Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

with some standard leather preservative, would keep the child properly and presentably shod for six months. The ice put into the drinking water is cut from Milk River, which carries the sewage of many towns located above the agency. Using this ice in the drinking water is no different than drinking the water taken directly from the river itself, and it is recommended that the water be cooled without putting the ice directly into it.

"It is reported that the horse meat issued to the Indians in lieu of beef is not handled properly. Instead of killing it in the early winter when the animals are fat, freezing and hanging it up, it is butchered from time to time in the late winter and spring when it is lean, tasteless, and less nutritious. When Mr. John Buntin was superintendent at Tongue River he killed his horses in December when they were fat, hung them in an old building that was easily converted into a double-walled storehouse, the interspace being filled with sawdust and the floor below with ice. The meat was frozen before hanging, the doors were kept open during cold weather and shut during the warm periods, and the scheme worked to his satisfaction, as it has elsewhere. Any such scheme, however, will be a failure unless carried out with zeal, intelligence, and a determination to make it succeed.

"The clothes and blankets issued to the old and indigent two years ago have been worn out, and it is reported that the rations issued to this class were cut in half last spring. The superintendent reports that the average income of a family on this reservation is $250 a year from all sources and those working can spare little for the old and helpless. They appear very destitute; their clothing and bedding are in rags. It is recommended that corduroy suits, underclothes, shoes and stockings, and bedding be provided for them. Warm dresses in addition should be issued to the old women, many of whom are blind and crippled.

"The members of both tribes (Gros Ventres and Prairie Assiniboine) on the reservation are much excited over the allotment rolls, and there is much contention among them as to who should or should not share in the division of the tribal lands. The allotting agent is on the ground making his preliminary arrangements but can not make allotments until the rolls are completed and approved. Delegations of both tribes have voiced their feelings about the rolls. I told both of them that there is enough land for all, and that some of the persons in dispute undoubtedly belong to the reservation, as they have lived there for 35 years and have rights it is believed would stand the test of courts. They were advised to stop their wrangling and agitating over the matter and rely completely upon the well-known integrity of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and abide by his decision in the case after he had heard both sides of the controversy as to what persons are entitled to share in the tribal lands. This seems to have had a quieting effect upon them.

"I desire to call attention again to the improper housing and toilet conditions at the school, to the necessity of providing proper amounts of food, bedding, and clothing for the blind and helpless, as well as for the children dependent upon them, before the arrival of cold weather, which sets in early in this latitude."

KIOWA INDIAN AGENCY, OKLAHOMA,

[ocr errors]

Commissioner Malcolm McDowell, in November, 1922, made a survey of conditions in the Kiowa Indian Agency, having jurisdiction over 4,800 Kiowa, Comanche, Caddo, Kiowa-Apache, Fort Sill" Apache, Wichita, Delaware, and related Indians in three counties of southwestern Oklahoma, and who are under the supervision of Superintendent John A. Buntin. These Indians are citizens, about 2,000 of them vote, over 4,000 speak and nearly 3,000 read and write English. They were allotted approximately 500,000 acres of agricultural and 142,000 acres of grazing land. There is no tribal land, for all land has been allotted.

Commissioner McDowell, in his report, laid emphasis upon the situation likely to develop out of the expiration of the trust period in this jurisdiction in 1926. He found the Indians, apparently realizing their unpreparedness to manage their property affairs without the protection and aid of the Government, were circulating a petition among themselves, addressed to the President, asking him to extend their trust period for 10 years, at least. Superintendent Buntin expressed the opinion that it would be more satisfactory to the Indians and the public in general if a competency commission should visit the agency not later than 1925 to ascertain the number of Indians to whom it might be advisable to issue patents in fee, Indians found to be competent and able to

take care of themselves. He estimated that about 5 per cent of the allottees are competent, leaving 95 per cent who should continue as wards of the United States after 1926.

Only 451 Indians have had restrictions remoyed from their allotments, and it was learned that nearly all of such patent-in-fee Indians had sold their lands soon after they had been released from Government supervision. In this connection Commission McDowell, in his report, stated: "The time is so short to July 1, 1926, when the trust period comes to an end, that I can not too urgently recommend immediate action by the department that will result in an extension of 10 years, at least, of the trust-patent period. And I quite agree with Mr. Buntin that it would be well to send a competency commission to the Kiowa Agency not later than 1925 to select the competent Indians to whom patents in fee may be given in 1926." Other excerpts from the report follow:

66

Superintendent Buntin came to this agency from Rosebud, S. Dak., only seven months ago. He was no stranger to these Indians because 30 years ago he was appointed principal of the Riverside Indian School at Anadarko and was here for a number of years. He told me that at that time every Indian in this jurisdiction was regularly receiving rations; to-day no rations are issued to any. At that time not to exceed half of 1 per cent of the reservation had been touched by a plow; to-day there are fine farms everywhere. Then, the Indians as a rule were living on streams in places most convenient to water, fuel, and pasturage for their ponies and more than half were living in tepees. To-day the great majority are housed in permanent homes, many of them larger and better constructed than the homes of their white neighbors, on their own allotments, and a small, but growing, proportion of them are self-supporting.

[ocr errors]

Comparing the Indians of 1901 with those of to-day, Mr. Buntin said it has been amply demonstrated that surrounding an Indian family with white neighbors has a decided civilizing effect upon the Indians; that they imitate their white neighbors in farming operations and in housekeeping. While the progress of recent years has shown that most of the adults are making creditable efforts to be self-supporting, there are a considerable number who have not shown a disposition to, support themselves by their own industry, and there is much to be done for them.

