Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, May 5, 1911, Page 1

1__.. VOLUME 10. NUMBER 6. BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 5, 1911. v‘lva\‘-:ém : ‘H\STOR\'GAL SOCIETY. TEN CENTS PER WEEK. BRANDS FALSE TALE OFINDIAN SUFFERING William Bishop, Superintendent - of Red Lake Agency, Writes Pio- neer of Trouble There. RAPS TWO FORMER EMPLOYES Declares Dissatisfaction Has Been Fanned and Kept Alive By Three Disaffected Persons. ADMITS SOME “IRREGULARITIES” Says, However, They Have Been In Interest of Work and Is Ready to Stand for All Acts. Ridiculing newspaper stories pre- tending to tell of the alleged suffer- ing of Indians of the Red Lake azency as unworthy of consideration, making the direct assertion that the Indians are happy and prosperous and that efforts to “get him’ are in the hands of three men, William H. Bishop, superintendent of the Red Lake agency in a communication to the Pioneer tells in detail how the alarming reports of that agency WQr_e started and offers an explanatioxi‘ 8 to the real condition of affairs novt; existing there. Mr. Bishop says: BEditor Pioneer: In view of the various - statements and misstat- ments that have appeared in a cer- tain paper of your city, I desire to submit the following, not as an an- swer to what has been published, for 1 waste no time reading such unreliable “news’” but simply as a statement of conditions here, for the information of the various friends of this agency, in Bemidji, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting in a business way. After the sale of the western por- tion of tnis reservation, in 1904, there was a per capita payment of $85.18, and thereafter each spring an annuity of $26.50. These pay- ments were made to the adults only, the minors' shares being covered back into the treasury and held in trust until the minor attained the age of 18 years, when it was paid to him in a lump sum. The Indians have always complained because they 4did not receive the minors’ shares also, but were unable to get the rule revoked. After thoroughly studying t.hel <ase, and being convinced that it was for the best interest of all con- «<erned, 1 took the matter up with the Department, and on my present- ation of the case, in March, 1910, the Department reversed their for- mer ruling, directing me in the future, to pay out the shares of all the Indians, and also to submit claims fi the minors’ trust funds already in the treasury, which was done, and last tall the treasury war- vants, in payment of these funds, began to come in. In the mean time, through certain inquires by persons entirely outside the reservation, the Indian Office was led to believe that the merchants and traders, in and around the res- ervation, were encouraging the In- «dians to run large accounts in anticipation of this payment, and immediately instructed me to there- after require all the Indians to de- posit their warrants in a designated bank, in the name of the minors, and to require that the funds when check- «d out should be used for the bene- fit of such minor, and not to pay debts incurred by the parents before the receipt of the warrant; this order was later construed to permit the purchase of any thing that would permanently improve their home surroundings, and, to a limited ex- tent, the payment of living expenses. The Indians, of course, protested vigorously against this abridge- ment of their right to use the money as they wished, but the Indian Office was firm. I made an effort to get the Office to modify its instructions, but without avail; Congressman Steenerson, to whom the Indians appealed, met with no better success. The Indians at first refused to take out their warrants, but later wiser counsel prevailed, and they deposit- ed their moneys as required, and it is being paid out for such pur- poses as are approved by the Indian Office. This is the cause of all the trouble at this agency the past winter. The dissatisfaction has been fanned and kept alive by three disaffected per- sons here, two of whom are former employes, who lost their jobs because they were found to be unfit for the positions they held; the third, an inveterate agitator, who, 1 am told, has been put off the other Chippewa reservations, but who has been permitted to remain here because of his wife and tamily. Concerning one of the ex-employes, in dismissing him from a school in the south, his superintendent reported. He has had ungentlemanly . controversies with several " em- ployes, and with Indians, in two of which personal encounters took place. N He was given another trial here, and later an inspecting official re- ported that a refusal to get along with a man of his manifest unfitness for any position in the Indian servige should challenge one’s admir- ation. No person with any proper interest in the condition of the pupils, would try to har- monize with his methods. This shows the character of men who are opposing the work here. Notwithstanding the various re- ports to the contrary, there has been no serious suffering or want on this reservation the past winter. . If needed, $25 at a time has been given to those who had funds to their! credit. The old and infirm, wit.houtl funds, have