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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—APPENDIXApril 4
Although this plan seeks to meet an unique emergency, it is based on American experience in the child-welfare field and seeks to apply American standards.
Among those who have cooperated in drawing up this plan are the following:
Paul T. Beisser, president, Child Welfare League of America.
Mary Boretz, executive director, home bureau, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.
C. C. Carstens, executive director, Child Welfare League of America.
Jessie P. Condit, executive secretary, Children's Aid Society, Newark, N. J.
Gertrude M. Dubinsky, executive director, Juvenile Aid Society, Philadelphia.
Sybil Foster, field secretary, Child Welfare League of America.
Mary Godley, executive director, Catholic Home Bureau, New York.
Katherine E. Griffith, director, Diocesan Bureau of Social Service, Hartford, Conn.
Byron T. Hacker, executive director, Children's Center, New Haven, Conn.
Dr. Stephanie Herz, Committee for Catholic Refugees from Germany.
Sidney Hollander, Maryland Board of State Aid and Charities.
Dr. Marion E. Kenworthy, director, Department of Mental Hygiene, New York School of Social Work.
Jacob Kepecs, superintendent, Jewish Children's Bureau, Chicago.
Dr. Hertha Krauss, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia.
Edith L. Lauer, executive director, Jewish Family and Children's Bureau, Baltimore.
Harry Lurie, Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
Lotte Marcuse, director of placements, German Jewish Children's Aid.
Ruth Taylor, commissioner of public welfare, Westchester County, N. Y.
Sophie Van S. Theis, assistant secretary, State Charities Aid Association, New York.
Alfred F. Whitman, executive secretary, Children's Aid Association, Boston.
[From the Yonkers Herald Statesman, March 18, 1939]
FOR HELPLESS, HOMELESS, HOPELESS CHILDREN
Today, on the eve of “Refugee Sunday,” which will be observed in all Catholic churches of the city, it is timely to consider the plight of those millions who are being driven about, homeless and helpless, without hope of refuge.
The civilized world is in tears for these unfortunate victims of renascent barbarism—for the doddering aged, the stricken middle-aged, the bewildered young people, and especially the innocent children, too young to realize the horror of it all.
But tears are of no avail against the monstrosities of fascism in full stride. Never in history, perhaps, has there been such a grave need and so great an opportunity to extend a helping hand as at present.
That is what lends powerful significance and importance to the Wagner-Rogers bill, now before Congress, which would permit 10,000 children under 14 to be brought into this country from Germany in 1939, and another 10,000 in 1940. The children would come here under the protection of the Nonsectarian Committee for German Refugees. About half would be taken from German families practicing the Jewish faith and half of Catholic and Protestant faiths. All would be placed in American families of their own faith, distributed throughout the country.
Great Britain already has made strides in this direction and it is interesting to note a pronouncement by Sir Samuel Hoare, Home Secretary in that Government, that among German and Austrian refugees who sought asylum in England some time ago, 11,000 are prospering and have, so far, provided employment for 15,000 Britons. Far from being a handicap to British industrial recovery, they are furthering it, he said.
The joint resolution before Congress expresses similar confidence that “the admission into the United States of a limited number of these children can be accomplished without any danger of their becoming public charges, or dislocating American industry, or displacing American labor.”
It is heart-warming that America is alert to her opportunity and her duty in an hour when humanity cries out for action.
[From the Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail of March 22, 1939]
FOR YOUNG REFUGEES
To alleviate one of the more tragic of the appalling problems of oppressed humanity in so-called greater Germany a joint resolution has been introduced in Congress to modify the immigration laws as they apply to children of the age of 14 or younger. The proposal would permit an additional 10,000 children of those ages to enter the United States during each of the calendar years of 1939 and 1940.
The resolution states that children who have since January 1, 1933, resided “in any territory now incorporated in Germany” and for whom “satisfactory assurances are given that [they] will be supported and properly cared for through the action of responsible citizens or responsible private organizations * * * and * * * will not become public charges” will be eligible. Those provisions are designed to preclude any unfortunate experience with refugee children such as England suffered when thousands were removed from war territories in Spain.
To assist in carrying out the terms of the joint resolution, the resettlement division of the National Coordinating Committee, composed of leading members of all churches (Protestant, Catholic, and Hebrew) and professions, has begun to operate.
The committee informs us that there will be no dislocation of the employment of American citizens, a restriction that will remove a serious possible criticism. The C. I. O. and the A. F. of L. have placed their enthusiastic approval upon the provisions of the joint resolution and the committee's work. Every possible precaution will be taken to prevent refugees from depriving Americans of their employment.
The provisions in the resolution concerning eligibility of refugee children should insure the elimination of any undesirables or those who would become public charges. Some of the most loyal and patriotic citizens we have today in this country are of foreign birth who escaped to this country from oppressive governments and who therefore more fully appreciate what our form of government means to humanity.
The local organization of the resettlement division already has started to work, and first reports indicate that splendid accomplishments have been made. To support the joint resolution and the work of the National Coordinating Committee is to give concrete evidence of America's determination to keep alive the principles of civilization and enlightened humanity.
[From the Boston Globe of March 23, 1939]
LET THEM IN
The saddest sight in this disordered world is the child seeking refuge from totalitarian tyranny. Appreciating the plight of these helpless little ones Senator
Wagner
has introduced a bill to make it possible for 10,000 refugee minors to be received outside the quota limits in each of the next 2 years.
There is nothing sectarian about this proposal. These boys and girls, all below the age of 14, would be Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. They would be distributed to families or individuals who would care for them and bring them up, guaranteeing that they would not become public charges.
Recently Mrs. Calvin Coolidge joined with a group of women in Northampton who agreed to be responsible for 25 of the young refugees. Great Britain has offered homes for 7,800. Crowded little Holland has accepted 1,700 and is receiving more.
What Senator
Wagner
asks Congress to permit is trifling in comparison. There should be no disposition to do less and the action should be prompt.
