The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-15
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J, HAsKrN. ptreceOr.
Washington, D. @.
THE SILK CLAD INDIAN.

scorn wearing a shirt that costs less
! than SIS. The shirt must be suffi-
GENTLY colorful to please the Indian
eye. and the makers cannot go too far
IN this direction.
/ Recently members of the house
committee on Indian affairs visited
| various Indian reservations in the
west, and found men and women of
| the tribes developing strong taste for
| personal adornment, affected by the
white race, but going beyond the pref
erence for subdued tones generally OBJ
/ served among Caucasians.
Officials of the Indian bureau here
| look with favor upon substituting the
habiliments of the white man fer the
| blanket and nondescript Indian cos
| tune of old. They do not discourage
| these wards of the nation from dress
! ing themselves in up-to-date garments,
| even if in doing so they spend much
| of their money on personal adornment
| instead of on more substantial things
which would tend to show greater
progress. The bureau officials look
upon the change as showing ten
| dency, particularly upon the part or
| the younger generation, to abandon
! once and for all the old Indian re-
gala, which has been the tribal cos
tune for centuries. The blanket In
! dian has been a difficult problem for
| the Indian bureau for some time
Indian Oil HIiIlionaires.
/ H. E. Devendorf, for more than
! twenty years clerk of the Indian af-
fairs committee of the house of repre-
| sentatives, is authority for the state
ment that it is chiefly among the rich
| Usage tribes in Oklahoma that the
| colorful silk shirt is seen in most pro-
| fusion. The Usage Indians are well
| able to indulge this or any other eX-
! travagant taste they may cultivate.
| There are from. 1920 to 1900 of them
with incomes Varying from $4,000 to
J SO, 900 a month. derived from royalty
payments on oil lands to which they
hold title. Like Indians turnout the
| country, the OSages are not exempt
| from the Indian conviction that money
| is meant to spend. They spend it for
anything that will bring them pleas
ure. Indian bureau officials say that
] the mere act of spending money is
| source of JOY to many Indians.
Automobiles are in great demand
, among the newly rich Indians, and
| they like speed. The Indian is a good
| driver, too. In the level prairie coun-
| try of Oklahoma there are many long
streaches of good roads, where the
| Indian driver can "steep on err and
| indulge his craving for speed to his
| hearts content. There are notably
/ few accidents in which Indian motor
| lists figure. However, where whisky
| enters into the equation, the Indian,
| like his white brother, seems to court
trouble in finding plenty of it.
Hundred Mile Taxi Ride.
An instance of Indian disregard of
/ money is shown in the story of a trip
to Colorado Springs, taken last sum-
mer by a party of rich Osages. They
chartered Six Pullman cars. spent most
| of the SUNNI era in good hotels, and re-
| turned in private Pullmans. But about
! 100 miles from home one of the In
dams, who enjoys an income from OIL
| lands amounting to several thousands
| of dollars a month, got tired of riding
on the train. He alighted, hired a
taxicab, and drove the rest of the way
| in it. His taxi bill amounted to $500,
which he paid without a murmur-
Legislation is before congress de-
signed to give full citizenship to the
Indian. DR.. Joseph koSsuth Dixon
of Philadelphia has been active before
the Indian committee of congress,
pointing out that altho citizenship APP
pears to be given to the Indian with
the allotments of public lands. there
! in fee simple is not granted until 20
years after have elapsed, so that the
| Indian owner is kept from citizenship
for that length of time.
A Sioux Indian presented himself
at a registration booth for the selec-
tive draft during the late war.
Are you an alien?' he was asked.
mo, I was born in the United
States,'' he replied.
Then you are citizen?
mo, am not a citizen"
What are you?"
81 am an Indian. Altho I was born
in the United States, have not the
rights of an alien, nor have the
rights of a citizen. My father is
full blooded Sioux chief. am
male between the ages of 81 and 81,
and must present myself for military
service"
The draft board was puzzled for
time. Finally he went into the records
as Big Face, born in the United
States, but not citizen"
Fine Indian War Record.
A report of the commissioner of
5000 Indians entered some branch of
the military service during the world
war, and that fully 5000 of these en-
tered by voluntary enlistment. 1t is
also stated that of the 1888 INDIANS
registered by draft boards, only 22S
sought deferred classification or ex-
emption.
Brig. Gen. Enoch H. Crowder, pro-
vost marshal general, in his report
to the president on the selective draft,
declared that "as the raising of the
army proceeded and the organizations
entered upon their transit overseas, it
was seen that the traditional aptitude
of the Indian race for the military
career was pelnS Ferl1ed ana that the
men of this breed were nobly showing
their zeal for the great cause" He
quoted from the official A. Z. F. news
paper. the stars and Stripes" the
following:
1T was the Prussian Guard against
the American Indian on the morning
of October s in the hills of Cham
payne. When it was all over. the
Prussian Guards were farther on their
way back toward the Aisne. and war
riors of l 3 Indian tribes looked down
on the town of st. Etienne. The In
dians--one company of them-were
fighting with the 36th division, made
up of Texas and Oklahoma rangers
and oil men, for the most part THE
Millionaire Company was the title
that had followed the Indians from
Camp Bowie, Wyo., and there fol-
lowed them also a legend of $1,000
checks cashed by the Indian buck pri-