received rations from |{ the commissary, as usual; while]| there has been work in the woods, under the auspices of.this agency, for every able bodied Indian that: wanted it. In February, Nayaytow ub a lead- ing chief, in answer to my question, ; stated that all that needed rations| were getting them. - In ‘the. fore part of April, while discussing with Kay bay no din, the head chief, the probability of a delay in their| spring payment, he stated that the: delay would not matter, as the In-! dians were getting plenty of their| back money. Another strong proof that there is no want, is the fact that there is but very little inquiry as to the | time of the spring payment. Two years ago, the Indians began such in- quiries the latter part of February, and last year in March. { If the minors’ back payment] could be eliminated, there would not be an unusual amount of dis- satisfaction among the Indians. One is bhound to incur some opposi- tion, if he is at all progressive, buti ag long ag the opposition comes from .the sourge it does, I have no ob- jectionjto it. 1 consider it more of a; ‘credit‘than otherwise. Relative to the various charges that have appeared against me, they are all inspired by the above men- tioned trijo, and are unworthy of notice. Suffice is to say that when meeting the Indians here in eouncil two months ago, Inspector McLough- | lin devoted half a day to listening to their charges, at the close of which he told them in open coun-: cil that he had heard more i non- sense talked that afternoon, than in all his previous sixteen years| as inspector. ! No one, with the most -careful serunity, can tind any dishonesty in} my work here. To be sure, there are some so called “irregularities” some “red tape’ cut out, some actions taken without waiting to obtain authority from the Office. But such things are done at my own risk, and | with the full knowledge that if not approved by the Office, it will mean | financial loss to myelf, and perhaps censure. But such risks are, and must be, taken by all agents at times. Relative to the charge of incom- petency, a superior officer, reporting on my work here, stated Mr. Bishop is evidently a man of considerable construct- ive ability. He is a hard worker and is endeavoring to carry out the directions of the Indian Office to the best of his ability. 1 would rate him good in general efficiency.” If competency is measured by the progress of the Indians and schools under my charge, then I may state without fear of successful contradiction, that the past three years will compare favorably with any similar period in the history of this reservation. In the past year, houses have been or are being built,—small but comfortable, cost- ing from $200.00 to $400.00 each. There have been purchased, or ar- ranged for, about 50 head of cattle mostly cows, 30 teams, 23 wagons, 13 Dbobsleds, 27 sets of harness, 8! plows, 3 mowers and rakes, 1 drill, 28 stoves and 6 sewing machines, while 35 have spent sums ranging from $10.00 to $75.00 for household furniture, and the end is not yet. Ola fields, left uncultivated since the big payment in 1905, are being about 25 new replowed, and a number of new tracts cleared and broken. Quite a number are selecting lands—not timber but agricultural —and open- ing homes with a view to claiming them for allotments. In fact, the progressive Indians (and they are many) are not promoting trouble and disturbances, but are attending Threatened. | : Fires which haye been burning { near Puposky, 12 miles north of Be- midji on the Red Lake line, crept up to the village at noon today and de- spite all efforts spread to buildings in that village, igniting the Catholie church recently erected there and probably spreading to other struc- tures. Bert Smyth, who conducts a gener- al store, pressed a boat into service and has a boat load of goods out in the lake. - At 2 p. m. Mr. Smyth told of the fire over the telephone. Books and such articles of value as could be carried were being taken to the water front as there was no hope of the buildings being saved. Trunks were buried in the ground, and families were hurried toward the lake. The smoke was so thick that the buildings of the town could not be seen from the depot. The last report was to the effect that the flames were nearing the depot. Cartoon in Today’s Pioneer Pertinent to Graduation Exercises to Be Held On June 2. GIFT GIVING PART OF PROGRAM With graduation day less than four weeks away, interest is being centered upon this day and plans to make it an auspicious event are un- der way. On the evening of June 2, com- will be held for the senior class, probably in the city hall, when several students will re- ceive diplomas. mencement exercises These exercises are always of special interest to the eciti- zens of Bemidji as well as the neigh- boring villages and towns. Bemidji has the reputation of hav- ing one of the leading high schools of the state and to graduate from this school is an honor of all students feel proud. which Next to Christmas, commencement day is becoming known as a gift giv- ing occasion and merchants make special preparations to supply suit- able things for the boy and girl graduafe, In today’s issue the Barker