Imperial Valley press., 1913-12-03
Is Overhauling
Indian Service
By Burton X. Standish
Written for the United Press

Washington, Dec. 3.-The reign OF
graft in Indian affairs must end.
That is the edict of Cato Sells, United
States commissioner of Indian affairs,
business man, lawyer, banker, public
office holder, and above all a red
blooded tow fisted fighting man.
Ruling over the affairs of a fast
dying people who own S90O,OOO,OOO
worth of the richest grazing, oil and
mineral land of the West, Sells has
determined that the Indians shall no
longer be the prey of a vast group
in whom the spirit of graft was ramp
ant-"carrion," he calls them.
The heartless grasping of "attor-
neys" and guardians" administering
the estates of Indian children called
most strikingly to Sells's attention the
need of reform, and quick one. While
white children's estates are ordinarily
settled at a cost of only per cent,
the average price on Indian children's
estates has been 20 per cent. These
children are the richest average chill
dren in the country, their properties
often are $4,000, and frequently this
entire amount has been grated by the
unscrupulors.
Il am going to put few of these
men in the penitentiary as an object
lesson" Sells declared today, "and I'll
see that some more go if there is a
continuance of this ruthless raiding of
Indians"
He feels that Oklahoma has had
graft stamped into its very nature.
Now he is working toward a COM
plete reorganization of the Indian af-
fairs system, so that the 100000 In
dians may have a fair treatment, so
that their lands-the only grazing
lands-shall yield more cattle and
more returns.
New leases of Indian lands to cat
tie kings, oil operators and miners will
be at new figures. No more will the
rich fields of the Osages go at So an
acre; hereafter they will command $50
or more. This is only part of the
ambitious program of this man who
directs holdings vaster than the steel
corporations. His is a constructive
idea.
The defective cattle and sheep of
the western ranges owned by Indians
are being wiped out and replaced by
sturdier strains under Sells's direction.
He is opening up these lands to pro-
fitable investment instead of to graft
erS.
He is seeking to upbuild the
strength and education of the remain
ing Indians. Thirty-four industrial
schools for Indian children are now
under his care, and there are likely to
be more before his regime is ended.
Irrigation lands, too, are opening rap
idly. Many of the Indians are having
their opportunity to cultivate these
places, but heretofore they have been
sent in without proper equipment.
Sells proposes that this system shall
end, and that the Indians shall have
the same opportunity that the white
men have.
The job of Indian commissioner
with him is business proposition. He
answered an altruistic call when he
took the proposition, for he had re-
tired from active business and had
planned to settle down in Texas, the
state he has lived in ever since he
left Iowa after a brilliant career as a
United States attorney.
Secretary Lane let it be known that
he wanted a man of ability, not job
seeker; a man of red blood and pur-
pose, not a weakling. He heard of
Sells and his fight against pension
grafters in the middle west, and he
found that Sells was indeed a regular
fighting man, with ability, altruism,
enthusiasm. And that's how today
Secretary Lane has a man on the job
of Indian affairs fourteen hours day,
and that's why new era is dawning
in Oklahoma and the other Indian
states.
AS soon as congress is allowed to
stop working on tariff and currency
and can devote a little time to gov
erning Washington (Which is one of
it's jobs) the national capitol is to be
rid of the block of ancient and ram