The Washington herald., 1909-04-09
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

choose his own land As the amount al
/ lOtted 10 him is as much as q white set
tier can obtain from the government, he
is not Disseminated against, despite the
ideas OF the sentimentalist.
! The total approximate area OF all In
dian reservations IN the United States IS
about 100000 acres. The number OF In
dams In this country. excepting Alaska
and including persons whose blood Is
mixed with that OF the white and negro
races, is 3o0.000 or about the same num-
Der estimated TO have been found here
by Columbus. II all these Indians dwelt
on reservations. each would have $50
acres OF land. AS a matter OF fact prob
ably not more than 50 per cent OF the In
dians live on reservations, and one-third
OF the total number. members OF the
so-called Five Civilized Tribes, teside in
the present State Of Oklahoma. That IS
the largest Indian population in one
States. Kansas has the smallest pOpula-
ton Of Indians dwelling on reservations
about LOCO. The Usage Indians in Okla
homa are said 10 be the richest people on
the face Of the earth, considering their
average wealth Other Indians are land
owners in many States OF the Union
The lands in what was formerly Indian
Territory were allotted 20 individual IN
I
reservations some time ago.
There are Indian reservations IN twen-
ty-two States and Territories. stretch
ing all the way from New York and
North Carolina TO the Pacific Coast. and
from Michigan and Wisconsin 10 Ari-
zona and New Mexico. Some OF these
reservations have never been surveyed
anad their resources can only be imag-
ined- Arizona contains the largest area
o. Indian reservations. aggregating over
100000 acres. and Montana and South
Dakota each have 100000 acres. AS
compared with these great areas. either
OF which is equal 10 the areas OF several
New England States combined. Kansas
contains only 922 acres OF Indian reser-
vations, Iowa 1885 acres. Michigan 3O00
acres. North Carolina 5000 acres, and
New York 5000 acres.
There are thirty-three Indian reserva-
tions in California. twenty-eight OF them
being inhabited by Mission Indians. The
Indians are adopting the governments
plan OF working for a living, and last
year alone they got the government TO
sell S0Oo.000 worth OF their land. so that
they could enter other occupations than
that Of farming.
The difficulty OF dealing with the red
men IS increased by the variety Of their
languages. customs. and other charac-
teristics. Recently a request was received
at the Interior Department for a trans
lation OF the Indian language" In re-
ply the department stated that there are
over 800 recognized different Indian Ian
guages and dialects.
The policy Of opening Indian reserva-
tions 70 settlement is calculated 10 de-
velop the great West. It is the policy
That has been pursued successfully for
several generations Everything from the
Atlantic to the Pacific except the thIr-
teen original colonies and Texas, was at
one time or other public land Out OF
Il twenty-five States have grown. AL
though the public land is being entered
at the rate OF 20.O00000 acres a year. there
IS stu unappropriated and unreserved
about S0o.OO0OO0 acres in ali. Assuming
all to be agricultural land 5000 COO people
NAV yet obtain homesteads
CCoTDrght 1893. by Frederic ]. Haskin)
To-morrOw-The Salvation Army.