OUR INDIAN WARDS 201 



Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, which 

 for many years maintained separate governments by 

 treaty with the United States, and still, though long 

 since merged in the nation, are considered a group 

 apart. About five thousand wholly unattached and 

 independent Indians are scattered among the twen- 

 ty-four states. Distribution is shown in a govern- 

 ment table reproduced on a succeeding page. We 

 are not considering the native population of Alaska 

 or our island territories. 



At this writing, April 1928, Indian population 

 represents 193 tribes speaking fifty-eight languages. 

 Official records identify 331 tribes originally. Rem- 

 nants which have disappeared are incorporated into 

 those which remain, or have merged in populations. 



At this writing there are 202 government 

 schools for Indians with 700 teachers. In schools of 

 all kinds, including sectarian mission and state 

 schools, are 90,725 pupils. There are 90 govern- 

 ment hospitals with 178 physicians and 140 nurses. 

 The total value of individual and tribal property is 

 $1,716,815,123; of this $79 6 78,737 belong to in- 

 dividuals, an average of nearly $2,300 for every In- 

 dian; of this, about $74,000,000 are banked in cash 

 by its owners or held in trust by the government; the 

 balance is land, mineral, lumber, stock, and farm 

 equipment. Besides individual holdings, every In- 

 dian has an interest in tribal property, averaging 

 nearly $3,000. While many tribes and individuals 

 are poor, on the average they are not unprosperous. 



