The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-01-15

u
1.-THE Indian depends largely upon In
I;dustrialz ccndi tions, Commissions
Cato Sells Is giving personal atten-
ton to every matter. bearing even
remotely upon this question. One
lot the great drawbacks to the prog
ress OF the educated INDIAN IN the
past has been that upon leaving
school and returning to his own
tribal home he was too often con-
lfronted with the difficulty sometimes
the imposstbili ty. OF earning sufficient
money to continue the mode OF life
The had been accustomed to in his
school The occasional dropping
back Of educated Indians into the
Eshiftless living condit ions Of savage
Try, which at times has been exploited
as an argument against Indian ednca-
ton. has been due In almost every
lease to the lack of remunerative In
idustry in his locality. Many sedu-
Gated Indians take up their resid
in white communities after gradu-
ating and in almost every instance
Establish themselves Independently.
"A large number of them. however.
feel the strength Of family ties and
are loyal enough to return to their
own people.
The Indian Bureau is now acting
Upon two IDEAS Ii, its work for the In
kdians. One is to encourage those
Indians who prefer It to take VI; their
lives as regular citizens of the United
States with the white people. The
other isf that the loyalty Of those
who desire to return to their own
people Is q praoseworthy trait. It
should be fostered by the develop
ment Of industries which will enable
q returned Indian to earn a CONF
tpetence upon his own land. Cattle
raising Is such an industry and the
large grazing lands or the Indians
make It especially desirable.
One OF the first official acts at
Commissioner Sells was to order q
complete inventory of all OF livestock
possessed by Indians in this country.
4 These Include $50 ,S4T horses valued
| at SIS, $4,000: 22S,214 cattle val
lued at $6,S05, 900: j, 81, 900 sheep
valued at SO .714 900, and about A Oh, !
! 600 goats. burrows, hogs. etc., val-
ued lat $500, 900, aggregating $685.
l541 900 In all. The average price Of
1.-THE horse is less than SIS. and that Of
the sheep So. This low valuation
Twas due to the extremely low grade
of the stock, some Of it having no
market value, although consuming
large quantities of food. i
The commissioner realized thai
for years white men have been 40
quiring vast sums OF money by rails
ing stock principally upon grazing
land belonging to the Indians. Ht
decided that instead of leasing Indi
an grazing lands for the benefit o.
white men the Indians 5themselvei
should derive a profit from them III
enable the Indians to realize on theil
lands for themselves, he conceived
Il the idea of creating large triba
HERDS Of high grade stock. Nearl,
Ia million and g half dollars were1ex
lpended last year upon male animals
i for improving the grades Of cattle
horses and sheep with this end Il
I. view These animals have been al
lvided among fifteen Indian reserva
lions under the care Of experienced
stock men who will give the Indians
instruction in the practical manage
ment of the livestock industry ant
the proper methods of stock raising
With a few. exceptions the Indians
have heretofore opposed any plans
to improve the grade OF their stock
but 1t was never attempted in SO sub:
stantial a manner. Now many oil
them are enthusiastically co-oper,
ating with Commissioner Sells. al.
ready the Grow Indians own one 81
4 the finest herds of blooded cattle IN
the United States. It numbers sovel
$1,000 cattle and will be heavily In
creased this year. To provide for Il
the leases on grazing lands held b,
white men have been diminished fol
this year. Under a newly acquired
enthusiasm, these Indians have GU
land stacked 5000 tons of hay I,
;provide emergency food for thei,
stock in case the grazing gives out
The possibility the Indians have o
becoming the future cattle kings o
!. America, owning hundreds Of thous
ands Of blooded stock grazing upol
their own cattle lands, is being he'll,
before their vision. Many OF th
mont progressive tribes are nov
ready to grasp 1t.
Since most Indians already owl
farm lands, special effort is made !,
increase their interest In this indus