The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1901-06-11
RICHEST or THE INDIANS.
osages Have More Money Than They
Know What to do With.

Know What to do Win.
The proper conception of the In
dams even in this city. so near to the
"Nation, is that be is an ignorant
chap, with blanket and a squaw, and
that all he has in the world is a gov
ernment ration and a pipe This is
true. too, OF some Of the noble red
men, but IN the language Of the day.
there are others" and they are not
squalld, poor or unthrifty
The Osages are not only the richest
Indians in the world. but there is no
other people on the globe that com
pare with them in this respect. white.
black red or yellow They live In
oklahoma and they have more money
than they know what to do WITH So
man from their country. Major A.
e. Whiting says. and he ought TO
know. for ne has been trading with
them for years.
81 was recently I'm Washington"
said Major Whiting the other day.
"and ! learned while there that the
Osages have made new contracts for
the rental. of their pasture lands. They
have 100000 acres of land, together
and Of these 100000 are leased for
grazing at an annual rental of S12O
600 The Osages now have ON deposit
in Washington. with the United
states. something like SS00,OOO for
which they sold their lands in Kan
sas. and this brings them annually
$4,000 income.
Besides they own more than one
and one-half million acres yet, which
is easily worth IS an acre. Their
land holdings are worth nearly SS,
100000, all told. There are 1872 In
dians i'm the tribe, and they have their
holdings in common, men. women and
children. When a child is born it be-
comes a joint owner with all the rest.
Thus there is a continued incentive
for the individual family 20 increase.
"The profits from the money in the
United States treasury, the recent
leasing of lands and other sources Of
revenue give the tribe about $60o,-
600 annually as an income This fig
ures out a little more than $500 for
every man, woman and child. When
a family consists of half dozen or
eight, or ten, rs it often does. you can
figure for yourself that It is a pretty
good thing The realty holdings of
the tribe have a per capita value Of
about $4,000, and that means for
small family of fve-and that is a
small one-about $4,000.
"As might be expected, this wealth
has attracted to the reservation
many white men, who seek alliances
with the Indian maidens. The foxy
old governors, however, have fore
seen this and they collect a poll tax
of 81 per month from every white man
there. This keeps the white popula-
ton down, ana makes it really desir
able. The adventurer is given a cold
greeting, let me tell you
These Osages have not rallied to
prof mentally from their prosperity.
They have fine homes and schools,
and the sons and daughters are sent
East to colleges, and their homes are
richly and tastefully furnished with
carpets, pianos and good furniture.
OF course a few families stil live in
the old fashion, but they are becom
ing fewer and fewer alf the time. Ia
the mean time. the Osages are well
worthy Of their Inheritance, add when,
in ? rev years, they become citizens
iu FUN they will not be the worst we
have by any means.-Kansos City
Journal.