The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1925-09-03
The American
Indians New Status.

oiduo WIN VISOS uhuOh Soioi VI
title resting upon possession,
claimed the vast domain which is
now the United States as their
own, and who voted in their coun.
ellis for those defensive measures
which they hoped would defeat
the inevitable progress of the
white mans civilization, the reali-
zation that they are, after the
passing of the years, the political
equals of those whose institutions
they once claimed to-despire. The
white men who passed from the
stage of human activity a genera
tion ago probably never dreamed
that the day would come when the
American Indian would be invest.
ed with the franchise right. Many
of the Indians are still the wards
of the government, but they are
no longer under that disability
which once rendered them mute
and powerless in the choice of
their guardians and conservators.
Within recent years much has
been written and said in criticism
and condemnation Of the system
under which the properties and
persons of the Indians have been
controlled and supervised. 1t may
not be that there has existed
among the members of the several
tribes complete unanimity of opin-
ion regarding the remedy which
they believe should be applied.
Perhaps there has never been an
opportunity for the expression of
that unity which many champions
of the Indians cause have insisted
does exist.
But now the right has been ac'
corded to demand, at the ballot
box and in political party councils,
a readjustment of whatever is act
ually wrong in the administration
of Indian affairs. 1t is said that
in the western American states
where the combined Indian vote
must b. recognized as an import
ant factor in all future elections,
senator's and representatives in
Congress are taking serious ac'
count of this new political force.
White friends of the Indians, as
we'll as leaders among the several
tribes, evidently realize that unit
ed action among all the tribes
promises the quickest and Only
effective solution of the existing
problem. 1t is reasonably insisted
that whatever action would solve
the trouble of the Chippewas 10
Minnesota would bring corre-
spending relief to the Sioux of
the Dakotas, the Flatheads, Crows
and Blackfeet of Montana, the
Apaches and Navajos of Arizona,
the Pueblos of New Mexico, the
Five Civilized Tribes of Oklaho-
ma, and the somewhat scattered
remnants of tribes in California,
Nevada, Oregon, Utah and WASH
ington. H..
Vast property interests are in.
volved in the administration of the
affairs of these widely separated
people. 1t has been openly
charged that under the prevailing
bureaucratic system the rights of
the actual owners of valuable
lands, oil wells and grazing and
agricultural areas have not been
protected, and that as q result the
Indians have not enjoyed the
privileges which are rightfully.
theirs.
Will the Indians, individually
and collectively, rise to assert
what now are conceded to be their
political as we'll as their ethical
rights9 It is safe to assume that
they will. They have conscientious
and wise friends among the whites
who will direct them in their early
adventures in practical politics.
The result can be safely forecast.