The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-18
RICHEST RACE ON EARTH

Americans pride themselves on be- ing the richest people on earth, for getting that race living within the borders of the United States contains American commonwealths. If all the wealth owned by white Americans were equally distributed, every citi- zen would have s1,S00. But If all the ! tribal and personal property owned by Indians in this country were equally distributed among the 340,000 remaining Indians, each men Der of that blood would have S2,1O0. Lo, the poor Indian has become opulent.
 Among the red men as among the white men. however, fortune s. has played favorites. Nine-tenths of all Indian wealth belongs to the Five Civilized Tribes" of Oklahoma, and Of these the Osages are the richest. ing white Indians with one-siXty- | fourth Indian blood. In 1922 every individual member received from oilI royalties alone the sum of 1.700 According to M. E. Mcintosh, from 1915 to 1920 bonuses aggregating more than $2s,00o,000 were received for leases covering 5000 acres Of Osage land. Gas leases brought s1,O00,O00 more, and, on top of all this, the tribes have been paid. since 1901, royalties in excess of S20, ,000,- 000. So if one cannot be Henry Ford he had better be an Osage.
 There are also rich Indians outside of Oklahoma, and their wealth does not depend on oil. Arizona tribes, in- cluding the Apaches, own forests, worth S52,349,99 according to gov ernmental estimates. The standing timber on the Fort Appache reserva- tion is valued at about -S10, ,000, 900. No one needs pity the poverty of any of our reservation Indians. Despite their wealth, however, the western tribes persist in their primitive ways. The Navajos. for example, owning timber worth $15,000,0O0. still spend their days weaving blankets.
 There is strong disposition among ',ornery" white neighbors to inter-. marry with Indians, because the off spring of such marriages, up to and including children containing one sixty-fourth Indian blood. share in the tribal funds and properties. The Apaches have always been careful to keep their blood pure. Tt is kept pure," says the commissioner, "by the brutal but effective method of per- hitting all children of white fathers to die."
 sOnly 6.053 Indians remain in New York state-on two reservations, one near Rochester and the other at Shinnecock. These are poor speci- mems of the race, remnants of at least a dozen tribes, which have intermar- ried with one another with negroes and whites, so it is difficult to class them as descendants of any particu- lar tribe.
 The most miserable of all Indians are the Eskimos; slowly but surely the Arctic has condemned then. to extinction.
 One trouble with the rich Indians is that they have never learned, and seem incapable of learning, the value of money. When the quarterly dis bursement day comes in Oklahoma each tribe congregates on it's reserva- ton and an orgie of feasting and dancing follows. The disbursng of- ficer of the government is trailed by a crowd of merchants who have trusted the Indians between pay days. and within a few hours after the feasting and dancing the tribesmen part with their income. The first either piano or an automobile, and the next thing is to buy another au- tomobile and another piano. Leon Mcintosh of the Osages owns seven pianos and five auton. obiles.
 The Indian tribes are independent nations living within the United States. The government deals with them as with other nationss-through treaties. Crimes committed by In dians s-are not punished under our laws. but by tribal tribunals, unless the crimes come within existing treaty provisions.