Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-22
PASSING OF POOR LO
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

inalienable until 1881, as is the prop
erty of the full-blooded indians.
In the process of making free the
property of the Indians the thumb
print is figuring largely. Heretofore
it has been the custom to let the In
dian who could not read or write SIM
ply make his mark. In after years
the Indian was inclined to forget that
he had made such a mark and could
usually make a showing toward prov
ing an alibi. Often this resulted in le-
gal tangles of the most serious nature.
An Indian inspector suggested the
thumb print in addition to the mark.
and all the new Indian deeds bear
this imprint. The result is that Lo Is
given to understand that no amount of
false swearing will serve to dtsprove
his signature as witnessed by the
thumb print, and it is said to have
shown already very excellent erect
on the commercial morality Of the IL
literate Indian.
In the matter of work, as well as in
the responsibilities of property, the In
dian is being made to get out and
hustle for himself. The government Is
maintaining an employment agency,
and as there is a great demand in the
west for Indian labor, he is being forced
to go out and accept 1t. The result has
nAACAS10AAAN
its effects. The Indians who accept en-
pIoyment have been learning to take
care of their earnings, and gathering
something Of an idea of individual re-
sponsibility. Those who are at all able
to hustle for their own Jobs are not
helped by the employment agency ex-
Cept in proportion as they may need 1t.
1t is the object of the agency to de-
Velop the spirit of self-reliance in the
Indian laborers, and to teach them that
Jobs do not come so easily as to be
thrown aside lightly.
In the final settlement of Uncle Sam
as a guardian for the Indians he Will
turn all their affairs over to the states
in which they are located, will merge
their schools with those of the whites,
and sell their public buildings and
property to the counties in which they
are located, giving the Indians the pro
ceeds. Thereafter they will occupy the
same relation to the government as the
negro occupies today-having over
them only the oversight which guar
antees their constitutional rights.
OF all the Indians who are being
transformed from wards into citizens
there are none so rich as the Osages.
Indeed, the Usage Indians are the rich
est people per capita about which the
world knows Each of them will get $40
acres of land, most Of 1t as good as
there is, and in addition to this each
individual will get about $4,000 In hard
cash. Their property interests are so
large that thousands of white men have
made it an object to go to the Usage
country and try to WOO a twentieth
century Pocahontas. Some of them
have succeeded in winning the heart
and hand of these heiresses of the wild.
There are about 2250 members of the
tribe, and only 926 of them can boast
of blood free from the taint of other
races.
It Is said that of all the vast domain
east of the Mississippi river only 24,00o
acres are owned by Indians. The num-
her of acres owned by the red men OF
the United States, outside of Alaska,
amounts to nearly 10000, 900. 1t has al
ways been hard to induce the Indian to
cultivate his land. A few years ago,
however, an Indian agent hit upon
scheme of holding an Indian county
fair for his tribe. Prizes were offered
exactly as at other fairs, and horse rae
ing and dancing were the features OF
the occasion. The first years fair was
a financial success, but the exhibits
amounted to almost nothing. However,
they did serve to awaken the spirit OF
rivalry among the Indians, and it is
said the second years exhibit brought
out as fine lot Of things as the coun-
try ever saw. In the rivalry over the
best wheat the biggest potatoes, the
largest tomatoes, the prettiest blanket
and the sweetest baby, to say nothing
Of the best cooked meal and the best
kept teepee. horse racing and dancing
were all but forgotten. From that day
Indian Agent Reynolds, who evolved
the plan, has had the pleasure of seeing
the Crows take warmly to agricultural
pursuits.
Perhaps no other set of guardians in
the world has had such a big estate to
administer as the Dawes commission,
which for years looked after the inter
ests Of the five civilized tribes. There
we're more than 30,000000 acres of land
to manage, and $4,000 heirs to look af-
ter. And that there were other claim
ants goes without saying. In fact
there were more than 100000 OF them,
for all one had to do was to prove that
he had drop of Indian blood from any
Of these tribes, and that would give
him a share in the distribution of the
tribal properties.
Tomorrow-Art of Taxdodging.