayly decorated with totemic eme blems, and the stories signify the number of =mivan. “potlatches”” the chief has