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SPOKANE DAILY CHRONICLE
AUG. 29, 1955
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[Picture]
DELEGATES
Four delegates to the National Congress of American Indians are shown as they entered today's opening session of the five-day conference of tribesmen from all over the country. Left to right, are President Joseph R. Garry, Plummer, Idaho; Kay Northover, Yakima county deputy sheriff who is chairman of the sergeant at arms committee; Clarence Wesley, second vice president, San Carlos Apache tribe, Arizona, and Paschal Sherman, Colville, NCAI, treasurer.
Historians Found at Fault-
Picturing Indian as Savage Is Misleading, Priest Says
By ROWLAND BOND
The historian's picture of the American Indian as a savage, warlike and blood-thirsty creature has left a false impression of the true Indian society, a delegate to the National Congress of American Indians, said here today. 
The Rev. John J. Brown, S. J., only full-blooded Indian Jesuit priest in the United States, said an "army," in the sense the word is used by the white man, never existed among the various tribes. [Picture of Father Brown]
"Once in a while 30 or 40 men from one tribe would go over to avenge some insult one of them had suffered at the hands of some other tribe," he said. "They would go over and rough it up a bit.
Spirit of Thing Counted
"Of course, once in a while one or two fellows might be killed, but very seldom was anybody really serious about warfare. It was the spirit of the thing that counted."
"Hunting, oratory, games, dances and conversations were the essentials of Indian society. Modern American concepts of hospitality owe a great deal to the Indian custom of feeding and lodging any stranger who happened by. Prior to the time they were disillusioned and mistreated, the Indians here always received their white visitors well."
Father Brown said the problem of juvenile delinquency did not exist in Indian society.
"On a relative scale the child was given the same consideration in society as the grown-up," he said. "They learned the meaning of individual responsibility at an early age. He was constantly exposed to the counsel of the older people. The grandparents, as well as the parents, took an active part in raising the child.
"Because the family circle included aunts, uncles and cousins his immediate family was larger, giving the child a greater sense of security than he has had in our modern society.
"Crime was almost unknown. There was less crime in the entire country than there is now in a small city."
Father Brown is a member of the Blackfoot tribe. He went to school at Browning, Mont., and in Philadelphia.

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