The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-06
40, THE POOR INDIAN,

the political boards is that which has
been running for some years and is
yet far from it's last act, within the
borders of our own state, the official
title of which is the Nelson Chippewa
Allotment Act, but whose popular title
is ''How to Milk the Cow" The latest
scene-shifting preparatory to more
milking presents an occasion for re-
view and comment Like all of our
dealings with the Indians there was in
this allotment act a pretense and a
motive, and, as usual, there was no
connection between them. The pre-
tense was a desire to improve the men
tai, moral and physical status Of the
Chippewas by getting them to locate on
eighty-acre farms and cultivate them.
The motive was to get the reservation
reduced and the valuable pine made
accessible to the lumbermen. Gov
eminent kindly took charge Of the
work, thoughtfully relieving the Chip
pewas of all care. It gave them their
own land for farms, built them houses,
bought them oxen, COWS and plows,
and undertook to recoup itself by the
sale of the pine on their lands.
1t was provided that no pine should
be sold for less than SO a thousand
feet, and this required that the guam
tity of standing pine should be 'esti..
mated" This could only be properly
done by cruisers accustomed to the
work and capable of reaching a very
close estimate of the standing pine.
Here two antagonistic interests came
into play. The lumbermen, having to
buy on these estimates at a minimum
price, naturally wanted the estimates
made as low as possible and wished
to- select the estimators. The politi-
clans, regarding only the Sc a day paid
pay off some of their debts with these
places. Singularly at the first the
lumbermen won, and all during the
Harrison administration some thirty
men leisurely traversed the reserva-
ton, regularly drew their per diem,
estimated the pine by forties, made
their reports and thanked their stars
for their SNAP"
But there spread ugly rumors Of
Understanding. There were Chippe-
was who knew something about pine
re nroti
funeral" their pine that was paying
the bills, and, naturally, they wanted
all there was in it. The complaints
grew clamorous. 1t was ascertained
that nearly all the estimators were
former employees of lumbermen who
would bid on the pine Then the adj
ministration shifted. Noble went out
and Hoke Smith came in. An investi-
cation was ordered and scandalous
Understanding discovered. There was
clean sweep made of the estimators
This time the politicians had their inn
ings. Smith sent up a lot of Georgians
and LamoreauX ran in some Badgers,
and none of them knew how to esti :
mate anything, except the personal
advantage Of being a pine estimator
with salary of Sc day. Of course
the whole work had to be done over
again at the Chippewas' expense. and.
as the other fellows were removed be-
cause they estimated too little, the new
squad were expected to estimate lib
orally. 1t came to be somewhat mora
than suspected that the interested
lumbermen had succeeded in convinc-
ing some of them that there was less
pine on some tracts than they had
guessed there was, and it became
known that others were guessing at the
quantity without seeing the pine; but.
as this set were appointed to pay them
for party work done beforehand, it
was not to be expected that they would
do any more real work than was alb
solutely necessary to hold their Jobs.
Then Hoke went out and Francis came
in with a healthy suspicion of Lamo-
reaux's integrity, and he sent out in
spectors, who uncovered some more
scandals, and the work was suspended
Meantime some Of the pine had been
sold, and the buyers claimed their prop
erty and, we believe, got it on the the
Dry of vested rights"
Now, Of course there has to be an j..
other fresh shuttle and deal. A wholly
new set of men is appointed to again
go over the whole ground, except the
sold tracts, and review the work and
make fresh estimates" This time the
lumbermen appointed have their inn
ings. The st. Cloud Times notes that
Fred Krebs, of Minneapolis, one of the
first crew and a lumber employee: w.
E. Seelye, Of Brainerd, Pine Tree
Lumber company man, and Jack
Mccarthy, Of Saltwater, a Spectator
in pine land, are among the appointees.
The Brainerd Dispatch notes that See
I've Is a Bryan Democrat and wants to
know why Morris is selecting such
when there are good Republican fell
lows in need Of the salary, and Jack
Mccarthy used to be a pretty good
Democrat, while Krebs' Democracy
was duly vouched for when the first
clean sweep was made The Times
says "the new appointments are a
dead giveaway,' and show that the
governments interests are second
best in the deal" Both the Times