The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-05-16
FUND
HANDY FOR
P|Ck|NGS
But Congress Put a CTImp IN
Interior Department
Practices

Chicago. May l6 Washington
spocial % the tribune says. Shutting
llp the different avenues whereby OIL
licials at The Interior department. no
longer will be able to avert pubile
ana Indian moneys from their leglt'
innate channels was one Of me pflh'
cipaI tasks ot the last congress.
An instance OF how iarge fund
may be made to serve almost al
purposes is the Usage Civilization
lund which was created ia the carry
seventies and amounting 70 Sl13,f0S
Thanks 10 provision inserted IN the
Vast sndian appropriation bill tne
department. Will no longer be able 10
use this particular fund for 'sidsh
purposes.
Tia Usage C'iyiiiza,ion fund repre-
seuts the proceeds son, the sale
Of some Usage lands. After an old
custom the money was promptly put
into the treasury 70 the credit Of the
indians and lis presence there Tor
years finally resulted in It's prostl.
tuition Dy the Interior department.
In short The idea was conceived by
some enterprising government off
Ger that the money should be put
TO work and as the department was
short Of funds and anxious to en-
large Its domain Of influence the
mater was brought to the atten-
tion of the house committee on In
dian Affairs, but ~ is said N such a
quiet way that no one knew the real
purpose OF the move.
Accordingly a little provision was
slipped into one OF the many bills
that come out OF the house commit
te on Indian Affairs every year The
provision appeared perfectly harm
less and no one seemed inquisitiye
enough to ask any questions Thus
1t came To pass that congress enact
ed into law a provision that enabled
tne Interior department to use the
Usage Civilization fund in connection
with the administration OF the de-
partment Since then the fund has
ben applied To SO many purposes that
1t was only with the greatest diff
Guilty thai the money could be traced
vt sens that whenever the depart
ment Is short of cash the secretary
would inevitably fall back upon this
fund, with the result that the Usage
Indians Of Oklahoma 10 all intents
and purposes have been furnishing
the money with which Uncle Sam
might, continue his propaganda to
ciyilize Indians throughout the
United States.
An itemized statement OF the
things charged to this fund throws
some light on the uses Of this fund
by the secretary OF interior In re-
cent years. II was no uncommon
hing to bury Indians and charge the
bill 20 the Usage Civilization FUND.
According to this particular state.
ment it costs $S3 TO give an Indian
civilized burial There Is another
item OF slS6 for an organ and seeds.
The item is grouped III would ap.
pear an organ harmonizes grandly
wlth the governments scheme OF
civilization aud of course an organ
was bought just what part the
seeds played in the purpose of the
organ is not revealed by the state.
ment There is also. a modest item
Of Sl8G for horse hire AS this ex-
pense was incurred a good many
years ago the question has been
asked would il not have been cheaper
Tor the government to have bought
n horse AT any rate a pretty good
horse could have been bought in the
west for that amount iii those days.
The statement reveals the fact that
the total disbursements made from
the fund for civilization purposes
amounted to SS96,05l, or $l22,342
more than in the original fund. This,
IL u said shows conciusiyely that the
interior department augmented lae
original fund from time to time
from different sources and taking out
nd covering back money at VIII.
The practices will be discontinued
henceforth Former Chairman Burke
OF the house committee on indian
Affairs discoVed the slush fund,
and nlade short work OF the practice
There is some likelihood now that
the Usage Indians will have the S773.-
iO9 paid to them AT any rate they
already have asked for fl.