The Tomahawk., 1918-01-10
A Vicious Structure.


vidua!s were that concei> ed or
created the burlesque and coercive
economic provision embodied in the
present "rules and regulations" of
the Indian bureaus partial policy
concerning the disposition Of the
per capita apportionment of tribal
and ..other funds, more especially
money due minors and so-caIled
incompetent" Indians. Such funds
being deposited to the credit of the
Indian office and subject to such
disposition as the will and fancy
of the Indian agent may dictate,
the Indian depositor having abso.
lutely no word in the premises.
Recent developments in the dispo-
sition Of minor Indians funds in
the manner above cited incline US
to the melancholy conviction that
such coercive measures imposed on
individual privileges, be they minor
or adult Indians, or any other class
Of people for chat matter, are, at
best, a vicious assumption Of auto
cratic and egotistic dominance of
the strong over the weak. Such
austere assumption of individual
rights and privileges is, to say the
least, unbecoming the placid can
dor of justice, the impartial con-
ceptions of Democratic institutions
and a gross invasion of the most
sacred prerogative of Constitutional
rights of American citizenship
Liberty!
That this policy is radically
vicious, unjust ard with strong
tendancy to demoralize youthful
minds and habits was manifestly
illustrated here during the Christ
mas holidays. a large number of
the Indian pupils, boys and girls,
from ten TO sixteen years old, who
have money to their credit in the
agency Office, were given Govern
ment checks, varying in amount,
from 5000 to $500 or more. The
larger majority of these pupils
had never been placed in possession
of so much money before and the
way those sudden|y-made rich kids
proceeded to dispose of the amounts
of their checks was decidedly
foreign to the HOVER conserva
ton system: From good authority
we are Informed that most of the
purchases made were on the knick
knack order; for instance one boy
purchased two dozen packages of
chewing gum; most of them in
vested in flash lights, hand sleds,
confectionery, etc. Very few sub
stantial articles were bought. Que
boy paid $2.75 for hand sled and
the next day sold it to one of his
playmates for SO cents. One of
the most doleful features of this
manner of disposing of Indian
minors money is the fact that the
greater majority of the pupils who
are in attendance at the Govern
ment boarding school, where they
are fed and clothed at tribal ex-
pense, are the children of the
poorer class of reservation people
whose life is a constant struggle to
obtain the barest necessities that
will keep body and soul together
and, only in most urgent cases,
ar. any Of these poor people per
mi,ted to draw small sums of their
children's money AID such "dona-
tinns'' are generally in the form
of orders on some If the traders
stores. Then again there are W.
wards of one thousand Indian boys
and girls who are in attendance IN
public schools, located in different
portions of the former reservation,
who are denied tribal aid although
contributing their per capita share
of tribal funds supporting the
reservation Indian boarding school
proper. The parents of the latter
pupils, members of the Minnesota
| Chippevas, are self supporting,