Durango semi-weekly herald., 1907-01-10
WILL HELP
BEET SUGAR
PROPOSITION

a very important report ndb DeeH
made by Commissioner of Indian AT
fairs Leupp to the secretary of the In
terror regarding "A Beet Farming
Project" which reads as follows:
while inviting your attention to
this unexampled record, | cannot for
bear to express my great disappolnt-
islation, which had earnestly recon-
mended both in formal reports and
In oral conversation with senators
and representatives. 1t was a provi-
sion to authorize lenses of indian az
ricultural lands, In certain circum-
stances, for longer periods than the
fve years to which they are limited
now. The leases were to be kept
still subject to the control OF the sec
retary of the interior, who was, as
now, to lease the tribal lands himself,
and to supervise and approve the
leases made by Indian allottees.
The purpose underlying this
ohAChohSht was " thN
training of Indians in sugar beet cul-
ture and in work In the sugar fac
tories. The Office Is today in touch
with men of large means and abund-
ant business experience who are will
ing to set up great sugar plant on
the edge of some of the allotted reser-
vations; take leases of all the tribal
lands and of such parts of the allot
ed lands as the department is willing
to let the Indians rent out; enlarge
and improve the irrigation system
now In operation on the reservation
till all the available land is under an
adequate water service; bring In
many families of thrifty white people,
organized under superintendent and
bosses thoroughly skilled in the art
OF sugar beet culture; be answerablo
for the moral conduct of these EN-
ployes; instruct the Indians in beel
culture side by side with the white
working people; give Indian labor the
preference wherever 1t can be util
lied; buy at market prices the pro
ducts OF the parcels of land reserved
by the Indians from leasing; run
their own trolley lines out to the re
moter points in the leased district
TO facilitate the movement of crops
to the factory. and procure from the
steam railway companies which trav-
erse that general region such sid.
ings and branch trackage as may be
needed to bring the whole nelghbor
hood into transportation relations
with the great world outside. 1t would
be out OF the question, obviously, to
undertake an enterprise as exten-
sive as this on no better foundation
than the Ave year leases now allowed
by law; the lease period would have
to be extended to twenty or twenty
five years in order to make the pro
1ect commercially practicable; but,
on the other hand, at the end of this
longer period the capitalists are pre-.
pared to turn over to the Indians, as
their own forever after, all the i'm
provements put upon their premises
Let us see what this would mean
To the Indians. The ordinary Indian
male adult, able-bodied and in the
prime OF life. owning so acres OF land
In an irrigation country, has at least
GO acres more than he knows what to
do with, and in saying this am giving
the Indian the benefit of very liber-
al estimate of his competency. His
wife and children are, of course, in
capable OF taking care of their
farms, and would be unable to make
effective use of their crops II they
were. This leaves the head OF the
family with a large area OF unpro-
ductive land on his hands. II
the department says to him, You
must farm 20 acres yourself, but may
lease all the rest" he runs some
pretty serious risks. even with the
agent to help him. in finding tenants:
for the chronic white leeser' is not
the character OF man who helps to
build up the country In which he
settles, or who troubles his mind
much about the future; he is without
capital or other resources. and his
one thought is to skim the cream of
its productivity OF the soil In Ave
ypars, and then move on to the next
newly opened neighborhood and re-
peak the performance. When he re-
urns the land to its Indian owner Its
'od cover viii have been broken and
~ bsst Of IT. pnergies worked out