, 1891-05-21
WEALTHY REDSKINS.
The Usage Indians Big Fund
in the Treasury.
Members Of the Tribe are
Worth s15,O OO Each.
A Millionaire Indian Real
Estate Owner.
Richest of All Nations.

WASHINGTON, May 20.-Speakiug of a
visit to the Indian Territory some years
& Senator Plat said recently: When
| was at the trading post OF the Usage In
dians | was much amused to see an In
dian buying a barrel of good -four for
himself and a barrel of cheap -four for the
white man VINO worked for him" The
Usage Indians can afford TO be luxurious.
They are the wealthiest Indians in the
United States. 1t is estimated at the In
dian efice that Usage Indians-men, wo-
men and children-are worth $751; 600
each in what ought to be as good as cash,
1. E., salable land and the governments
promise to pay. So great is the interest
on the sun held by the United States to
their credit that the secretary OF the iu-
terror will not pay out all of it at one time
and a gradual increment is adding to the
millions already credited to the tribe
on the books of the government
The Usages came by their wealth
through the sale of their lands in Kansas
when they we're moved to a reservation in
what is now known as Oklahoma terri
tory. One Indian abandoned his tribe
and chung to his Kansas land, and it is
said that today through the appreciation
In the value of that land, he Is worth a
million dollars. He is perhaps the richest
Indian in the world. Nothing is known
OF him at the Indian office because, hay
ing abandoned his tribe, he has ceased to
be a subject OF solicitude to the gentle
men in charge of Indian affairs at the
national capita. The land belonging to
the other Indians was bought by the gov.
and thrown open to settlement.
In buying this property the government
did not make an actual payment for it.
1t announced TO the Osages that they had
been credited with the amount of the
purchase money and that they would re-
ceive interest on that amount. There
was no deposit made to secure the in
debtedness of the government. There is
nothing to represent it in the treasury
department except the record of the
fact that it has been assumed by
the government. This has been
the practice of the government-its ex-
elusive practice-for many wears. A long
tint ago the treasury department used TO
purchase Southern state bonds with the
purchase price of Indian lands and hold
them in trust for the Indians. A great
many of these Southern state bonds are
now in the treasury vaults, held in trust
to secure Indebtedness to the Indian
tribes. But on the majority of those no
interest has been paid by the states for a
long time; in fact, the bonds IN effect rave
been repudiated. The government, how
ever, under it's contract with the Indians,
is held liable for the interest which these
bonds should rave drawn. This interest
1t has assumed. So the purchase of the
state bonds was a losing investment for
the government. Its unhappy experience
in this direction has taught it the wisdom
OF securing its debts to the Indians, like
its other obligations, with a promise to
pay.
In the deposits to the credit Of the
Usage Indians there is one item OF SS,l47,-
SIS. There are about 1900 Osages on
the reservation in Oklahoma. The exact
number mentioned in the last annual re-
FORT of the Indian commissioner is 1896;
but this, of course, varies from time to
time. The members of this tribe, men,
women, and children, are Joint sharers in
tribe it is divided equally among them.
1t is drawn by the head of each family
for himself, his wife, aud his children.
The Indian with a large family draws a
Goodly SUN each month. Even the
amount to which the single Indians are
entitled is large-for an Indian. 1t has
been the policy Of the secretary of the in
terror. acting for the president, who, On
der the law, is the trustee for the indians,
to pay to the Usage tribe only a part of
the money to which it is entitled. The
amount paid annually was for a long time,
$780, 00. Two years ago the payment
was increased, at the request of the In
dams, to $500, 900 a year. That is less
than 10 per cent of the amount due the
Indians, and the other 25 per cent goes
toward swelling the amount with which
the tribe is credited on the treasury books.
What will be done with this slowly in
creasIng capital and the corresponding in
c~reasing interest on it Is a question with
which the government has not yet troubled
itself.
Occasionally some of the interest money
which is due to the Osages is expended
for their benefit by the secretary of the
interior within his discretion. The In
dian Office has on hand now plans for a
$50, 600 building to be used as a dormi-
tory and school in connection with the
education of the Usage children. The
council of the tribe requested the secretary
TO make this expenditure. The govern
ment looks after the education OF the
Osages and a special fund is set aside for
educational purposes. The government
supplies them with agricultural imDle-
ments and a great many other things
which the Indians could very well afford
to buy for themselves. They do buy a
a great many Injuries. Very few OF them
save any of the money which is paid to
to them by the government. The trader