The Tomahawk., 1903-10-16
WHAT DOES The NOR
RIS ACT PROVIDES?

question is contained in the fol
lowing clause of the act, and is the
KEY to the whole situation.
"AII the expenses incurred In carrying
out the provisions Of this Act as to the
examining and listing Of said lands, and
tie selling, cutting, and scaling OF said
timber, shall be paid BY the Secretary
Of the Interior out Of the proceeds Of
the sale Of said timber
It will be observed that all the
expenses of whatever nature must
be borne by the Indians. This
will include the examining of the
lands. the advertising, sell ling, cut
ting, hauling and scaling Of the
timber, and. in fact. all the ex-
penses necessarily connected with
the numbering operations. which
will be in addition to all the other
| Incidental expenses provided bs'
| the act.
With a minimum price of foup
dollars per thousand feet fixed on
Norway pine and five dollars for
white pine. it is more than prob
able that the Chippewas Of Mime.
sofa will become more indebted to
the government than they no."
are. for, we Will venture to pre-
dict, that these expenses will ex-
ceed the sum which will be de-
rived from the sale of the timber
after it is cut and hauled to land
ings and mills, and we believe. a
successful bidder on attract of pine
will not take such precautions in
regard to the operating expenses
as he would il. he had to pay them
from his own pocket When il is
taken into consideration that even
with the most careful economy
the cutting and hauling OF the
timber to landings and mills will
cost as much if not more than the
minimum prices fixed on the tim
Der, the question which naturally
presents itself is, wherein are the
Indians benefited by it's sale!
No safeguards are placed around
their interests in regard to limit
ing the expenses of the logging
operations, and the lumbermen,
]if they should be inclined to do SO,
may charge exhorbitant prices for
every thing.they may have done
since the act compells them to con-
duct the operations, and in this
way not only consume the amount
of the purchase price but bring the
Indians out in debt to them. For
instance, the pine timber on the
four ceded townships of this res
ervation brought mach less than
seven thousand feet, and who can
say that it will not cost all or near
ly all of this per thousand feet to
fulfill the requirements of the act
although there is no park to pro-
tect in that vicinity.
AS the Morris Act appears to us,
the Chippewas of Minnesota are
going to give away their pine tim
Der for nothing for the privilege
of having it removed from their
ceded reservation and in order
that employment may be given to
some hungry Office seeker who
look upon the Indians as legiti-
mate prey.
It may be possible that from the
lack of men a few mixed-bloods
may be employded as laborers in
the camps, but if others can be
found to work in these camps even
the mixed -bloods may be excluded
under some trivial pretext.
The government should take
notice that the Chippewa Indians
are just beginning to find out
what the Morris Act means, and
that there is more than posslbi-
lity of resistance to its opera
tions when the work of removing
the timber begins, if their present
feeling is any indication of what