The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1888-03-02
WEALTHY INDIANS.


hhoaFaHG ssoon AntGrrhts
A visitor to the Usage Reservation,
Indian Territory, II he has a mind to
study the human race under VARYING
conditions. finds much OF interest He
Is inter primos among the aristocrats.
The Usage Indians are about the only
example now left In the United States
OF a real aristocracy. They do not
depend upon Government rations, rs
do the Cheyennes and others, at all,
but have enough of their own undis-
puted property TO make them the
wealthiest community In the country.
Besides the land of the reservation,
which belongs TO them by title hard
TO assail. they have about $1,000, 600
bearing five per cent interest In the
hands OF the Government They are
paid about s250,000 year In cash.
The entire tribe numbers only 900,
SO that they are actually the richest
body of people we have.
The Osages have all the attributes of
an aristocracy. They own the land.
do absolutely no work. have plenty OF
money. know nothing of barter and
sale, and therefore not much of the
meanness which eharacterizes all COM
mercial Glasses. They envy nobody,
and are satisfied with themselves and
their customs. With the virtues OF
aristocracy they have Its vices. With
generosity they have shiftlessness and
lnziness In perfection. Though mag
nificent pastures lie before them for
miles, few of them take the trouble TO
own cattle, the majority preferring TO
buy beef cattle already slaughtered
and cat up from the traders They
are not even hunters and fishers. Their
lives are spent in lying ground under
tents and shanties. eating to repleiion
and filling their blood with impurities
which they do not take exercise enough
to get rid Of Bad habits have brought
on bronchial and scrofuious diseases.
which are helping TO still further re-
duce their number. They have no
faith In white physicians. and their
own mecdcine-men have as much iniln-
ence as one hundred years ago.
Each member of the tribe. including
women and children. receives about
one hundred dollars a year. The
more wives and children an Usage has.
therefore. the richer he Is. In spite Of
this encouragement the tribe is de-
ereasing. A white physician at the
agency estimates that the rate of de-
crease Is not less than two per cent. a
year among the full bloods. The half
iloods are increasing. II can be nj
once reckoned that in another half CEN
tury the full-bloods will have gone,
and the splendid inheritance will be in
the possession of white men and their
children, even IL no new policy is
adopted by the Government TO hasten
the catastrophe.
The full-bloods are nearly all honest
and manly in their way They have an
idea that every thing on the reservation
belongs to them. and they go behind the
counters and among the goods of the
post-traders as freely as though they
were proprietors- Up to certain point
they understand business-debit and
eredit-but not much beyond the sim
plest forms. As might be expected,
they are chronically in debt They
want to buy every thing they see, and
think little of prices, and give away as
readily as they buy. Other tribes not
so well provided with worldly goods
are fond of visiting the Osages, and on
these occasions the custom of .ssmok-
ing" presents works to the disadvan-
tage of the wealthier. Several hundred
ponies and large amounts of various
property have thus been given to the
Kaws and other poorer tribes within
Jew years.
Can the Osages be civilized7 OF
course they can. They are not civil
ized, to be sure. They speak little
English, and wear the blanket and
breech-clout; they allow their women
20 die by scores and compel them to do
al the work; they are too lazy to raise
cattle when pasture and feed cost
neither money nor work; they keep up
the dances and paints, and cut their
hair in helmet fashion. All these things
they do. but they could be easily taught
10 adopt the customs of civilization.
Five years of education scientifically
applied would make them equal to the
Cherokees in civilization and superior
10 them in force of character. .-Hdnsds
CITY Times.