Note 52 — HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS
Reading edition
“We the undersigned members of the Kickapoo Tribe of Indians in Kansas most earnestly petition you to help us keep out the pellote, or mescal, from our people. We realize that it is bad for us Indians to indulge in that stuff. It makes them indolent, keeps them from working on their farms, and taking care of their stock. It makes men and women neglect their families. We think it will be a great calamity for our people to begin to use the stuff.... We most urgently petition you that immediate action must be taken before the stuff gets hold of our people” (Seymour, Peyote Worship, 183).