The Louisiana Purchase and One of Its First Explorers, Zebulon Montgomery Pike
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. LAWRENCE LEWIS
OF COLORADO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, March 9, 1939
ADDRESS BY THE LATE HONORABLE ALVA ADAMS, OF PUEBLO, COLO., BEFORE THE STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF COLORADO COLLEGE, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
Mr. LEWIS of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, nearly everyone in America has heard of Pike's Peak and tens of millions have seen it, but comparatively few know much of the man whose name it bears or of the inspiring story of the expedition in the course of which a young officer of the United States Army “discovered” this majestic mountain which dominates the middle of the “front range” of the Continental Divide in Colorado.
Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813), of New Jersey, commanded two exploring expeditions into the Louisiana Purchase shortly after its acquisition from Napoleon in 1803. The first (August 9, 1805, to April 30, 1806) was north from St. Louis, up the Mississippi River to what Pike mistakenly believed to be its source, and back again by the same route. The second and more important expedition (July 15, 1806, to July 1, 1807) was westward from St. Louis, across what is now Missouri, Kansas, eastern Colorado, New Mexico, northern Mexico, and Texas, ending, after many hardships and adventures, at Natchitoches, on the Red River which then marked the boundary between the territory of Spain and that of the United States.
PLAN FOR THE CARE OF GERMAN REFUGEE CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES
The remoteness of our country and the quota laws have prevented the admission of a single child refugee from Germany outside the quota. Since November 10, 1938, some thousands of children have escaped to neighboring countries, which have somehow managed to give them refuge through emergency measures necessitated by the lack of preparation for their care. Since the admission of any substantial number of these children to America must be preceded by special legislation, we have the unique opportunity to prepare for their coming in such a way that they can be placed throughout the country in homes of their own faiths, without creating an emergency situation in any community. As the first step toward such preparation an outline of the major problems to be met, together with recommendations for their solution, is submitted.
SELECTION OF CHILDREN ABROAD
“Should children be taken from their families?” This is a question frequently asked. There is no intent in plan or action to break up families. On the contrary, every effort will be made through the machinery set up to preserve family ties and to keep the children in touch with their parents, when possible, through correspondence. Owing to the chaotic conditions of immigration from Germany, many families have already been broken up, and many parents are pleading that their children be taken abroad, if the sacrifice will assure their physical safety.
Children will be selected only after skillful inquiry and consultation with parents, where available in order to determine that placement abroad is essential to their present safety and future welfare. The aim will be to organize trained service for selection sensitive to the dangers involved in the child's temporary or permanent separation from its parents. The possibility of later contacts with the parents will always be kept in mind.
The American Friends Service Committee has for many years served those who needed help, regardless of race, color, nationality, or creed. Their service to German children after the Great War has made it possible for them to serve the children of oppressed minorities in Germany today. They have taken a leading part in organizing the refugee work in Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium, and England.
Since the American Friends Service Committee has the confidence of all people here and abroad and has entry into Germany, we recommend that this committee act as the central agency for the selection of children abroad. To do this it will be necessary for the American Friends Service Committee to add to its staff abroad social workers well acquainted with the children's field in the United States and such other technical staff as may be needed. The International Migration Service, which has branches and correspondents in European countries and has had 15 years of experience in the international treatment of family problems, may also be of real assistance in aiding in the selection of children.
Selection of the children will at all times be subject to the statutory requirements of the immigration law and the rules and regulations imposed by the State and Labor Departments. Among such requirements is one of prime importance, that every immigrant must be of sound body and mind. The selection of children will be done in close cooperation with the Non-Sectarian Committee for German Refugee Children, so that the work of bringing the children to this country and the work of placing them in satisfactory homes under adequate supervision by accredited social agencies will be coordinated.
A PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN OF ALL FAITHS
The child refugees from Germany will be children of all faiths—Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish. The Nonsectarian Committee is therefore an agency appropriate to assume responsibility as the central organization in this country. It is recommended that this committee appoint to its board, outstanding experts in the field of child welfare. Working through such subcommittees as may be needed and in cooperation with the child-welfare agencies throughout the country, the Nonsectarian Committee will be in a position to allocate children to the agencies able and willing to accept them for placement and supervision.
RECEPTION OF THE CHILDREN
Children admitted to this country under the provisions of the Wagner-Rogers bill will be admitted on visas for permanent residence. Their papers must satisfy the governmental requirements and they must pass the physical and mental examinations required before entry. The admission procedure for immigrants arriving on crowded steamers is complicated and the experience is especially hard for children burdened by separation from their parents, oppressed by the experiences that forced exile from their native lands, and to whom all hope lies in acceptance by this country. It is, therefore, essential that the agency receiving these children shall be prepared to stand in the place of their parents, and guide them through their first contact with America. This can be accomplished by assigning staff members of accredited agencies to the task of handling the reception of these children.
Temporary shelter in the ports of entry will be necessary because of the unpredictable time of arrival of steamers and the unavoidable delays in the official procedure for admission. The proper allocation of the children to the various agencies throughout the country that have signified their willingness to accept them, will take place during the shelter stay. This period should also be used to provide the children with days of rest and relaxation and an opportunity for some reorientation prior to their departure for the areas to which they have been allocated for care.
No. 67—11
Since the children are to be placed on the basis of their religious affiliations, every effort must be made to secure accurate information as to the religious affiliations of their parents and their wishes as to the religious training of their children, and where that is not possible, the preference of the child. Such information must determine the choice of agency, foster home, or institution.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
Thousands of families in more than 40 States have offered to open their homes to these children. The investigation of these homes prior to the arrival of the children would enable the committee to expedite their distribution throughout the country, so that they would never be concentrated in large numbers at the ports of entry.
In order to perform this task and ensure sound placement and adequate supervision, it will be necessary to enlist and coordinate the facilities of accredited child-welfare agencies throughout the country. When needed, these existing facilities should be expanded through the allocation of funds by the nonsectarian committee for additional personnel rather than by the creation of new agencies.
PLACEMENT PROCEDURE
The first general principle for the treatment of children, now considered as a fundamental right, is the provision of normal home life. Proclaimed by the White House Conference of 1909, this principle has been reaffirmed by every subsequent White House conference, and is the first of the standards set by the Children's Bureau for such care.
