Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1891 — DEAD AND DOWN PINE. [ARTICLE]

DEAD AND DOWN PINE.

Magnitude ot the Lumber Interests of tho Red Men of ths Northwest. The bureau at Washington has this to say concerning the timber wealth of the Indian reservation in Wisconsin and Minnesota: During the sea-on of 1890 the Indians of Green Bay Agency cut and banked for sale about 25,500,000 feet of pine and 10,0)0,030 of other timber, while those of While Earth banked 15,500,000 feet. The total of these two agencies, therefore, was about 42,000,000 feet. While these figures indicate the magnitude of the lumber interests of the Indians of Wisconsin and Minnesota, the act passed by the last Congress permitting the Menomonees to engage more systematically in marketing all their timber may lead to results still more remarkable. The Chippewas recently ceded lands amounting to perhaps 3,000,000 acres', containing a large area of valuable forest. ' ■ '■ • ■ The recent troubles on the Menomonee reservation have attracted fresh interest to their wealth in timber. Their sales during tho season of 1890 netted them nearly $218,000, of which sum $22,000 was deposited in the United States Treasury as a stumpage fund for the support of the poor and helpless and for the maintenance of a hospital. The remainder was divided in cash among those who had been engaged In the work. Tho law relating to dead and down timber on tho reservations has been made the subject of elaborate decisions by tho Supreme Court. The main point has naturally boon to find out how much of the timber can b i cut. While standing it is part of the realty, and can only be severed with a view to improving the land and making it better adapted to convenient occupation. If the Indians, under their titles, con d sell tho land freely to any buyer, they could also cut and sell the timber without the land; but since this is not the case, and they can only make the land over to tho Government, they are held to be practically, so far as the forests are concerned, tenants for life. Honco tho cutting of the timber must not be done for the sake of sale, but only as an incident of improvement But, while this may seem to bo a severe restriction, it is wise in relation th the question of forest preservation. Besides, the docfcdpn the Supreme Court added that, "in theory at least tho land is better aftff more valuable with the timber off than on,” so that there has been little practical difficulty in giving tho Indians a fair use of thoir wealth in lumber. Still, under the decision of tho court, an act of Congress in 1889 proscribed that “whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that such timber has been killed, burned, girdled or otherwise injured for tho purpose of securing Its sale such authority shall not be granted.” In tho fall of that year, after inquiries had shown that there was no ground for suspecting such a violation of tho law, the Indian office granted authority to the Red Lake Indians and other Chippewas to dispose of their dead and down timber. Tho Injustice to which they had boon subjected by failures to give them this privilege was expressed in the following letter: “When we negotiated the treaty with tho Chippewa Commission ceding our lands wo were promised the privilege to cut and dispose of tho dead and down timber on our reservation'until tho time of valuation of the timber preceding the sale of same. “During the past years millions of feet of timber have been allowed to rot and waste by worms and lire. There are now many millions of feet which will rot and waste unless we are enabled to log .it. Tho CommfsHoner of Indian Affairs has made a ruling allowing us to dispose of tho dead and down timber on the Red Lake Reservation, but this ruling furnishes us with no relief, as we are about ICO miles from settlement, and no supplies in tho way of provisions or tools. “Under the ruling, which does not protect the furnisher, wo have been unable to induce any one to supply us, and we are now lying idle and In want " Similar arrangements were made for the Green Bay Agency, with the results already spoken of. But there were still complaints that the Menomoneos were not profiting much by the 1 logging business, and that they cleared larger tract* than they could cultivate. Then the Fifty-first Congress came in with an act which, according to Commissioner Morgan, “removes all Incentive to injure growing timber by giving each member of the tribe an equal share of the net proceeds of its sale, by funding the greater part of said proceeds, tho interest only to bo used for their benefit, and by giving steady employment every winter at good wages to all who are physically able to labor.” The results of the logging under this law will be duly made public. The logging,conducted by Indians has long been very important, arid, besides the for tjmber, the wages earned by the Indians for their labor are of great consequence, as are also tho habits of industry thus formed. Hence the Indian Office has often been anxious that contracts with white men for lumbering should not prejudice the employment it Indian labor- 0! course, when land is allotted to tho Indians in severalty they may dispose of the timber as they please.