Page:LewisMeriam-TheProblemOfIndianAdministration.djvu/131

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104
Problem of Indian Administration

The sentiment of the Indians on this subject is divided. Those who favor abolition of wardship are unquestionably the more articulate. Among their number are many mixed bloods and many whose schooling has given them a good command of English. They are effective speakers with the Indian’s gift for direct and vivid statement. Some have but a modicum of Indian blood. On the other side are many full bloods who in their way are very solid and substantial people deeply attached to their lands and homes. They are disturbed to see what has happened to those who have had fee patents. One of them, with a very promising young pecan grove coming along, the result of his own labors, replied to the question whether he wanted a fee patent, “Nothing grows on the section line.” Another, president of the Indians’ livestock association of the reservation, said he did not want a fee patent. If he took one, the other Indians would say he had gone white and he would lose his influence with them. He felt that the great bulk of his tribe were far from the level where they could shift for themselves, and he personally preferred to stay as one of them rather than be regarded as an outsider. Included in this number are several, perhaps many, who value their status of wardship because it relieves them from taxation. The survey staff had no means of determining how a referendum on this subject would turn out, but it found in personal interviews and in councils a very considerable sentiment in favor of continued wardship.[1]

Despite the pressure that different groups bring to bear on the Indian Service, its present policy is toward marked conservatism in the issue of fee patents and release from wardship. This present policy is believed to be fundamentally sound. Fee patents and release from wardship should as a rule only be issued where fairly conclusive factual evidence is available indicating that the Indian has reached a position where he can maintain himself by his own efforts.[2] The Indian Service is to an increasing extent realizing that its work is primarily educational in the broad sense, and is to

  1. ↑ An indigent Indian woman who had dissipated the thousands of dollars received for her allotment appealed for rations. She ranted against the government for giving her control of property she was unable to handle. To the superintendent’s statement: “You clamored and fought to get a fee patent,” her reply was: “But the government should have known better.”
  2. ↑ For further detailed discussion of policy of issuance of patents in fee, see Schmeckebier, pp. 148-65.
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