This standard should be met wherever possible in regard to refugee children who, in every instance, have been forced to leave their own homes and country. Its application must not be rigid or mechanical. Where careful observation reveals that certain children are in need of the special benefits that can best be secured through group life special schools or institutions should be available. In every case the decision as to the placement must be based on case-work findings during the period of temporary shelter. Modification of the original decision as to placement will rest with the agencies to which the children have been allocated.
The selection of qualified responsible agencies by the nonsectarian committee will guarantee proper standards of care and obviate the necessity for working out a special schedule of standards. Certain essential requirements must be met by every cooperating agency:
(1) A competent case-work staff and adequate supervisory staffs, that will ensure the careful study and selection of foster homes; a skillful placement procedure, and supervision after placement in accordance with accepted case-work practices.
(2) Provision of thorough medical examinations and continuing medical care in accordance with accepted standards.
(3) Provision of psychological and psychiatric services either through their own staffs or through cooperating agencies in the community when the need for such service is indicated.
(4) Supervision of school placement and attendance in accordance with local laws.
(5) Responsibility for keeping individual case records including:
(a) Report of original information and investigation.
(b) Report of period of observation in temporary shelter.
(c) Report on placement, including foster home application, investigation, and periodic evaluations of home.
(d) Detailed report on supervision, including dates of all visits to foster homes, and comments by visitor.
(e) Reports on child's progress including complete medical record, psychological and psychiatric examinations, reports on adjustment in foster homes and school.
(f) Facts pertaining to child's own family received after allocation of child.
(g) Record of replacements.
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The Non-Sectarian Committee has assumed the financial responsibility for the care of these children. It will, therefore, provide the guaranties required by the United States Government. It will also serve as the central organization for the allocation of funds to local agencies that require assistance in order to provide adequate care and supervision for the children entrusted to them.
The total cost of the care for these children cannot be exactly determined at this time. Some of the children will undoubtedly be placed in free foster homes. Others at some future date may rejoin their own parents in other countries.
In order to safeguard the rights of parents and children the nonsectarian committee must maintain a central index so that at any time accurate information is available as to what agency is responsible for the care of each child. This central index should contain at least a minimum of identifying information, such as the names and addresses of living relatives, the child's residence at time of immigration, his religion, and such social data as is available.
SUMMARY
By requiring the careful selection of children abroad, maximum assurance can be secured that only potentially good citizens are brought to this country. By the supervision of their passage and reception in this country the hardship of separation from parents can be lessened, and the children prepared for their new homes. The careful selection and classification of homes together with adequate follow-up care will contribute much to the adjustment of the children. And the maintenance of proper records and a central index will make it possible for parents to locate their children and keep in touch with them.
The celebrated Lewis and Clark expedition (May 14, 1804, to September 23, 1806) up the Missouri to its source, across the Continental Divide and down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean and back again to St. Louis, had been undertaken under personal orders of President Thomas Jefferson, who long before, had planned an exploration to find a land route to the Pacific and active preparations for which, under the President's personal supervision, were in progress even before the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase.
Pike's two expeditions were undertaken under orders of Brig. Gen. James Wilkinson, civil governor of Louisiana Territory and commander of the military forces in that region. Although doubtless Pike's expeditions were reported to the War Department and known to the Commander in Chief soon after they were under way, there is nothing to indicate that they were initiated or planned by President Jefferson.
Pike's journal of his second or western expedition, written day by day in a soldier's matter-of-fact style, without literary embellishment, tells an inspiring story of indomitable will, of self-reliance, of iron discipline, of solicitude for the men under his command—all of whose hardships he shared equally with them, of calm fortitude in the face of every conceivable privation and danger, and of dauntless courage. It is a story with which every American should become familiar so that he might more fully realize how dearly was won the heritage of which many of us are now the unappreciative or indifferent, if not the querulously complaining, heirs.
One of the most interesting popular summaries of Pike's western expedition is the following address, delivered, a number of years ago, before the faculty and students of Colorado College in Colorado Springs, by the late Honorable Alva Adams, three times elected Governor of Colorado—the father of the present senior United States Senator from Colorado. It is a fitting tribute by a distinguished citizen and Governor of our State to a really great national hero, whose name is so closely identified with Colorado.
The address is as follows:
At the opening of the nineteenth century Europe was one vast military camp. Upon the crimson crest of revolution Napoleon had ridden into power. The destinies of France were placed in his hands, and he led the devoted nation where he willed. The ambitious Corsican aimed not alone to control the nations of the Old World, but he dreamed as well of empire in the new land that lay beyond the western sea.
The gateway to the interior of the American Continent was guarded by a French city. Over two centuries before French explorers had driven the prows of their adventurous ships upon the coast of Louisiana and in her soil planted a mighty cross and to it nailed the arms of France. Until 1762 the lilies of France guided the infant destinies of the forest empire. In that year, defeated by England in their rivalry for dominion in America, France, with the art of a tricky bankrupt, sought out a preferred creditor, and by secret treaty ceded Louisiana to Spain. For 38 years the new land languished under the blight of Spanish rule. Then, in return for Tuscany, Spain gave back to France the title deeds of Louisiana.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
Three years later, when preparing for war with England, need of money and the danger of Louisiana falling a prize to the naval supremacy of England forced Napoleon to give up his dream of a great Mississippi colony, and Louisiana was sold to Jefferson. No one, not even Jefferson, realized as fully as did the French Emperor the value of that which he sold. The price was sixteen millions, twelve millions cash and four millions to pay claims of American citizens for French spoliation.
“I have given to England a rival that will humble her pride.”
How different the voice of American statesmanship. Seldom has the tongue of an American been touched with the spirit of prophecy when casting the horoscope of the west. Napoleon could better read the stars that told the destiny of western greatness.
Jefferson realized that the nation that held the mouth of the Mississippi must be the enemy of the United States. He wanted freedom of the great river; but the empire to which his purchase led cast no rays upon his horizon. After the treaty was made, Jefferson said of Louisiana that “it was a barren sand; individuals will not buy; we gain nothing but peace.”
