The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-12-04
WHITE LIQUOR
LAW BREAKERS
GO UNPUBLISHED
Klamath Falls Indians of High
Type; Want to Govern
Themselves
CALIFORNIA INDIAN POOR
RatiOns Sold to Utah Tribes at
Exorbitant Prices, Probe
Finds

Conditions on western Indian res
crvations are much worse than had
been expected by members of the
senate subcommittee which recent
~ investigated conditions on western
reservations, according to Nelson A
Mason, secretary to United States
Senator Lynn j. Frazier and secrc-
tary of the Indian affairs committee
which is making the investigation
Senator Frazier is chairman Of the
committee and of the sub-com mittee
which recently has been conducting
hearings in the west
The probe was ordered by a SEN
ate resolution adopted at the last
session of congress. The resolution
was sponsored by Senator William
il. King of Utah at the request of
Mrs. Stella j. Atwood of Riverside
California, former chairman of the
Indian affairs committee of the ma
tlonal federation of women's clubs.
Field investigators made pre-
llminary survey and on November IL
the subcommittee began it's hear
ings at Yakima, Washington. They
were discontinued, Mason said, in or
der to permit the senators to return
to Washington for the Forthcoming
short session of congress.
At Yakima, Mason said, Indians
objected to the manner in which
their land has been leased to white
tenants. They said they were forced
TO sell their stock for want of pas
ture and charged discrimination
against the Indian in favor Of the
white man. They also charged that
land leased to white persons often
was sub-leased by them contrary to
federal law. In some cases. they
charged, Indians received as little as
two dollars an acre for rich farming
land and the lessons sub-leased the
property for $l1 to $l5 an acre.
Hunters Scare Indians
Mason said hunting is not allowed
on the reservations but that Indian
women and children said they were
afraid to 60 out of doors at times be-
cause they were afraid Of being shot
by white hunters.
White violators Of the prohibition
law went Unpublished and were per-
mitted to continue to live on the re-
servation, Mason said the witnesses
testified, because the governments
representative in charge of such
things said he wanted to reform"
The offenders.
Mason said Indian residents Of
the reservation were thrown into
jail and given heavy penalties for
minor infractions of laws such as
those governing traffic on the high
ways. Mason said the conditions on
the reservation were worse than the
senator's had expected to find them.
The leasing of tillable lands was out
ragcous, ne said, but the valuable
timber lands were well conserved.
The Klamath Falls, Oregon, res
ervatlon was the best visited, Mason
said The Indians were of a high
type, apparently we'll civilized and
well-dressed. Their chief grievance
was that they were capable of adj
nlnistering their own affairs but
we're not permitted to do so. They
charged that greded and graveled
road was built with Indian funds for
the benefit Of timber firms leasing
Indian lands and that the Indians re-
celvcd no benefit; that the Indians
were Disseminated against in the
matter of water rights and that their
'unds were improperly handled. They
asked that Indian affairs be govern
ed by the Indian tribal counsel.
California Indians Poor
Hearings at Riverside and San
francisco, California, showed that
the California Indians were poorer
han any others in America, Mason
said. State officials and leading
medical men testified that living
conditions among California Indians
are intolerable, Mason said. Tuber-
culosls is prevalent and has taken
heavy toll, reducing the number of
Indians from 10000 to $4,000 in the
last so years.
Witnesses charged that land
bought by the government for these
indians was so poor that, according
20 one witness "a scientific agricul-
turist would starve to death trying
to raise food on it,
The state of California is ready
to assist in solving it's Indian prob
lem, Mason said.
A hearing was held at Salt Lake
City, Utah, to ascertain conditions
among Indians in that state but no
reservations were visited by the SEN
ators. Testimony at Salt Lake, Ma
son said, brought out charges that
rations are sold to Indians at exor-
bitant prices and the food often was
unfit Cor use.
Senator w. B. Pine of Oklahoma
accompanied Senator Frazier on the
tour and Louis H. CLAWS of New
York city acted as chief Investigator
for the subcommittee.
Attached to q birds back, new
instrument can be used to record
its motions in the air revealing the
secret Of birds perfect flight.