"The Kiowa Agency is divided into nine districts, with an Indian Service farmer living in and having charge of each. I met five of the farmers, and it is a pleasure to report that I found them active, sympathetic with the Indians, and rather enthusiastic over their work. All told me they were much encouraged by the growing interest of the Indians in farming. They ascribed much of this increasing tendency toward agriculture to the high prices received for cotton and other farm products during the World War period, but they pointed out that the lower prices and droughts of recent years had not discouraged the Indians as much as it had a number of white farmers.

"This jurisdiction is sprinkled thickly with public schools and in almost all of them are Indian children. The last school census taken by the agency show that 674 Indian boys and girls are enrolled in these district schools and that their average attendance varies from 75 to 80 per cent. This is a high average for Indians and contrasts so sharply with the very low average of attendance in the eastern part of the State that I looked for the cause. The Government pays tuition for 492 children; 182 go to the public schools as if they were the children of taxpayers. Nowhere did I find the least evidence of racial prejudice against any public school Indian pupil.

"The principal cause of the high average of attendance, in my opinion, is the activity of the Indian Service day-school inspector. He is constantly after the truants whose names he gets from the public-school teachers. Five days in every week he is visiting public schools, getting reports, checking up attendance of Indian children, checking up their school work, and the schools. I spent two days on the road with Mr. E. W. Swank, the day-school inspector for this agency, and soon discovered the reason why the public schools in the four counties of this jurisdiction and of the western edge of Grady County are demonstrating what can be done in educating young Indians when conditions and supervision are right and where there is real cooperation between the public school authorities and the Indian Service people.

"The Kiowa Agency is fortunate in having a staff of efficient field matrons, three of whom give all their time to the work, and two, who are wives of missionaries, give part time. They are included in the medical staff because

much of their work is nursing and instruction in nursing, giving first aid, sanitary inspection of homes, instruction and care of babies, reporting sick cases to the agency physicians, and assisting them when necessary in minor surgical operations at the homes of patients.

"But the greater part of their work has for its purpose the encouraging of Indian women to improve their home conditions. They teach them how to 'lay out' patterns for clothing, how to preserve fruit and vegetables, how to wash, cook, and mend. Each field matron is a little court of domestic relations, for the women take up with them family and marital troubles, etc. They distribute magazines, cut-outs for the children, pictures for home decorations, and help the public health officials to get their publications into the families.

[ocr errors]

"Field matrons' districts vary in area from 400 to 800 square miles. Each should be provided with an automobile. With a horse and buggy not more than 3 to 6 families can be visited a day; with an automobile a field matron could visit from 8 to 12. They are subject to call night and day, in any kind of weather, and it is not at all infrequent for a call to come after midnight from a place 20 or more miles distant from the field matron's home.

THE KIOWA HOSPITAL.

"The high reputation of the Kiowa Hospital near Lawton is so firmly established that it is unnecessary to describe it in detail. It is a fine 'brick structure with a capacity for 50 patients. Its equipment is distinctly modern and the building is so constructed that it is easily susceptible of enlargement at comparative low expense.

"Doctor Langheim had 30 patients in the wards when I paid him a visit. He took me all over the plant, and I was much impressed by its cleanliness, freedom from what are called 'institutional odors,' and its general appearance. It was evident that Doctor Langheim is an efficient superintendent. He told me the Indians are beginning to come to the hospital on their own initiative and that the increasing number of cases in the maternity ward is a strong indication of the growing interest of the Indian women, particularly of the Comanche and Kiowa Tribes, in the hospital service.

[ocr errors]

This institution is a general hospital and Doctor Langheim has performed a number of major operations. In some of these he had the volunteer assistance of surgeons from Lawton. A significant indication of the Indians' increasing confidence in the white man's hospital is the large number of cases for the removal of adenoids and tonsils. The Fort Sill Boarding School is close to the hospital and a few years ago some of the children had their adenoids and tonsils removed. Apparently the parents noticed the improvement in their health, for they began bringing their children to Doctor Langheim for such treatment, and each year the number increases.

"The hospital staff is numerically inadequate for an institution of this size and character. Doctor Langheim has no assistant, nor is there an interne. His staff consits of a head nurse, one undergraduate nurse, two Indian girl assistants, whose only experience in nursing was gained at this hospital, and a matron. It seems to me the doctor should be given authority to employ special nurses for major operations. He told me he could get along with this kind of temporary help.

[ocr errors]

Although this is a general hospital, it takes tubercular patients. The addition of some sleeping porches would meet the need for, accommodation of Indians afflicted with tuberculosis and the shape of the building would make it inexpensive to construct such porches. There is ample ground for a tuberculosis sanatorium, it is the opinion of those who are watching the growth of this disease among the Oklahoma Indians that the time is rapidly approaching when such a sanitorium will be required. It is estimated that 408 Indians of this agency have tuberculosis and 422 have trachoma.

"In addition to the hospital staff there are Indian Service physicians at the agency headquarters at Anadarko and at the abandoned Rainy Mountain Boarding School. There are no contract doctors. Last year 3,775 Indians received treatment from the physicians and 1,023 from the field matrons. This number would be much larger but for the fact that many Indians go to physicians in the cities and towns near them."

[ocr errors]

I

[graphic]
« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »