Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-11-16
INDIAN POPULATION Is
INCREASING IN AMERICA
Tribes Are Prosperous Since the
Discovery of Oil

Like his old friend, the buffalo, the
American Indian is making a come
back. Figures recently announced
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
show our American Indian popula-
ton is now 344,303, a gain of Liza
oyer last year.
mot only last year, but for thirty
years, the redmen have steadily been
gaining on their death rate" says a
bulletin from the Washington, d. c.,
headquarters of the National Geo
graphic Society.
To-day there are six Indians per
square mile on reservations which
comprise an area not much smaller
than that of all New England. Ac-
cording to the best estimates availa-
BILE there was an average of only
n Indian for every three square
miles when white people first came
to American shores. If only two
thirds of the United States were oc-
cupied by red skins at the present
reservation population rate, there
would be 10000, 600 Indians in the
United States today.
"Massasoit gave the Pilgrim faith
ers corn, but the fact is that Massa-
soft and his kith and kin lived for
the most part by products Of the
chase. Deer, buffalo, bear, and rab-
bit were their pork and beef, and
berries and nuts their potatoes. Ever
| verdant America could not support
an intense population living in this
fashion. The total Indian population
at the time Columbus landed at San
Salvador is set at about SAG, 900. If
all the tribes. from the Pacific to the
| Atlantic, and from the Gulf to the
Great Lakes, had assembled at one
great meeting, they would have
made up a community not so large
as Detroit and only a few thousand
greater than Cleveland or Boston.
white mems guns decimated
some tribes, disease, dissipation, and
epidemics which came with the
white men spread death more surely.
Smallpox epidemics swept through
the western tribes three times be-
tween1781 and 1897 with more fatal
results than the influenza plague OF
1918. A peculiar fever killed 10000
Indians in California and Oregon in
one year. BY 1880 the Indian .popu-
lation had been reduced to 256,127,
therefore the present population
represents an increase of nearly
100000 in thirty years.
zone American Indian tribe today
Is the richest people on the face OF
the earth. Beneath the lands of the
Usage Indian tribe in Oklahoma oil
was discovered. Their wells produce
$1,000, 900 worth of oil annually
and Uncle Sam, who handles the
business for his red brother, dis
tributes to each member of the tribe
from $4,000 to $4,000 each year
In 1922 more than $4,000, 900 barrels
OF oil were produced on Usage lands
Partial adaptation to the white
mans ways and care by Uncle Sam
are responsible for the increase in
Indian population. The redman may
still be a hunter, but a visitor to
reservation will find the red Skin
useful as well as noble. He is otter
a rancher, dairy farmer, gardener
weaver, pottery maker, rugmaker
poultry raiser, typist, bookkeeper
miner, lumberer, guide, and he ever
clips coupons.
out of the ruin of Indian civiliza.
ton more than 200 tribes have beer
s%alvaged. These tribes are lodged OF
nearly 200 reservations varying from
tiny %rancherias in California to the
great Navajo reservations in Arizons
and New Mexico larger than tn,
State of Maryland. The Bureau O.
Indian Affairs is their guardian. I
is a government by itself, having {
cabinet OF six commissioners, ant
undertaking all-encompassing activi
ties typical of which are a probate
court, trust company, public road
commission, orphan asylum, tow
building, and operation Of a philan
thropic association, bank, and EN-
ployment agency.
Recently the red man once NOR
daubed himself with garish wa
paint. dressed himself in all hi
feathers, and hit the war path. TIL
path led to Hollywood and the In
dams broke into the movies. Unc1
Sam gave permission for the Shosh
oni and Arapaho tribes of the Win'
River reservation in Wyoming to &,
to the movie city to be used in tn
making Of pictures"