Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-06-20
RICHEST OF ALL TRIBES.
BIG FUND OF THE OSAGE INDIANS
ls THE TREA.-Rx.

Ttme-A Millionaire Indian In Kansas.
How the Enormous Sum Accumulated.
Speaking of visit to the Indian Ter
ritory some years ago Senator Platt said;
when | was at the trading post of the
Usage Indians was much amused to see
an Indian buying a barrel of good -four
for himself aud barrel of cheap -four
for the white man who worked for him.
The Usage Indians can afford to be lux
urious. They are the wealthiest Indians
in the United States.
1t is estimated at the Indian office that
the Usage indians-men, women and
children-are worth S15, 600 each in what
ought to be as good as CASH O., salable
land and the governments promise to
pay. So great is the interest on the sum
/ held by the United States to their credit
that the secretary of the interior will not
pay out ali of it at one time, and a
gradual increment is adding to the mill
ions already credited to the tribe on the
books of the government.
The Osages came to their wealth
through the sale Of their lands in Kansas
when they were moved to a reservation
in what is now known as Oklahoma ter
ritory. One Indian abandoned his tribe
ard 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, having abandoned
his tribe, he has ceased to be a subject
of solicitude to the gentlemen in charge
of Indian affairs at the national capital.
The land belonging to the other Indians
was bought by the government and
thrown open to settlement.
THE INDIANS AND THE GOVERNMENT.
In buying this property the govern
ment did not make any 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 receive interest on that amount.
There was no deposit made to secure
this Indebtedness 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 prac-
tlce of the goyernment-its exclusive
practice-for many years.
A long time ago the treasury depart
ment 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 indebted
ness to the Indian tribes But on the
majority of them no interest has been
paid by the states for long time; in
fact the bonds in effect have been re-
pudiated,
The government, however, under its
contract with the Indians, is held liable
for the interest which these bonds should
have drawn This interest it has as
sumed. So the purchase of the state
bonds was losing investment for the
government. Its unhappy experience in I
this direction has taught it the wisdom
Of securing its debts to the Indian, like
its other obligations, with promise to
pay,
In the deposits to the credit Of the
~.
5l5. The annual interest on this is S407,- /
376, There are about 500 Osages on
the reservation in Oklahoma. The ex-
act number mentioned in the last annual
report of the Indian commissioner il 4
1876; but this, of course varies from
time to time. The members of this
tribe, men, women and children, are
Joint sharprs in the interest money IA
it is paid to the tribe it is divided equally
among them. 1t is drawn by the head
of each family for himself. his wife and
his children.
HOW THE MONEY IS SPENT.
The Indian with large family draws
a goodly sum each month. Even the
amount to which the single Indians are
entitled is large-for an Indian. 1t has
been the policy for the secretary Of the
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