Omaha daily bee., 1906-06-17
Enect OF the RuIine.


A good deal OF other material was sent
explanatory Of the process of handling the
business. My surprise was great there
fore, when, one day, toward the close OF
a stretch of some twelve consecutive hours
OF work-ten Of them without pause for
food-it became necessary for me to an
swer a telegram Of inquiry on point
which seemed to me perfectly clear. The
answer was prepared for me by member
of the office stan 10 whom l had given
general directions. l was tired out ply
slcally and mentally and ran my eye
over the answer very hastily; and all 1
was looking for and all I saw in It was
the certainty that 1t set forth three things
on which / was bound that no Indian
should be misled by anyone. These were:
l. That the treaty as we'll as the trust
funds would be used.
to sign away more than his own share and
the Shares of his family
3. That under the existing system the
shares Of all the members OF the tribe
would suffer some dimnuuon.
I signed It without stopping to crtticise
its very crude and unsatisfactory form,
assuming that It would be read in the
light of all that had gone before. 1t was
addressed to the agent at Pine Ridge
South Dakota, who had made the inquiry.
and ran as follows:
Payment for contract will be made out Of
all trust and treaty funds named in petition
TO the extent of the shares of the petit
toners and petitioners children, the total
OF which win be deducted from the total
amount Of said funds whenever q distribu-
ton is made, thus reducing by such
amount the shares Of all Indians.
The next day, still more to my surprise,
came from the Rosebud agent similar
telegraphic request for particulars. The
same form of answer was laid before me,
and then / began to think that some one
was behind all this Interrogation with
purpose to draw me into some vulnerable
statement. So / edited the dispatch some
what and sent It off in a form which
seemed to me trihe clearer:
Payment for contract will be made out
petition to the extent OF the shares Of the
petitioners and petitioners children, the
total OF which will be deducted from the
total amount Of said funds whenever q
distribution is made, thus reducing to such
degree the shares Of all Rosebud Indians
For the lameness OF the expressions
used have no apology TO make except
the maddening pressure under which was
working at the time and the single pur-
pose Of absolute candor which absorbed
my mind. Now that I am able, through
the completion OF the petitions, the calcu-
lation Of the pro rata shares, and the ap-
plication thereof to their destined objects,
to strike an approximate balance sheet,
let us see how the plan works out in actual
operation, and whether my prophecy was
or was not correct.
d
gectarian Schools Involved.
There were four sectarian school con-
tracts at issue. The first was for the
Holy Rosary Mission school on the Pine
Ridge reservation In South Dakota. There
are 6,7oS Indians on the Pine Ridge roll,
each of whom would be entitled TO s49.67
from the tribal income for the year. OF
these S01 are represented on the petition,
standing for total OF $S9, 1851 They have
asked that $1,000 of their money be given
to the mission school. The rest of the
tribe numbering $500 Indians and entitled
to $685. 1924, are counted as preferring the