Drug and Jewelry Store’s advertisement is an exceedingly appropriate one, having. in. it. a. sketch. draw- ing of the “Sweet Girl Graduate” by the Chicago cartoonist C. E Zimmerman. The ad also reminds the public that this store has made it a point to have in stock accept- able gifts for this event. - to their own busiress and improving th ir condition. What the future may bring forth, I know not. As the flurry has been caused entirely through ex- ecuting the orders of the Department, I expect the Department to sustain me. If they keep me here, all well and good. If they decide to transfer me to some other field, I shall go with the full consciousness of having done my duty here, and of . contri- buting my portion to the upbuilding of these Indians, and their pre- paration for -citizenship. Mr. Bishop has been superin- tendent of the Red Lake Agency the past few years and is well known in Bemidji. The Awakening. The hallway was dark. He softly came behind her and kissed her light- Iy on the cheek. She didn’t scream. She didn’t even look uround. And he darted away undiscovered, A little later he met her in the par- lor. “Then you kuew wko it was?’ he said. “Knew who it was?” she repeated. “Knew who it wes that kissed you?”’ She gave a sudden start. “Good land, was it you?” she cried. And there was ‘something in her tone that sent him up to the dressing room, where he glared at himself in the glass and kicked his own shins vigorously.—Cleveland Plain Dealer. Catholic Church, R‘eeently i:rected, in Flames and Other Buildings . G00DS BEING PUT 'IN BOATS| ISERIOUS FIRE AT PUPOSKYINEW BORN SO0 LINE | TOWNSARE WINNER :Iui]irovementi are Dm"ly feing Made |. ‘By Villages I.elsb'.l‘lmn Twelve ' Months 0ld. 1 LEONARD IAYS FIRST WALKS | This Place Also Takes Lead in Mak- ing City One of Best on the Line. With Newspaper and Other Business < Institutions Boosting, Prosperity Continues. new railroad has been built, Moose Lake to Plummer. county. Leonard, Clear- GIRL GRADUATE SKETCHED {srok. convi. ety and ok, e towns included in this list. Today’s Pioneer is being delivered into every home in each of these places. . The subseribers to the Pio- neer in these towns have equal ad- vintages with Bemidji inasmuch as the paper is delivered to them. fresh from the press, being mailed every day on ‘th train that leaves Bemidji at 4:37 in the afternoon. The Town of Leonard. Leonard, the first mentioned place, gives promise of being one of the It has the distinction of having the first sidewalk, one having been recently laid tlie full length of main street. There are three general stores, two hotels, a creamery and other indus- tries which give promise of being leaders in this northern country. The business men consist of the Holm & McCrehin, gen-! leading towns on this road. following: eral merchandise; N. B. Nelson, gen- eral merchandise; Andrew Pan]son! blacksmith; T. T. Brown, hotel; Wm. D. Stocks, hotel; Mons Monson, livery stable; Andrew Berg, shoe repairing; Stinlund & Erickson, saw mill; Leonard Lumber company, lumber; Leonard Planer Mill, planer; G. H. French, general French, farm implements; Leonard Leonard store; Ice Co., ice; Jergens & Berg, con- tractors and builders; = Leonard Creamery; Nels Nelson, wells and pumps; Mons Monson, dray line. Progressive Clearbuook. Clearbrook, the town that has made much progress, has the distine- "} tion of being the only one of the new Soo towns having a newspaper and printing office. The Clearbrook Jour- nal, published by Albert Anderson, is gaining recognition as a “live one’’ in this territory. Much building is also going on. This week's issue of the Clearbrook Journal says that preparations are on for a big Fourth of July celebration. The business interests of the town, including the names of all the merchants, were re- cently published in the Pioneer. Gonvick Going Some. Gonvick is forging to the }ront rapidly. It is causing some worry among it’s rivals, relative 'to becom- 1n£ the most energetic city along the line. : Some general stores have already Perhaps in no other state or sec- ’ggg_tries., doiiey ‘tion of the country through which alDPlaces in this. city-are as follows: have | Melbo Mercantile Co., general mer- towns sprung up so rapidly and with | chandise and machinery; A Stark, s0 many signs of continued prosperity | bank; G. Watnebryn, general mer- as on the new Soo road built from |chandise; O. T. Nilson, hardware; 1t | Jardahl, {'store; Alphonse Requin, temperance -| Association Announces Annual En- {a year ago. { operative store; A. H. Helland, hard- ware store; E. A. Schunider, feed Nettie ' Gonvick, restaurant; J. A. Anderson, implement dealer; Nick Nelson, livery and feed barn; A. H. Sannes, livery and feed barn; David Allen, blacksmith; Joe Gel- enske, meat market; Al Newman, pool room; P. T. Peterson, manager hall; Albert Nordes, barber shop; Geo. Hamery, cashier Security State Bank; O. S. Malms, manager Secur- ity Lumber Co.; P. A. Monserud, saw mill; Halverson & Bagne, hotel and restaurant; Mrs. Geo. Bauteno, mill- store; | CLEARBROOK IS STILL HUSTLING | inery;Frank Harris.section foreman; J. Engh, station agent. Town of Gully. At Gully there is a_wide awake lot of business men equal to those of the other An elevator has already been erected, as have also a towns. hotel, several Tes, two| banks, a lumb; «S’fir_fl. 4nd: other in- ‘of “the business Ole Sannes, lumber yard; Lewis Aos, Bemidji is interested in all these|elevator; A. T. Hastad, blacksmith; new villages as well as the older ones | Weekly & Halverson, machinery; A. {in and about Beltrami has a sort of motherly love-for the |livery; Shay Bros., restaurant. hotel; O. H. Pederson, Town of Oklee. Oklee, the last mentioned tqwn, is destined to be a winner, for thg_‘v.q'ne reason that the citizens are makiilg every effort to hold together and boost for all there is in it. This is also true of other cities; more es- pecially Clearbrook.