JEFFERSON DENOUNCED BY PARTISAN OPPONENTS FOR LOUSIANA PURCHASE
The Federalists denounced the purchase as corrupt and unconstitutional, and voted against the ratification of the treaty. New England denounced it as an illegal interference with the future balance of power of New England. When a Tennessee Member of Congress proposed a survey of some portions of the new purchase, a Member from New England made it the text for the following bitter assault: “No act of Jefferson's administration presents such a variety of disgraceful features as this shameful purchase of a colony of Frenchmen. In its origin it was corrupt; in its principles hostile to Constitution and republican habits. It has swallowed up millions aside from the vast sums required to explore its unknown frontier. The origin of this monstrous purchase, the effect of which will be felt to our latest posterity, was to give free navigation of the Mississippi to the backwoodsmen of the Western States.”
This spirit did not die. When, on January 15, 1811, the bill for the admission of Louisiana as a State was being considered, Josiah Quincy, who 2 years later left Congress to become president of Harvard College, opposed the admission of the new State in these picturesque sentiments:
“The illegal purchase of Louisiana had unsettled the foundations of the Government, and no State formed from illegal territory could enter the Union or become equal with the original States. I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that if this bill admitting Louisiana as a State passes, the bonds of the Union are virtually dissolved; and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some to prepare definitely for a separation—amicably if they can; violently if they must. We have no right to throw the rights, liberties, and property of original States into hotchpot with wild men of Missouri, nor with the mixed though more respectable race of Anglo-Spanish Americans. It was not for these men our fathers fought; it was not for them this Constitution was adopted.”
From these quotations we can see that South Carolina was not the first State to preach the gospel of secession.
Years later, when the Oregon question was before the people, William Sturgiss, in a lecture before the Mercantile Library Association of Boston, said: “Better the Pacific extend to the Rocky Mountains than to have the Oregon country converted into new States.”
In the light of the present, these assaults upon and evil predictions concerning the West are as full of humor as the fight of Cervantes' hero with the windmills. They show the pessimist of our day that angelic wings were as short and rare on the shoulders of our noble ancestors as with the statesmen of today. Our Nation has grown in breadth and power, but human nature has changed but little. Distance has wreathed the past with all the charms of its enchantment, so that to our gaze every act on the early stage of our history bears the character and proportions of a demigod and a hero, and their deeds in the political arena stamping their times as the golden age of statesmanship. Yet, in truth, men were as bitter, partisan, selfish, and narrow then as now. Time and tombstones are ever kind.
In the history of American progress there are but one or two events as important as the purchase of Louisiana. In the annals of mankind there have been few triumphs of warrior or statesman that have been so pregnant with the seeds of a great and a beneficent destiny. Yet was it attained with no stain of blood or crash of battle.
At midday in New Orleans, on December 20, 1803, the French and American flags passed each other, as the one was lowered and the other raised. There was no other ceremony to mark the great event. No cheering multitude. No cannon awoke the echoes of the surrounding solitude. No orator indulged in patriotic prophecy. There was no comment, no music, no emotion. Thus simply an empire passed from the dominion of France and became a part of the glory and grandeur of the American republic.
By this transfer the public domain was widely extended—almost beyond known limits.
PIKE'S TWO EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS
In order to learn more of the new land, Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike was placed in charge of an exploring party to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River. So satisfactorily did Pike perform this service that upon his return from the north he was selected by General Wilkinson to command a party that should explore the Arkansas and Red Rivers—the intent being to ascend the Arkansas to its source, and then pass over to the Red River and return home by that stream. It is with this last expedition that we will travel.
PIKE'S WESTWARD EXPEDITION
On July 15, 1806, Lieutenant Pike started from Belle Fontaine, a village a few miles above St. Louis. The expedition comprised 23 men, officers and soldiers. Their equipment consisted of the ordinary effects of a company of infantry. General Wilkinson issued $600 in value of merchandise, which was to be an expense and trading fund for this company of explorers. Pike was admonished to be careful in spending his supplies, as he would be held to a strict accountability for every farthing expended. Wilkinson evidently expected Pike to have the financial wisdom and business qualities of a Methodist bishop aside from his attainments as soldier
Pike kept a daily record, noting the country, weather, and all incidents he considered valuable or interesting. As a literary work, Pike's diary may not rank very high; but as the narration of a sincere and patriotic soldier it will ever hold a place in the esteem of those who admire the straightforward story of a simple and brave man.
As the record of Colorado's discover, the journal of the man who built the first house and raised the first American flag upon the domain of our present State, I commend the perusal of his book to every citizen that loves his State.
PIKE TREATS WITH THE INDIANS
Aside from his duty as explorer, Pike was instructed to visit the Pawnee and other Indian tribes and to make treaties of peace and alliance with them. This was not always easy to accomplish.
Not long before a splendid troop of Spanish cavalry, coming from Santa Fe, had passed through this same region upon a similar errand. In anticipation of boundary disputes arising between Spain and the United States, the Spaniards made an effort to form friendly alliances with the Indians. This troop was a magnificent body of men, 500 strong. Every soldier was mounted on a milk-white steed, while the commander and his two aides rode jet-black stallions. This cavalcade of Spaniards had been lavish in presents to the chiefs. They left medals and flags of the Spanish King. The Indians had been much impressed with the superb uniforms, with the glitter and the boast of the Spanish officers. They were, indeed, in strange contrast with the sorry equipments and number of the American soldiers. It required much diplomacy to induce them to surrender the Spanish emblem and receive the Stars and Stripes. Often the small troop was in imminent danger, but the wonderful coolness, courage, and decision of their leader saved them. With the Indians Pike was exacting, but just. As he wrote, “His experience had taught him that if you have justice on your side and do not enforce it, the Indians will universally despise you.”
The Pawnees he found very reluctant to accept his tenders of peace and protection. They had been fascinated and flattered with the attention and magnificence of the Spaniards, and they sought no alliance with any power less splendid. Like most primitive people, the Indians judged the king by his ambassador; the sender of a message by the display of the messenger that brought it. They looked with contempt upon this American captain, who wore the dress of a hunter; who carried packs and pioneered the trail. Like the Jews of old, they were disappointed in appearances and scoffed at Pike as being the representative of a mighty power, whose ambassador he claimed to be. Proud of their many hundred warriors, these Pawnees refused to treat or smoke. They gathered their warriors in battle array and threatened to sweep the little band of whites from the earth. But when they saw no fear or signs of retreat, but instead the most cool and determined preparations to meet their assaults, they changed their minds, and, under a flag of truce, offered the calumet. In writing of this event, Pike writes as though he was a little disappointed that the Pawnees did not carry out their intention to fight, “as he had arranged his small troop so as to kill at least 100 of the Indians before they could have been exterminated.”
