OCR Text |
Show Indians who have built and are building substantialhomes in their allotments or who have purchased.farms with their own money and have equipped and improved them with good buildings, more I and better stock, and are surrounding themselves with the comforts and pleasures of an enlightened and more advanced civilization than. they have hitherto known. There has been. a pronounced increase in the number of bank ac-counts and in the amounts on deposit, also a steady indrease in the interest earnings on the accounts of individual Indians. , Some are reaching out into business enterprises of various kinds looking for investments and finding profitable ones in farm and city real estate, and others are launching forth into specialties, such as dairy, poultry, fruit, etc., some, of course, with failure ahead, but many making of their efforts a pronounced success. The ideal can only be realized when every Indian shall be fully competent to care for himse!f without assiitance. The proper man-agement of an Indian's bank account is one requiring delicate -tact and skill in order to teach him how to care for it'and himself without . . robbing- him of his manhood and independence. It is really an edu-cative process and calls for time in its development. I t is felt that the plan being pursued will bring success, for the complaints regard-ing the management of the Indian's money are steadily decreasing. - I t is confidently believed that the Indian's money can be made to serve him a double purpose, to give him the material things he needs and through expel'ience in its use inculcate in him prin~ipleso f busi-ness and thrift which shall contribute permanently to his personal and material developments. , The rules governing the handling of individual Indian money, approved July 14, 1913, have afforded satisfactory aid thus far, and the amendments which have been promulgated with the idea of lib- . , eralizing expenditures of individual Indian money appear to have likewise been beneficial. While it istme that the weight of respon-sibilitg for the superintendents has been somewhat increased, yet . their improved opportunities for assisting the Indianswithout delay have offset the extra work involved. DEBTS OF INDIANS. The problem. of indebtedness of the Indians is gradually becoming less sericus. A strict adherence to the policy of forbidding assistance to creditors of Indians in the collection of claims covering indebted-ness incurred subsequent to that date has wrought a beneficial change. The unscrupulous trader is thus thoroughly convinced that his methods will meet with no approval here and is grswing cautious , ' 1 in permitting Indians to pile up debts. Even the rich Osage Indians . 1 |