Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-05-10
Musquakee Tribesmen Sepa- rated by One of Pair
 Leaving Tent
10 A PROBLEM TO
 LAW ABIDING FOLK
Bunch of Young Reds Grow ing Up Who Disregard
 All Form of Law

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa., May 9. Cannot something De done with the Musquakee Indians of Iowa?o is the tenor of petition which is being pre- pared for presentation to the Indian de- partment by the people of central Iowa, where the Musquakees have their res ervation. The effect of civilization on the Indians of this tribe has been so demoralizing that the Musquakees are apparently in greater need of reforma ton than was ever the Indian in his most primitive state Financially, they are as poor as dogs; morally, they are simply bankrupt The marriage cere- mony, even of the old primitive Indian character, is seldom performed and the only divorce necessary is that the dis satisfied one simply walk out of the cabin and take up his abode elsewhere.
 If an Indian attempts to raise hogs, shiftless fellow Indians will raid his pig pen during his absence, claiming that the animals belong to them as much as to the man who has fed and raised them.
 Food Is Common Property
 One Indian worked on the railroad section and saved money with which he built little house near the town. His squaw learned to cook bread like the whites. Sometimes a white woman came to the cabin to teach the squaw something about cooking or sewing. Within a few minutes of, her arrival, ten or dozen Indian women will silently enter the house and take their seats on the uoOr. When the food is served they gravely come forward and falling upon it like a swarm of iocusts devour everything in sight Then they depart as silently as they came. The food is common property It belongs to them just as much as to the woman of the house.
 There is growing up a bunch of young Indians who care neither for God, man nor the devil. The fact of owning ev- erything in common has filled them with the idea that they can do as they please and go where they take a notion. They will not be controlled by the old people, but hang around the joints in the coun try wherever they are allowed. They absorb the vice and lewdness of vile white men and going back to the res ervation, SOW these seeds for a crop which will some time make the country sit up and take notice.
 One of the crack baseball players, a graduate of a big Indian school, has been several times married. His last | year s wife, now l4 years old, with 1 baby is deserted for another. Girls not yet of age have been married four, five | and six times. Their marriage VOWS | thnGn pf a robin. Robins mate at least for a sea son. some Musquakees separate in 1 twenty-four hours. A divorce consists of picking up one s few belongings and walking away. The facts are that 1 marriages are not recognized as worth recording until a child is born, and of ten before the child is born the wife is | left to her mothers care, while the young "buck'' finds another girl or 1 steals away someone else s wife.
 Children Belong to the Mother
 The children always belong to the mother and the man goes to live with the woman, not the woman with the [ man. The young married folks live with the girl s parents. Sometimes the young husband is not liked by them and they make it so uncomfortable for him that he gets out. Another Tel low Is invited over and given to under stand that he will be welcome if he will stay
 But sometimes if happens that the old Indians are not consulted. It may come about in this way. After sui ficient number of friendly glances have been exchanged, the girl may happen to walk alone in secluded road. She hears footsteps behind her and glanc- ing over her shoulder she sees her ad- mirer following. If she likes him not she continues her walk and is not mo tested. But if he has found favor m her eyes, she starts running, feigning
 fright. The young "buck'' takes al
 ter her. If he catches her she IS hIs
 to love and cherish until something doth
 them part. They return to the cabin
 of the girls mother and take up then abode