UP THE ARKANSAS RIVER, ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS
Day by day they press up the Arkansas. At first on either hand great rolling prairies, and then the oceanlike plains. He is amazed at the vast herds of buffalo, deer, elk, and other game. A single hunter could supply a small army with food; but as a matter of humanity he forbids the killing of more game than required. Were it not that some of our living citizens have seen on the same plains herds of buffalo that were limited only by the horizon's line, and had felt the earth shake beneath their myriad tread, we might question the estimate Pike gives of the game he saw.
As Pike enters the buffalo country, he comments freely upon the barrenness and desolation. He forgets that game could not be so plentiful if the land were so desolate. So impressed was he with the worthlessness of the plains, that when, reviewing his travels across them, he said: “The plains may in time become equally celebrated with the deserts of Africa. From these immense prairies may arise one great advantage to the United States by the restricting of our population to some certain limits, and thereby insuring a continuation of the Union. Our citizens through necessity will be constrained to limit their extent on the west to the Mississippi and Missouri, leaving the prairies—incapable of cultivation—to the uncivilized aborigines.”
Pike, Quincy, Webster, and other of our famed ancestors were great explorers and statesmen, but as prophets they were failures.
FIRST VIEW OF THE MEXICAN MOUNTAINS
After many days the mountains burst upon the vision of the explorers. To the left a pair of twin peaks cut the horizon; to the right a mighty single mountain stood like a sentinel upon the boundary of plain and mountain.
From the first sight of the grand peak it became the pole star—the compass of the explorer. During all his wanderings over plain and mountain he was seldom out of sight of the great mountain which he called his friend and guide, and a grateful people have made it his monument—one that will carry the name of Pike down the stream of time. Seldom have peaks been so royally named; seldom have heroes been worthy so lofty a commemoration.
PIKE TRIES BUT FAILS TO CLIMB “THE GRAND PEAK”
When Pike reached the mouth of the Fountaine, and where Pueblo now stands, he established camp, built a rude temporary stockade, and over it raised the first American flag that had ever been kissed by the radiant sun and floated upon the crystal air of the Rocky Mountains. Considering it his duty as an explorer to ascend a peak that was such a prominent feature of the landscape, Pike, with several soldiers, took an early start one morning from his Pueblo camp, so that he might reach and climb the peak and return to camp in reasonable time. To their infinite surprise, the second day had well near passed before they came to the south end of Cheyenne Mountain. In this incident you will find the germ of that ancient story that is told to and about every tenderfoot that has visited this region since the days of Pike. It was near the first of December, and a winter of deep snow and intense cold. They had no blankets and little food, but they determined to attempt the ascent. After the best part of 2 days' struggling through the snow they found themselves upon the top of the great ridge which, west of Cheyenne, leads up to the peak. They were in snow to their waists, and the mercury below zero.
This was the first attempt to scale Pike's Peak, and that was as near as Pike ever came to its summit. Sixteen years later, Dr. James and others of Long's exploring party ascended the Peak in midsummer. It is a different task climbing Colorado mountains in August than in December.
In honor of this first ascent Long gave the name of James to the peak, and that is the name it bears in early Government maps and reports. Pike gave it no specific name, and just when the name of James was dropped and it was christened Pike is one of the historical mysteries. I question whether it was ever legally baptized Pike. Trappers, traders, and early voyagers across the plains resented the apparent slight to Pike and persisted in speaking of the mountain as Pike's Peak, in defiance of Government reports and the envy of rival explorers. The name of Pike's Peak begins to appear in the literature of the prairies and mountains about the middle of the century, but it was not irrevocably christened until the Pike's Peak gold excitement, when the name was fixed to remain as long as men love to listen to stories of valor; as long as history is written.
UP THE ARKANSAS TO THE GRAND CANYON, OR ROYAL GORGE, AND INTO SOUTH PARK
From Pueblo, Pike passed up to the soda springs at Canon. The walls of the Grand Canyon prevented his following the course of the Arkansas. From here he drifted over the divide into South Park and upon the waters of the Platte. He recognized the streams as tributary to the Platte. He came into the Arkansas Valley again near Buena Vista. He wandered west over routes we cannot identify until he must have found the Tomichi, a tributary of the Gunnison, and the only time Pike touched Pacific waters. He recognized that this stream running west could not be the Red he sought, and turned east and south. After a month of incredible exposure, hardship, and suffering, he came back to his camp at Canon. His horses had been killed or disabled; his men were worn and frozen, weak and faint from exposure and starvation; his supplies exhausted; guns injured and broken. During this terrible month of wandering in the wintry mountains the Christmas holidays and Pike's twenty-eighth birthday were passed. Christmas they spent in the heart of the mountains. They were almost starving and in a strange and wintry land. Yet this heroic man writes in his journal on that Christmas Day “that food and diet were beneath the serious consideration of men who explore new countries.” So often were their rations scant that “his men thought themselves fortunate with having plenty of buffalo meat without salt or any other thing whatever.” As he was in camp celebrating this holiday he writes of the condition of his men: “Not one person was properly clothed for winter; many without blankets, having been obliged to cut them up for socks and other articles; laying down at night upon the snow or wet ground, one side burning, the other pierced with the wind, the men making a miserable substitute for shoes and other covering out of raw buffalo hide.”
HORSES WORN OUT AND ABANDONED
At Canon camp they remained 5 days to recruit the strength of their men, and to make other necessary preparations for an assault against the mountains to the west, which was the barrier that they supposed hid the river they sought. When leaving Canon, the party was on foot, the horses living being in no condition to travel. The luggage was divided, giving 70 pounds to each man.
