OCR Text |
Show I WHO SAID "POOR" INDIAN? The American Indian, who only a few years ago seemed doomed doom-ed to extinction, not only has refused to become extinct but actually I under the favorable conditions provided by the United States gov-1 erftment, has been able to make increases in his numbers. There! are about 341,000 of them in this country at the present, which! represents an increase of approximately I 3,000 in ten years. And ! their death rate has been growing smaller year by year. The In-! dian is no longer poor unless he cares to be. Government statistics show a number of them to be immensely rich, due to the fact that the lands with which they were endowed by the government have yielded oil in tremendous quantities. But even without oil the Indian has been able to accumulate and add to property year by year. Today they own $35,000,000 worth of live stock, including more than one million sheep, 250,000 head of cattle and about the same number of horses and mules. So, thinking it over, isn't it about time we ceased referring to him as the "poor Indian?" |