Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1923-05-31

most of all. That was the Wild
west with Indians n'everything."
Anybody would think that there
was nothing but Indians at the cir
Gus to hear you talk" said Ruth.
"They were interesting all right"
said Uncle, Ted. II wonder how you
would like to have a story about the
Indians ?"
"That would be great" replied
the kiddies.
"This story was brought to my
mind by reading about what Secre-
tary of the Interior Work has done
regarding those wards of Uncle
Sam. You see the Bureau of Indian
Affairs comes under the Interior De-
partment and is in charge of man
by the name of Charles H. Burke,
the Indian Commissioner. This bur-
eau looks after all the affairs of the
American Indian. The Indians live
on reservation sin several States and
are under the direct charge of the
Federal government until each one
Of them Individually proves that. he
or she is capable Of citizenship. Then
he is given his freedom and what
everever money belongs to him from
his land is turned over and it is up
to him to make his own way. Many
Of these 100000 Indians on the res
vations still object to Uncle Sam
looking after their welfare but it is
the only way they can be taken care
Of. Formerly they were dealt with
as tribes but now each one is dealt
with as an individual and by the dis
tribution of lands etc, to each one
they have been saved millions of dol
lars.
Zone interesting point in handl-
ing the property of these Redmen
is that in the past the majority, not
being able to write, were allowed
when signing papers to make simply
mark Later, if the Indian didn't
like what the papers said, he could
say he didn't make the mark. Now
thumb prints are made so that there
can be no mistakes, because no two
prints are alike. And would you
kiddies believe that after seeing
those Indians today, there are more
than 10000 Of them who still wear
their blankets and feathers? Of
course, the full-blooded Indians are
gradually thinning out but the ag-
gregate population is growing.
"You remember we read the
other day that Henry Ford is the
richest man in the world, but the
richest people in the world, on an
average, are probably the Usage In
dams. When this tribe was intact
it consisted of $3.50 persons owning
about 100000 acres of wonderful
farming land. Besides that they
cash to the amount Of about $4,000
000 When the law was changed
each one was given 480 acres Of land
and about $4,000 in cash.
"Now to get back to where / start
ed. There are always big problems
dealing with the Indians and for that
reason Secretary Work recently in
vited about $50 friends of the Ameri-
can Indian to form a non-sectarian
and non-partisan body to act as an
advisory council to the Department
of the Interior on Indian problems.
This group of men and women will
make a thorough investigation and
study of everything connected with
the Indians. In forming this body
Secretary Work said:
The interests of the Indians are
becoming more important; the pro-
blems confronting the Government
in properly and justly dealing with
the various tribes, their and claims
against the Government, are grow
ing more complex, and in view of my
personal solicitude, and my Official
desire that every effort be made to
protect those rights and privileges
to which the Indians are entitled, I
am particularly anxious that the
Government avail itself of every OPP
portunity to advance its program of
constructive aid to its wards
Secretary Work and his assis-
tants are going to see that the fin.
est record ever made is made during
this Administration in dealing with
this big question. As has been the
general policy of the entire Harding
Administration, experts on the sub
ject from the outside have been ask
ed to give the Government the bene-
tit Of their knowledge. No one per-
son has felt that he knows it all.
As Secretary Work said:
mo national policy for the A.
fnericans can be prescribed except BY
themselves, but we are responsible