FOUR DAYS WITHOUT SLEEP OR FOOD
From Canon they started up Grape Creek. After 2 or 3 days they entered Wet Mountain Valley. Snow fell, covering the country to a depth of 2 to 3 feet. Most of the game had been driven out of the mountains, and the party was soon in a desperate condition, frost and hunger making sad havoc. On January 17 nine of the men had their feet frozen, among them the hunters. They had been 2 days without food, so a camp was made, and Pike and Dr. Robinson—his friend and companion—went out to hunt. The first day they killed nothing. Night came on and they thought it useless to go to camp and add to the general gloom, so took shelter under some rocks, where they remained all night, hungry and without cover or rest, as the cold was too intense to permit sleep. Next day they got eight shots at a buffalo, but failed to kill. Here, for the first time in his career, Pike weakened in courage. They had been 4 days without food, and the helpless men depending upon them. All these 4 days without sleep and tramping the deep snow, they were weak and faint, and it looked as though fate had decreed that the expedition should end in tragedy. They sought a small grove, determined to remain absent and die by themselves rather than return to camp and witness the misery of their companions. Just as they had made this resolution of despair, they discovered at a distance several buffalo. Hope at once took command, and with great exertion they crept through the snow and succeeded in killing a buffalo. At midnight they returned to camp with the food that saved the lives of the men and the exploration from tragic failure.
CROSSING THE SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS IN JANUARY
On January 21 two men—Thomas Dougherty and John Sparks—were so badly frozen that they could not travel. A cruel alternative was forced upon the leader. For all to remain with the poor cripples was almost equivalent to deciding that all must perish. The two were left. They gathered wood and left what meat remained with the poor men. After bidding them show their fortitude and bear up until help could be sent back, the party pushed on. A day or so later another man—Menaugh—became helpless, and he was left alone—not even the consolation of a comrade.
In all the danger and risk of exploration, be it in mountain land or polar ice, I know of nothing more terrible and desperate than the condition of these poor men left to fight the awful perils of a severe winter in the unknown mountain land. They were helpless; they could not hunt or fight; they could not retreat or go on. Their agony and suspense cannot be measured by words. I know of no parallel, unless it be in the solitary leper camps in the wintry solitude of the Siberian forests.
DAYS WITHOUT FOOD, FLOUNDERING THROUGH 3 FEET OF SNOW, EACH MAN CARRYING 70 POUNDS OF BAGGAGE
On January 24 the condition of the party again became desperate—no food, and heavy snow through which they beat their slow and painful march. On this day Pike heard the first complaint that had ever fallen from the lips of his men. To illustrate the man as a soldier and a disciplinarian, I will give this incident. Floundering through the snow, famished from want of food, Private Brown scolded and said, “that it was more than human nature could bear to march 3 days without food through snows 3 feet deep and carry burdens only fit for horses.”
PIKE'S REPRIMAND FOR THE ONLY MUTINOUS REMARK ON THE EXPEDITION
Pike passed over the sedition at the moment, but that evening, after the company had broken their long fast and eaten their fill of game the doctor had been so fortunate as to kill, Pike called Brown and addressed him as follows:
“Brown, you this day presumed to make use of language that was seditious and mutinous. I then passed it over, pitying your condition and attributing your conduct to your distress. Had I reserved provisions for ourselves, whilst you were starving; had we been marching along light and at our ease, whilst you were weighed down with your burden, then you would have some pretext for your observations. But when we were equally hungry, weary, emaciated, and charged with burdens which, I believe, my natural strength is less able to bear than any man's in the party; when we are always foremost in breaking the road, reconnoitering, and enduring the fatigues of the chase, it was the height of ingratitude for you to indicate discontent. Your ready compliance and firm perseverance I had reason to expect, as the leader of men who are my companions in misery and danger. But your duty as a soldier called on your obedience to your officer and a prohibition of such language, which, for this time, I will pardon; but assure you, should it ever be repeated, by instant death I will revenge your ingratitude and punish your disobedience.”
PIKE REACHES THE CONEJOS, A TRIBUTARY OF THE RIO GRANDE, AND BUILDS A SMALL FORT
Two days later Pike stood upon the summit of Medano or Music Pass and looked out upon the San Luis Valley. After his experience it is no marvel that it seemed to him to be “a terrestrial paradise shut in from the sight of man.” They hastened down the pass, skirted the range of sand hills, crossed the valley, arriving at the Rio Grande near where Alamosa stands, passed down the river a few miles to the mouth of the Conejos, up which stream they went a short distance to the warm springs, near where Judge McIntire now has his ranch and home. Here Pike determined to establish a camp and build a fort. As soon as his camp was located he sent a corporal and men to bring in the frozen men that had been cached in the mountains.
In due time they returned, bringing in Menaugh, the man left alone on January 27. Dougherty and Sparks were still unable to travel and could not be brought. As the corporal was leaving them they gave him a handful of bones (taken from their frozen feet) to be delivered to Pike as silent messages of appeal that he would not forget or abandon them.
Pike explored the surrounding valley and kept his men busy building the stockade.
On February 16 two Spanish scouts appeared. They went direct to Santa Fe to report the presence of American soldiers on Spanish territory.
ONE HUNDRED SPANISH TROOPS “INVITE” PIKE AND HIS PARTY TO “VISIT” THE GOVERNOR AT SANTA FE
Ten days later 100 Spanish or Mexican soldiers present their compliments to the American captain. They bore an invitation to visit Governor Alencaster at Santa Fe. Pike was reluctant, but they were persistent in their offer of hospitality, offering money, horses, supplies, everything, but insisting upon Pike visiting the Governor, giving as an excuse for insisting the clumsy fable that they had learned of the intention of the Utah Indians to surprise and capture Pike, and that they could not permit a representative of the United States to submit himself to so great danger.
PIKE SURPRISED TO LEARN HE WAS IN SPANISH TERRITORY
In discussing the matter, the Spanish captain informed Pike that he was upon the Rio Grande and not upon the Red. Pike then pulled down his flag and realized that he was a prisoner, no matter how they might cushion the fact with offers of friendly hospitality. Pike said he would visit the governor, but that he must wait until he could bring in his invalid men. This was adjusted by leaving 50 of the Spanish soldiers to wait, while the balance of the troop escorted Pike to Santa Fe.
