The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1905-04-13
Mr.. LAcEYs INDIAN BILL

duced during the last session of con,
gross by Representative john F. La,
cey of the Sixth district has been
brought to public notice very promi.
| nently during the past few months
and with all those who favor the open
and free plan of dealing with the In.
dians it is finding ready support
Among those who are strongly in fay
or of the adoption of the bill proposed
by the Iowan Is President Roosevelt
who in his annual message called at.
tention to the need for a plan that is
practical and that will do away with
the muddle into which the Indian af
fairs have been drawn through mis-,
management and the natural results
of the laws and customs now in force,
This is especially true of the Indian
school system, which has, within the
past few months, bid fair to develop
into a veritable scandal and to bring
into a quarrel the Cathonc and non,
Catholic elements in the west and In
Washington. This would be very
! deplorable state of affairs and any
: thing that will guard against 1t IS nat
urally hailed with joy by those who
love harmony.
Mr.. Lacey's bill, for this and other
reasons, has met with general ap.
proval in Washington and throughout
the county. 1t is step forward in
the line of development and education
Of the Indian. 1t provides for the AZ
lotment of Indian funds after the plan
which is used in the law for the allot.
ment Of Indian lands. 1t authorizes
the president from time to time, as he
becomes satisfied that members OF
any Indian tribe have arrived at a
stage of civilization where they are
capable, or will soon become capable
of taking care of their own property
to cause the allotment of their funds
in severalt:'. AS matters stand now
an Indian who signs petition asking
that so much money be taken from
the fund of his tribe for the support
of a settarian school, is asking fol
something indeterminate.
MrLacey's bill proposes to do away
gradually with that element-to loose
the second Of the constructing bonds
which have long prevented the Indian
from attaining his full stature as q
man and a citizen. The late Senator
Dawes, with his act for alloting In
dian lands in severalty loosed the
first. In dealing with the land ques
! tion, congress wisely placed a large
discretion in the executive, for nc
cast-iron laws would have permitted
such discrimination between tribes
and times and conditions as good ad
mlnistration demands. The same ex
. cellent idea dominates the Lacey bill
Instead of throwing down all the bars
at once, it proposes to enable tina
branch of the government which
comes into direct contact with the In
dian and presumptively knows hiE
status and his needs in every instance
! to decide when any tribe Is ready fol
the allotment of its funds and to pre-
scribe the rules under which such al
lotment shall be made.
Cautious friends Of the Indian will
find nothing drastic in the bill.
does not propose to cut the principa
tribal funds into SO many slices anC
throw each individual Indians slice
into his lap, to be squandered posi-
bly, in a week. At the outset the onl.
change effected under it would un
doubtedly be a mere matter of book
keeping, the opening Of a separate &C
count with each Indian in place Of thu
lump account now RepL with Who'll;
tribe. The income of each alloteef
share would then go to his own indi
vidual account. He could direct it!
expenditure for improvements on hi
house or farm, in the purchase of cat
tie, or the education of his children
in any school he preferred. In short
he would learn in this way, in ont
year, more of what it meant to hav,
money and spend 1t, than he coult
learn in twenty-five years under tn'
present system, where division
from the fund OF a tribe means notn
ing at all to the mind of the averag'
individual member of thai tribe.