-; In Okelep_:'ever_v resident is a hust- ler and they pérmit of nothing going by that looks as if it might be a credit or an aid in the progress of their city. s Oklee has among it's firms the fol- lowing: - Haaven Sisters, hotel; Fred Davis, temperance hall; Farmers and Merchants State Bank; First State Bank of Oklee; O. T. Vigen, general store; Mary Sannes, hotel; Rierson & Stromme, meat market; E. K. Gjer- ness, general store and machinery; K. K. Sannes, hardware and mach- inery; Louis Falardeau, general store; Louis D. Ducet, general store and postoffice; Melby Bros., general hall; O. A. Hagen, flour' and feed; 1. A. Manger Lumber company; lir. W. A. Tessier; Peter Hince, liverv and feed stable; Henry Nelson, black- smith; Oklee Co-operation Creamery Association; Eleanor Manger, milli- nery; Northland Elevator company, — grain buyers. OLD “FIRST” TO REASSEMBLE campment at St. Paul June 22. The association of the First Min- nesota Volunteer Infantry, will hold its forty-second annual reunion in the old capitol, St. Paul, June 22, 1911; the fiftieth anniversary of the l opened for business and other es-| A ‘ tablishments have arisen from what N0 GRAFT lN FREE ) I'was only trees and prairie less-than : The followihg are the business. concerns in this town: B, L. Bjerkness, Gonvick Mercantlle Co.; Nels Fredensberg, Farmer’s co- SEED, SAYS COOPER Only Irregularity Is In Isolated Cases Where Lumberjacks Trad- ed Sacks for Whiskey, INSPECTION TOUR ENDS HERE Visits Anderson Place and Authorizes. Announcement it Will Be Used for Demonstration. GIVES ADVICE ON FARM SCHOOL i . Thinks Larson Tract Best But De- clares It is Too Far From High School Building. More than 80 per cent of the grass seeds given by the state to the resi- dents of districts injured by the forest fires of last fall has been plant- ed properly and by persons entitled to the seed, according to Thomas Cooper of the Minnesota agricultural school who has just completed an in- spection tour. Mr. Cooper’s last work, before re- turning to St. Paul via Duluth where he will locate the new agricultural scl.mo!,_; was in Bemidji coming here trugfi?@éfideue and Spooner where e found that with few exceptions the seed had been given out to good advantage and planted as outlined by the state. “At no place have I - found any foundation for the report that ‘graft’ had worked into the free seed distri= bution,” said Mr. Cooper. ““The only. irregularity of any kind that I have found was a couple of cases where lumberjacks had passed as settlers, obtained the seed and then traded. it for whiskey. Seed Nearly All Gone “In my report to Dean Wood I am prepared to say that 93 per cent of all the seed sent north for distri- bution has been sent out and for the most part is being handled by the settlers as we have recommended. In Roseau and Koochiching much of the seed has been planted but in Beltrami counties much of it remains to be put in the ground. 4 “Only about 200 packages have been sent out for settlers in the vie: and the other nity of Bemidji; a car load was sent to the Baudette-Spooner district and seed is The seel more than it means ten times as much beiug planted as ever before. is sufficient to sow 6,000 acres of land and that more grass is to be grown here than has heretofcre been the case.” Coincident w'th Mr. Cooper’s visit to Bemidji comes the annonce- ment that the state has practicallly decided to establish a demonstration farm in Bemidji on the Anderson Work of putting the place into shape for the purposes is now expected to go for- farm. demonstration regiment’s marching out of Fort Snelling to go south. The first session will be at 10 a. m. for receiving badges, enrolling ‘and visiting. At 11 a. m. there will be a parade. At 12 lunch will be served to those At 2 p. m. the annual business mgeting of the association will be held in the G. A. R. hall in the old capitol. Dinner will be served at 7 p. m. to who participate in the parade. the members of the asociation and their friends. ward without delay. Mr Cooper visited the place and after confer- ring with Bemidji men authorized the above announcement. Inspects Farm School Sites Another important feature of Mr. Cooper’s visit, was hisinspection with City Schools Dyer, of the different sites here under consideration on which to establish the farm to be operated in connection with the agricultural school ‘recently awarded Bemidji by the state High School board. : “So far as soil is concerned there I (Continued on Last Page.) N oy