“(Signed) Louis Mann,
“Corresponding Secretary of the [Indian] Councils.”
The Utes of Utah and Colorado never have been progressive, though some of them do work. They require special treatment. A Government employee remedied conditions among them in August, 1912, and wrote me, giving sensible advice, as follows:—
“What good does it do to send out circulars on sanitary conditions and dairying, when some of these Indians are in destitute circumstances? The poor Utes down at Navaho Springs need something to eat and wear, and some blankets to keep them warm. They sleep on sheepskins on the floors of their tipis. They get but little rations. They have been compelled to sell their ponies and buckskin suits, and beadwork, and Navaho blankets, to get something to eat for themselves and their children. They have no allotments, do not farm and have no way to make a dollar.
INDIAN PACK-TRAIN IN THE MOUNTAINS
Photographed by E. R. Forrest, Washington, Pa.
“Here at this reservation I have found that the Indians have been defrauded in their lands and moneys. They sold their lands under direction of the Agent, and then the scheme was to get their money away as soon as possible. It was done through the dishonest Indian trader in every possible manner. Indians’ checks were drawn, of which the Indian knew nothing, in favor of some Indian trader for horses, wagons and other things of which the Indian had no knowledge and which he did not get. Although the checks are drawn in his name and charged to the Indian, no credit is given the Indian on the books of the trader. This is just a sample. One poor Indian who lives at Navaho Springs, had his allotment of 160 acres sold for $245. This was put on the books to his credit. Then a check was drawn for a horse and saddle in favor of Mr. Trader for $165 to pay for same. He never bought same and never had this horse and saddle. No credit for this check on the Trader’s books. Then another check was drawn in the sum of $67 against this Indian account, of which he knows nothing, for a saddle, bridle, and tent. He never bought or got the bridle, saddle, or tent and knows nothing of the transaction. He never put his thumb mark to either check. So out of the little pittance he got for his land, a little more than a dollar an acre, he has had stolen from him out of that $245, the sum of $232.”
Several correspondents in the Northwest give their opinions on what should be done, and I submit extracts from their letters.
“The Government, in my judgment, should further strengthen its work in suppressing the liquor traffic among the Indians. A large appropriation should be asked for each year, and good, competent men should be employed to break up the traffic. In my opinion, it is useless to educate the Indian to grow up and drink himself to death, and if the United States laws are too little enforced with relation to the liquor traffic among Indians, it is not because they are not violated, but because the Government has not yet secured sufficient assistance to see that the law-violators are punished.”
Correspondent, Pendleton, Oregon