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GOVERNMENT PONDER CONDITIONS IN TAMA COUNTY INDIAN RESERVEMay Break I'p the Communal lespotism Among the Sac and Fox Indians—Situation at Present fne of Hopelessness, Says Assistant Indian Commissioner Abbott.Washington, D. C., Sept. 2 4. .(Special.)—The present administra-j lion of the Indian bureau in considering a policy of breaking the communal despotism now existing in the conduct ot affairs of the Sac and Fox reserve in Tama county, Iowa. During the last se.-sion of congress, Senator Cummins introduced a bill in the senate which provided for the allotment of the lands of the Sac and Fox tribe in Iowa and a similar bill was presented in the house by Congressman Good. No action was taken, however, on these bills, as the time was short and other more important matters crowded tho Sacand Fox bills out.The Sac and Fox Indians of Iowa number some 350 souls and own about 3,250 acres in Tama county, upon which they have lived for more than fifty years. The title to their lands is held for them in trust bythe secretary of tiie interior andthey cannot dispose of their holdings without his consent, and furthermore he, the secretary of the interior, also has absolute control of ♦he payment of their annuities. The Iowa band of Sac and Fox Indians has always resented any and everyattempt which has been made to educate their children and all other efforts looking to the general upliftof the tribe have been vigorouslyfought by the old chlefs.The secretary of the Interior recently put into operation a plan whereby annuities of all Indian parents of this tribe who refused to allow their children to attend the schools should be withheld. This has resulted in the improvement ofthe educational situation, there now being twenty-three pupils at day school in regular attendance.Assistant Indian Commissioner F. H. Abbott, during his recent tour of inspection of Indian reservations, rode all over the Sac and Fox country. visiting the leading chiefs, and talked with the young men generally known as the progressives of the tribe. The latter favor the breaking up of the communal form of government, and would indeel be glad to accept allotments and thus be ableto farm Independently, but seem tofear to take the initiative because of the hostility of the old chiefs to the plans of the department.“Words cannot describe the hopelessness of the present situation in the Sac and Fox country in Iowa ”said Assistant Commissioner Abbotttoday, in speaking o' h's recent visit. ‘There is not a legal marriage among them. The majority areagainst schools. There is net a decent residence on their lands. Allare pronounced Pagans except fiveand these have been converted through the Mescal lodge. Theircondition is not only menace to their own future, hutstant. disgrace to tvethat Is permitting the of such conditions.“The work of clearing the lands of underbrush and rlne timber should he pushed with vigor.” continued Mr. Abbott. The old Indians objeet to having the underbrushcleared away, on the theory that itIt 1s a con-governmentcontinuancethesur-thiswould drive the rabbits—their meat supply—out of the country, and bythreats of violence have intimidated the young Indians to the point that it is impossible to get an Indian toengage in the work of timber clearing. It is highly important that all the agricultural land—and most ot* it is agricultural in character— should be cleared before individual allotments are made. If it is impossible to have it done with Indian labor, it should be accomplished by the employment of whites. There are thousands of feet of good cord-wood rotting; large logs, which willnever be of any use unless it is marketed in some way.“The question of individual allotments is the most difficult of all. A number of oung men are trying tofarm, but under present conditionsthere is little hope. A young manwho tilled ten acres last year, chief furnishing the fence toround the land. Is forbiddenyear to farm the same ten acres unless he will agree to give the chief half his crop.“Another young man who put out a large crop of corn last year frequently found his field filled withIndian ponies and when he attempted to shut them out. was confronted with the query: ‘What right haveyou to object? This is as much ourland as it is yours.’ Still another young man was asked why he did not build himself a house and some fence instead of living in a ‘wlckey-up,’ and hereplied: 'What is theuse; how do 1 know 1 will have land near my house to farm?’ ”Mr. Abbott recommends that newlegislation be procured which willpermit the alloting upon the request of an individual Indian, his pro rata share of the land, and that there be set apart to such Indian his pro rata share of the tribal trust funds to be used, under the rules and regulations, for the improvement of his allotment. He makesthis recommendation because, in his judgment, tt will be impossible within the next ten or fifteen years, to secure the consent of the majority of this tribe of Indians to an allotment of their lands.It will be possible, however, to secure requests from perhaps a dozen of the younger Indians for their individual portion of the tribal lands. In fact, only within the past fewdays the department has received apetition signed by fourteen of the younger element praying that they may be allowed to take individual allotments of ten acres each, share individually in the tribal fund andcommence farming on their own account.If the Indian holdings are 1n the nature of a tribal family estate, it Isbelieved that It would be consistentwith general law, upon authorization bv congre-s to partition this tribal estate upon the request or petition of a number of members of the tribe without regard to the consent of all or ever a majority, andthat the very utmost legal authority vested in the oecrotary of the Interior should be invoked for the uplift of these Indians.
Newspaper Details
Muscatine Journal
Muscatine, Iowa, US
Sat, Sep 24, 1910
Page 3
Full Page
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IA, USA 03 Sep 2020
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