The times., 1899-10-25

tary Ct the Interior against William J. Pol
lock. agent for the Usage Indians in Okla
homa. accusing him of conducting his
agency in the interest Of the licensed trad
eTs on the reservation, as opposed to those
Of the Indians He has been in Office about
Two years, and the charges assert that dur
ing that time no restraint apparently has
been placed upon the traders and their
business cronies, the white cattlemen. who
are seeking cheap pasturage on the In
dian lands; so that now hundreds OF thou
sands Of acres Of these lands have been
fenced and white mems herds turned into
them.
BY way OF showing how such things are
managed, a single illustrative instance is
cited IN the charges. Ben Strike-aXe, an
Usage educated at Carlisle School. ran into
debt TO a trader to the amount Of about
81 600. His wife who was hopelessly ILL.,
was induced 10 sign, Jointly with him, a
promissory note for this amount, and at
her death soon afterward the lease OF a
farm she owned fell thus into the traders
hands. A similar trick was played on
Ben's father, who died about the same time.
The trader meanwhile had been pressing
Ben very hard and had secured practically
ell the annuity money paid by the Gov
eminent 70 him and his family of five
persons. The trader kept the account Of
all these transactions. never rendered a
balance sheet 10 the Indian, and contrived,
by heavy interest charges and the like, TO
prevent any considerable credit from 60
ing upon his books in Ben's favor
When il is remembered that an Indian
rarely realizes his responsibility when he
contracts a debt. and that when he finds
himself thus bHrdened and annoyed by
dunning, he is ready to sign away leases
or anything else which viii purchase tenn
porary relief from the opportunities Of his
creditor. it is easy TO understand how the
shrewd traders on the Usage reservation
have succeeded in absorbing control of
most Of its best lands which they let at
their own figures 10 their friends among
the cattlemen.
II is said that the Indians are today pay
ing often as high as 10 per cent month
for loans, and that IL is customary, just
before the annuity cash payments occur,
for the traders 10 make advances Of money
on an agreement that double the amount
shall be returned when the Indians get
their stipend. An effort was made by the
traders on the Usage reservation early in
the present year, to secure legislation from
Congress advancing enough Of the Indians
money directly from the Treasury to dis
charge a total Of S430,54s due TO them by
the Indians 1t was then shown that the
individual traders carried on their books
total debts ranging from more than S32,-
800 up 10 nearly $4,000; and that individ-
ual Indians owed TO various traders total
amounts ranging from 81 TO about $4,000.
Although the Usage tribe is rated as the
richest community IN the world, measured
By It's average wealth per capita, the indi-
vidual Indians are not millionaires or any
thing like IT, and such freedom to con-
tract debts would II encouraged by direct
payments from their trust funds in the
Treasury, soon render them penniless.
The energies Of the friends Of reform in
Indian administration have hitherto been
focused almost exclusively upon breaking
down the reservation barriers and making
free men and citizens Of the Indians; but
this work OF emancipation viii necessarily
be slow and, IN the mean time, the authori-
lies think il would be well TO establish
free trade on all the reservations as q pre-
liminary 10 their opening. The only reason
why trade with the Indians was ever
hedged about with the present formaliJies
was that In their almost chldlike condI-
tion Of helplessness, il was desired to throw
the strong arm Of the Government around
the red men for their protection.
Like many other benevolent designs OF
verted In its execution. Instead Of pro
tecting the Indians from fraud and op-
preston. Il has resulted, in a very large
proportion Of instances, in simply reserving
for e small group Of money seeking white
men monopoly Of opportunity 10 make
e profit from Indian ignorance The clean
handed traders on the Indian reservations
make pitifui showing Of numbers beside
the men who are there 10 get 'all there
is in H." Il is true that the regulations Of
the Indian Office impose some pretty Sc
we're restrictions upon the Indian traders
but these are evaded or ignored, for the
most part with impunity.
II trade on the reservations were thrown
open tc all comers who could give abun-
dsnt bonds for their good behavior, busi-
ness competition would soon regulate the
matters which now give most frequent
cause for complaint. The number Of trad
ers who would take advantage Of the or
portunity would be too large 20 admit Of
successful cOllusion. and each would be
more or less Of restraint upon the others.
by his liability 10 complain IN the hope Of
getting nd OF q competitor who is doing
business on bad basis The first natural
result q free competition would be TO give
the Indians he lowest possible prices for
their goods and thus TO educate them TO
some extent for trading judlciously after
the reservation barriers had been thrown
down.
The fear Of many good friends OF the IN
dians lest free trade on the reservations
should result in an increase Of the Illicit
liquor traffic, Il is said, Is not well founded
That increase is liable 20 occur quite as
much under the existing system as under
the one proposed Very few Of the general
traders on a reservation viii sell or give
an Indian liquor; the danger ia this respect
lies with the "boot-Ieggers' and their class
Of smugglers. j is believed that the bonds
exacted Of traders under a free competition
would be just Gs, effective in restraining the
liquor traffic as those eXacted under the
present system. There would be the added
advantage 10 the enemies Of Indian whisky
Of having q self-c0nstituted detective CORPS
always within the circle OF traders them
selves
How little the present system protects
the Indian from the bottle was made evi-
dent or the Usage reservation only a few
months ago. when only an accident as IL
were, prevented the extension 10 one trad
ing store there Of the privilege Of keeping
alcohol In stock. Ostensibly for use in com
pounding medicinal remedies" The use the
Indian makes Of alcohol for medicinal"
purposes is too well known 10 call for more
than the mere suggestion.
A CHANGE IN REGULATIONS.
Street Vendors Must Provide Recep-
To- ~