SGG JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



It may be urged that these lands should be retained by the tribe for 

 future allotment purposes. Such a proposition is untenable, for the 

 reason that lands chiefly valuable for timber production and watershed 

 grotection are not suitable for the purposes of individual allotment. 

 It must be kept in mind that the idea of allotment contemplates that the 

 allottee shall within a reasonable period become competent to handle 

 his own affairs, and upon acquiring such competency shall be permitted 

 to do so. The determination of competency will naturally be governed 

 by the allottee reaching standards of living approaching the essential 

 requirements of civilization. He will reach a stage of habits demanding 

 food, shelter, and raiment substantially the same as his wdiite neigh- 

 bors, and he will also reach a stage of physical and mental training 

 enabling him to meet those needs from the fruits of his labor and 

 industry. It must also be remembered that when he achieves com- 

 petency he will be subjected to the same taxation laws as other citizens. 

 The most industrious and frugal type of Anglo Saxon cannot thrive 

 upon, non-agricultural land. It is therefore futile to expect it of the 

 red man. Instead of alloting him a larger area of scanty agricultural 

 possibilities, good economics and wise sociology suggest allotting to 

 him an equal value of the best and most productive land obtainable. 

 Instead of putting him upon a little cove of possible agricultural soil 

 far back in the hills, remote from schools and settlements and civilizing 

 influences, better give him an equivalent value of agricultural land so 

 located that his papooses will play with the children of the whites and 

 learn their language, habits, and customs from infancy. 



Not only will the best interests of the Indians themselves be furthered 

 by the Federal Government acquiring from them the remaining large 

 tracts of land chiefly valuable for timber production and watershed 

 protection, but the broad interests of the nation in which both whites 

 and Indians are concerned demand that these areas be kept in their 

 highest state of production. Unless this general principle is followed 

 the result is certain to be a' tremendous economic loss which will fall 

 alike upon both guardian and ward. 



