ply to be freed from
guardianship by proving his ability to manage his own affairs. If his
application is approved by the Interior Department, he may then rent or
sell his property at will. About five hundred such applications were
approved during the fiscal year 1912-13.

The Pueblos and a few other Indians are or may become citizens under
special treaty stipulations. The 5,000 New York Indians, although among
those longest in contact with civilization, yet because of state
treaties and the claims of the Ogden Land Company, still hold their
lands in common, and are backward morally and socially. It is likely
that the United States will eventually pay the company's claim of
$200,000 to free these people. A few of them are well educated and have
attained citizenship as individuals by separating themselves from their
tribe. Professor McKenzie, who has deeply studied the situation for
years, proposes a scheme of progressive advance toward full citizenship,
each step to be accompanied by decreasing paternal control: as, for
instance: (1) Tribal ward; (2) Allotted ward; (3) Citizen ward; (4) Full
citizen.

INDIANS AS POLITICIANS

In almost every state there are some Indian voters, and in South Dakota
and Oklahoma there are counties officered and controlled by Indian
citizens. It is interesting to note that the citizen Indian is no
ignorant or indifferent voter. If he learns and masters anything at all,
it is the politics of his county and state. It is a matter of long
experience with him, as he has been handled by politicians ever since he
entered the reservation, and there is not a political trick that he
cannot understand. He is a ready student of human nature, and usually a
correct observer. I am sorry to say that the tendency of the new
generation is to be diplomats of a lower type, quick and smart, but not
always sound. At present, like any crude or partially developed people,
politics is their hobby.

Yet there remains a sprinkling of the old Indian type, which is strongly
averse to all unfair or underhanded methods; and there are a few of the
younger men who combine the best in both standards, and refuse to look
upon the new civilization as a great, big grab-bag. It is not strange
that a majority are influenced by the prevailing currents of American
life. Before they understood the deeper underlying principles of
organized society, they had seen what they naturally held to be high
official duties and responsibi