LIEUTENANT PIKE BEFORE GOVERNOR ALENCASTER IN SANTA FE
He is entertained by Governor Alencaster and maintains himself with becoming dignity. In fact, he never forgets that he represents the United States, and always insists that the Spanish officials recognize in him the power of his Government. When presented at the little court at Santa Fe, Pike was much chagrined at the appearance of himself and men. As he described their clothes, Pike was dressed in a pair of blue trousers, moccasins, coat made out of a blanket, and a red cap made of scarlet cloth and lined with fox skins; the men in raw buffalo moccasins and leggings, breech cloths, leather coats, and not a hat in the party. A native, looking upon their motley raiment, asked if the people in the United States did not wear hats and regular clothes. Under such conditions it would take a keen eye to see the hero.
After entertaining the American, the governor said Pike must go into the interior until he could receive instructions from higher authorities. The leader and men were allowed their arms and, though carefully guarded, they were treated with consideration. Pike seemed rather pleased at the new orders, as it gave him an opportunity to see the Spanish territory. In case he was ill-treated, he had determined to drive off the guards and then go into the Apache country and defy the Spaniards.
UNDER MILITARY ESCORT TO CHIHUAHUA AND BACK TO THE AMERICAN FRONTIER ON THE RED RIVER
They passed through Albuquerque and El Paso and across the Rio Grande into Old Mexico to Chihuahua, south along the great table land, until May 21, when, under new instructions, they turned east and north, crossed the country to Monterey, Laredo, and to San Antonio, the capital of the Spanish Province of Texas. Here Pike was entertained in the most friendly manner by two courtly Spanish governors. An escort was provided, which accompanied him across Texas and delivered him to the American frontier on the Red River.
Here ended the memorable expedition of Pike to the Rocky Mountains.
Connected with this exploration were several incidents that are not free from mystery, and may well serve as hooks upon which the ambitious historian may hang his romantic theories.
PIKE CERTAINLY NOT IMPLICATED IN THE BURR CONSPIRACY
About the time this expedition was organized the Burr conspiracy was in the minds of the people. There was much feeling between the settlers west of the Allegheny Mountains and the States east. Nearly all of the prominent men of the West were under suspicion. General Wilkinson, then in command of the western army, has been proven by recently discovered documents to have been a “rascal through and through.” He was in sympathy and perhaps in the confidence of Burr. Wearing the uniform and sword of an American officer, he was in the pay of Spain, and conspired to create out of the Colonies west of the mountains a Spanish empire. It was Wilkinson who sent Pike west; but no matter how guilty may have been his superior in command, Pike certainly had no knowledge of his schemes. Pike was innocent of any stain. He was a patriot as pure and sincere as Wilkinson was a traitor base and ungrateful.
When Pike returned to his country, the Burr conspiracy had exploded, and its leader was on trial for his life at Richmond. The relations between the United States and Spain were very much strained. Our Nation was a growing power; Spain in its decadence. Any accident that might lead to a conflict that would drive Spain from the continent would not have been regarded by Americans as an unmixed evil.
Some careful students of American history entertain the theory that Pike had secret instructions to spy out the land and not to be too particular in recognizing the territorial claims of Spain. It is not entirely clear that Pike was as innocent as he professed of his whereabouts when captured in the San Luis Valley. Some believe that he knew he was upon the Rio Grande and not upon the Red, as he pretended to believe. But had it been the Red instead of the Rio Grande, what right had he to be on the south side of the river, his rude fort being several miles south of the stream and under an abeyance treaty upon forbidden ground? The Spaniards believed that Pike carried secret orders to intrude upon their territory. However, they could not trick him into any admissions, and though they secretly searched his baggage and clothing, they found nothing. Certainly his conduct was well poised for an accidental invader. When building his fort he was apparently as much expecting the Spaniards as surprised when they did come. He was a very willing prisoner, and his attitude was always that of a man who was sure of the endorsement of his country. If the Spaniards were right and Pike did have secret instructions, they came from Washington, and the secret is buried with the authority that gave them and the faithful soldier that received them. The Spaniards could get no hint, though they led Pike a prisoner-guest through their country, and finally delivered him upon his own frontier without apology or explanation.
PIKE A GREAT PATRIOT AND SOLDIER
The Government never had a more discreet or patriotic representative—a man of indomitable will and of rare personal courage.
In nearly every man there is a strain of barbarism, a lingering hint of a bygone ancestry, that sometimes, when remote from civilization, will assert itself. Pike was ever proof against the charms of savagery. He was ever a soldier, whether in camp, in wilderness or city. No El Dorado, no Spring of Youth, no dream of wealth, led him into the unknown. He had no idol but his country. Patriotic duty was the polar star that guided his career.
Amid our surroundings, touched upon every side with comfort and luxury, it is not possible to paint a true picture of this region as it was when these brave men came to explore and suffer. With the courage, strength, and endurance weakened—if not civilized and cultured out of the present generation—we cannot realize how men could willingly face the hazard of an expedition so far from settlement or help. There was no certainty but of hardship and danger; no reward, but the miserable pittance of a soldier's pay; no hope of glory or fame—800 miles from outposts of their country, and that distance peopled with all the danger that could assail the fears, comfort, and life. Their numbers few, equipments scanty, commissary their own skill as hunters; no refuge from savage assaults; no friends in reach; no help in danger; no shelter in storm; no medicine in illness; never men more dependent upon themselves; never men more competent to care for themselves.
Poetry and romance never wove a more pathetic and pitiable story of exposure and misery, of hunger and frozen limbs, than the sufferings of Pike and his little band in the Rocky Mountains. It is a rare lesson of courage and patriotic sacrifice.
The biography of our hero remains unwritten. A land is rich in heroism that can afford to let such lives go unmarked. Edward Everett Hale has half promised that he will weave the life and deeds of Pike into one of his brilliant books. The subject is worthy even of Dr. Hale's genius. Pike was not one of those characters designated by Irving as “Sinbads of the wilderness,” but a man of high purpose and exalted character. Courage so undaunted, a patriotism so lofty, adventures so wild and strange need no color of romance.
