OUR INDIAN WARDS 217 



If, to arrive at a more general conception, we 

 should eliminate the two oil states of Oklahoma and 

 .Wyoming, we should have in the rest of the country 

 234,772 Indians sharing wealth valued at $384,- 

 458,004, an average of $1,637 each. Approaching 

 from still a different point of view, let us eliminate 

 from consideration the entire item of oil and mineral 

 wealth, which amounts to $952,498,197. There will 

 then be left a total in lands, live stock, timber, build- 

 ings, farming equipment and cash, of $764,316,926, 

 an average of $2,153 for each Indian in the country. 



Wealth other than oil and mineral was distrib- 

 uted in 1927 as follows: 



Lands exclusive of timber, $489,079,312; tim- 

 ber $97,022,866; homes, barns, furnishings, etc., 

 $30,365,835; live stock $28,467,110; crops and mis- 

 cellaneous, $11,901,923; funds in bank and treasury 

 $98,384,834. 



These figures include both individual and tribal 

 property. 



"Large timber operations," Mr. Meritt writes, 

 "are conducted under contract at very good stump- 

 age prices on a number of reservations. Timber is 

 offered for sale as economic conditions and the needs 

 of the Indians for cash require. The receipts for the 

 sale of timber are approximately $2,000,000 per an- 

 num. For the fiscal years 1926 and 1927 receipts 

 were $2,446,455.07 and $2,953,202.10 respectively. 

 Eight per cent of the gross receipts is retained by the 

 Government to defray the cost of scaling, marking, 



