INDIAN TIMBERLANDS 619 



National Forests with tlic full protection of the interests of the Indian 

 owners, there are other reservations as to which the inclusion within 

 National Forests of all lands of this character would seriously afTect 

 the grazing interests of the Indians with no attendant advantage from 

 the standpoint of water conservation or the protection of the forest 

 growth. Foresters should not sacrifice the well-established rights of 

 men on the altar of speculative theory as to the rights of trees. 



When due consideration is given to the cultural status of the Indian, 

 some doubt may arise as to whether the payment to the Indians of the 

 valuation that would in all probability be placed upon such lands by 

 the Forest Service would really compensate the owners for the annoy- 

 ance and enforced modification of life that must result from a quasi- 

 seizure of their lands by the Federal Government. Many Americans 

 entertain the very erroneous view that the individuals in every tribe or 

 band of Indians, to whom allotments have been made, have received 

 all that they need to enable them to achieve economic independence. 

 This view is based upon egregious misunderstanding of the facts. 

 There are hundreds, and possibly thousands, of instances in which 

 Indians have been given individual allotments of 80 or IGO acres each 

 upon which it is utterly impossible for an Indian, or a white man, to 

 make a livelihood. Such individuals must on many reservations rely 

 upon the privilege of grazing stock on tribal land to obtain a living. 

 Would not the expropriation of these tribal lands necessarily increase 

 the poverty and distress already too prevalent among the Indians? 

 Having taken from the redman the privilege of subsisting through the 

 pursuit and capture of wild animals, should we also snatch from him 

 the opportunity of obtaining a living through his slowly acquired 

 knowledge of the live stock industry? Any man familiar with the 

 Indian problem knows that the average Indian cannot today compete 

 with the average white man in industrial enterprises. Will not the 

 grazing interests of the Indian inevitably suf^'er when his grazing 

 lands are incorporated in the Xati(Mial Forests, in which all must stand 

 on an equal basis? 



Wli\ should not the United States Government maintain the present 

 status of these lands as Indian tribal lands and at the same time protect 

 them from forest fires so as to preserve fully their character as protec- 

 tion forests and improve their value as production forests? This is 

 what I and those working with me in the forestry branch of the Indian 

 Service have been very earnestly trying to do during the past decade. 

 I believe our efforts have been attended with a fair degree of success. 



