Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-02-26

to the tribe. The design of the law is
however, net solely profits from The en-,
tefpfise; IT is broader and bigger than
that. FINANCIAL success is necessary. hut
equally important is it that the Indian
shall be helped He can be helped not
only by giving him steady work under
favorable conditions. but bv teachiny him
now to conserve his tribal resources. low
not to waste. Part of the protts will he
put back into the land; thus the interest
ION the land capital will be comDoundeI
A forest policy for handling the timber
ands and for replanting the barren lands
IN which the great pine forests once
crew Is being worked out. The timber
EWlll be cut in such manner as to ensure
reproduction, the slash burned where
practicable. fires kept out and areas
INhere natural reproduction can not be
EDtalned will he replanted artifcially
ELhe amount of timber cut will be regt-
Eated to keep pace with the growth of
Pie forest, so that the mill never need
pc abandoned for lack of logs.
Indians Pay Expense.
The scope of this work on the Me-
hominee is so broad, its intent so bold
ana the procedure so unusual that the
Confusion regarding it is quite natural
fuhouSh the forest service, govern.
nent organization. is in charge of ii in
cooperation with the Indian Office and
pougn the procedure is necessarily gov
Fnmental, 1t is really not a government
enterprise at all. The entire expense of
the work is paid from Menominee tribal
FUNDS, and the benefits will accrue to
those funds; not dollar expended is the
result OF an appropriation by Congress.
Inc government on the Menominee reser-
yatlon has, it is true, entered the lumber
business and will compete with other
lumber concerns in the manufacture and
sale of commercial product-not. how
ever, for its own benefit but for that of
It's wards, the MenOminee Indians.
Nine months of hard work on the
reservation has disposed of certain fall
lacies entertained when the enterprise
was started. First the Indian will
work. A shiftless, lazy, Indifferent crea-
ture. incapable of advancement was how
he was described by tine lumbermen who
had had dealings with him. That this
opinion does great injustice to the Indian
the experience of the service makes
clear. With fair treatment many of
them make excellent workmen, especially
at outdoor tasks. At river driving,
where a certain dash and courage is
required. some of them are superb; and
as a class these are, perhaps, superior
to the white river men now oDtainable.
Men who have worked much in the open
find 1t hard to accustom themselves to
indoor employment, and the Indian lum-
berjacks and drivers will probably CON
tinue to find their most congenial work
in the woods. That the Indians ere COM
motly lacking in sustained industry is
true in measure. Savages, emerging
from the savage state, many III them
find that few days labor taxes their
endurance to the limit; they must be off
to dance. a council meeting, n hunt,
or for some plain loafing. The Indians
living farthest from the agency, the
"pagans" or blanket Indians" find
work especially trying.
Not Damaged by Fire.
Another fallacy disposed of is that
fires cannot be kept out of the timber.
The fire season, last summer was the
worst in Wisconsin for many years. Al
though fires burned over timber on all
sides of the reservation. doing immense
damage, the forest service fought and
kept back every fire on the reservation,
reducing the damage to practically nil,
at a cost Of less than $4,000.
The enterprise has created widespread
interest in the lake states, and as its
real purpose has become better under
stood there is manifested greater toler-
ance toward it. The excellent and I'M
selfish ideas which it embodies are
WORTHY of the best efforts of the men
who Save been trusted with working
them put on the ground