PIKE KILLED WHILE LEADING THE SUCCESSFUL ATTACK UPON YORK, NOW TORONTO, CANADA
His years were few but full of achievement. He died a brigadier general at 34. He was killed while in command at the siege of York—now Toronto—April 27, 1813. As he fell mortally wounded, the enemy sounded a retreat. Their flag was captured and brought to the dying general. He grasped the captured banner, placed it beneath his head, and, like Wolfe, died the death of a soldier. The last sound that broke upon his fading senses was the song of victory.
When he fell upon the Canadian battlefield his notebook was crimsoned with his life blood. That book contained his inheritance to his young son. It was not wealth, it was not title deeds to vast estates, but it was more precious than either. It was two rules for the guidance of his son's life. They were, first, “Preserve your honor from blemish”; second, “To be ready at all times to die for your country.” Typical were they of the life of the father—a worthy inheritance to every American youth.
May each of you, as morning and evening you look upon the magnificent mountain that guards your beautiful city and crowns our land, not only drink in the scenic beauty and grandeur, but think as well of the brave soldier, pure patriot, and noble man whose name it bears, remembering that—
“His life was his country's;
His deeds were all his own.”
Alva Adams.
Old-Age Security
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. GERALD W. LANDIS
OF INDIANA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, April 4, 1939
Mr. LANDIS. Mr. Speaker, I love the old people, every last one of them, and I shall always stand for liberal old-age pensions. I believe that when a man or woman has lived 60 years in our good old United States, the richest country in the world in natural resources, that the least the Government can do to repay them for being good citizens, good taxpayers, and good parents, is to see that they have peace, security, and the necessities of life during their remaining years.
The old-age pension is here to stay. Public opinion has decreed that. Under our old-age assistance system there are too many clerks, case work, supervisors, junior and senior visitors. Let us give the old people, all of them, a uniform, liberal pension without any strings to it, at no more cost to the taxpayer. Let us do away with the hundreds of thousands of dollars we are spending for useless help and give that money to the old folks instead. The old people want security and peace. They do not want to be upset every 6 months by a Government reinvestigation to see whether or not they have gotten rich off their allowance during the last 6 months.
Let us stop the Government from going any further into the real-estate business.
Everyone in America is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How can our people have happiness when we have 11,000,000 unemployed and one-third of our population is undernourished, ill-clad, and ill-housed in a land of plenty?
Under our present system, with our crop control with millions hungry, surplus cotton and millions in rags, American markets are still flooded with cheap foreign-made goods, prison-made goods, and cheap agricultural products.
I believe in a pay-as-you-go plan for old-age security. A 2-percent transaction tax given to our old people over 60 years of age will increase and distribute buying power which will employ our idle millions. These people must be American citizens; they must spend their money every 30 days; they must spend it for American-made products; and they must retire from their jobs.
I do not contend this is a $200 per month pension. It may only bring $50 to $75 per month at first. I know it will increase, because our buying power will increase.
The 1-percent gross income tax in Indiana provides $700 per teacher in salaries of nearly 20,000 teachers. It permits the State of Indiana to match the county units of Government dollar for dollar on welfare costs. It has reduced the property tax one-third in the State of Indiana. The gross income tax in Indiana is not passed on to the consumer.
It is my sincere belief that a transaction tax would be willingly borne by the American people because every American is for a decent old-age pension for our old folks. The recent Gallup poll in connection with old-age pensions conclusively proved this fact.
We can see the need for a program of plenty. Certainly in a country abounding in unlimited natural resources, and with an efficient production system, there must be some sensible way to solve our problem. We must find a balance between production and consumption and enable every individual who is willing to work to have an opportunity to earn a decent living. We have the customers. There are millions of them, but they lack buying power. We can retire the old people and put the young people to work at real jobs.
We owe a duty to our old folks, and I believe we can perform this duty by enacting the Townsend plan into law.
LAWRENCE LEWIS
1st Dist. Colorado
(DENVER)
RECEIVED
MAY 1 1939
SECRETARY'S OFFICE
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WASHINGTON, D.C.
April twenty-second 1939
Mr. Martin A. Roberts
Chief Assistant Librarian
Library of Congress
Washington
Dear Mr. Roberts:
Herewith I enclose pages 5310-5314 of the Congressional Record for April 4, 1939, including an “Extension of Remarks” by me in which is embodied a reprint of an address, delivered a number of years ago before the students and faculty of Colorado College at Colorado Springs by the late Honorable Alva Adams of Pueblo, Colorado, (the father of our present senior United States Senator) on “The Louisiana Purchase and one of its First Explorers, Zebulon Montgomery Pike”.
It occurred to me that you may be interested to have this.
With heartiest personal greetings, I am
Sincerely yours
First
Explorer of the Louisiana Purchase but “
one
of its first explorers.” Lewis and Clark were the first. Gov. Adams was are enthusiastic adviser of Pike and spent much time reading everything he could find about Pike. Therefore I have never been able to understand the error (top of page 8 of the printed copy of the address) in which the statement is made that Pike started on his
January 24
, 1806. Pike's journal clearly states the expedition left Belle Fontaine,
July 15,
1806. In the footnotes (pp. 5311 and 5312 of Congressional Record) I have also corrected two other minor errors. h.h.
EW
April 29, 1939
Dear Mr. Lewis:
It was kind of you to send us pages 5310–5314 of the Congressional Record for April 4, 1939 including an extension of remarks by you, in which is included an address of the late Honorable Alva Adams of Colorado on “The Louisiana Purchase and one of its First Explorers, Zebulon Montgomery Pike.” Your remarks and the Address are extremely interesting and are a real contribution to historical source material.
Thank you for calling our attention to the few minor errors in the printed copy of Governor Alva Adams' address which you recently presented to the Library. We shall insert in the copy a small notice of corrections.
With kind personal regards and appreciation of your kindness and courtesy,
Very sincerely,
Chief Assistant Librarian.
Hon. Lawrence Lewis
U. S. House of Representatives
WASHINGTON, D. C.
SECRETARY'S OFFICE
TO