THE CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
31
l)een to get the unsophisticated red man to sign a paper p u rp o rtin g to
be a lease of his land, w hereas in reality the Indian is signing a deed
and m aking a free gift of th e land to the sh arp er for th e p altry sum of
$10. A fterw ard th e sharper would get the In d ian to sign w hat he
called receipts for some little m oney he gave him , but these receipts
tu rn ed out to be prom issory notes for $40 each, and the man who
negotiated the deal actually had the nerve to forw ard these notes to th e
Com m issioner of Indian affairs for paym ent. T h en , to top off this
gigantic fraud, in terest was charged at th e rate of 10 per cent a year.
A nother com m on schem e practiced is that of ch arg in g th e In d ian s
for every th in g purchased by them . A m an would sell an item ized ac
co u n t for a consideration to another in the sam e business as him self.
T h is item ized account against the Indian is supposed to be forw arded
to the Indian office at W ashington. Instead of the first man who sold
the account to the second m an crossing off th e debt against the In d ian ,
he would also send to the In d ian office the account he had already sold,
and in this way Poor Lo would be charged tw ice for the th in g s lie re
ceived and for m any tim es th in g s not received. Officials at th e Indian
office have found m any d uplicate accounts of this character against the
In d ian s. In addition to su b m ittin g double charges, there would be a
charge of 10 per cent in terest added to the total. As an illustration of
how the schem ers som etim es overreached them selves, one of them re
cently subm itted an account ch arg in g an Indian w ith having purchased
14 large jars of m ustard w ithin one m onth.
N ot long ago a petition was received by the In d ian office, signed by
35 In d ian s. T h e petition requested th at th e m oneys due these 35 I n
dians be sent direct to them . A ttached to the petition was a letter say
ing th a t the w riter had been asked to forward the p etition, and he re
quested th at th e money be sent to him . T h e letterhead bore the nam e
of a dealer in general m erchandise. T h ere was no sig n atu re to th e
paper, but down at the bottom was the address of the postm aster.
T h e superin ten d en t was asked to see the postm aster and find out
w hether the letter was w ritten by the m erchant or by the postm aster. It
turned out th at the postm aster and th e m erchant were one and the
same.
T H E S A N I T A R Y D A IR Y M A N
V ery early in the m orning,
T u ttle sought the spotted cow.
A nd w ith glove his han d s ad orning
Took the night cap from her brow.