Rosier: Notes for Chapter 5

Rosier’s sub-heading is “Reconciling the Old Men to the New Way,” Income Distribution in an Infant Democracy, 1940-1945

Blackft understood war. Men (and some women) enlisted in higher percentages than the general Montana population, which was already higher than the rest of the nation. Younger and more assimilated people migrated to the Pacific coast where they took on the work of building ships and airplanes. (Small coherent populations of Blackft have existed there ever since.) Even older and more full-blood people left the reservation to help get the crops of eastern Oregon and Washington gathered. And the oil wells began to pay well as they supplied needed fuel.

But it was a two-edged sword: the more that Blackft people succeeded in this much needed work, the more the government -- which needed all the money for supporting the war -- wanted to escape the burden of supporting the tribe. There were two kinds of talk about ending the reservation: on the one hand the federal people were beginning to say, “You don’t really need us anymore.” On the other hand the more successful Blackft were saying, “Take all these restrictions and rules and leave us.” But this frightened those who felt they still needed a sanctuary.

What was coming into question now was the definition of the reservation itself. To old full-bloods it was supposed to be a bit of their old world preserved as a refuge and protection for the originial buffalo people -- not all these young scramblers. (In fact, oldsters valued the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a protection from all the energetic mixed bloods.) To others it was an island of sovereignty owed to them as a treaty obligation -- they were ready to try running it themselves so it would be a financial asset. As the German concentration camps of the Holocaust came to light, some began to say that the reservation was a concentration camp, which meant that legislators had to confront Indians as victims of holocaust and Americans as the perpetrators.

The full-bloods were actually better represented in tribal government than they purported, but they were as factionalized as the whole population, partly because Starr School -- with Jim White Calf as spokesperson -- was separated physically and philosophically from the south reservation.

The default strategy was to buy time -- things would get better in the future -- and to some degree this worked. The Cattle Repayment Program started in 1934 and sheep raising began to pay off. Nevertheless, the Tribal Council was now wrestling with the same problems the Office of Indian Affairs had never been able to solve plus constant demands to “show us the money.” The Blackfeet Tribal BUSINESS Council was now asked more and more to act as the government of a sovereign country. At one point the Department of the Interior recommended that the two duties be split between two councils.

At least some people were beginning to understand the principles of capitalism, how to borrow money to make money, and the need for conscientious bookkeeping to support it. But others felt that money loaned or invested or reserved simply stopped existing -- the only money they recognized was per capita payments into their own hands.

Both state and federal agencies were trying to withdraw from welfare functions, each saying the other should be responsible. With the new oil money, a tribal welfare program was begun that tried to coordinate with Aid for Dependent Children, Old Age Assistance, Aid for the Needy Blind, eye glasses, dental work, special surgery, milk distribution to children, burial expenses, and other emergencies.

Ewers, who organized and supervised the creation of the Museum of the Plains Indian, observed in reports that the population always had a percentage who rode along on the work and gifts of the more energetic. Those who were achieving grew tired of having to support those who just didn’t seem to get any traction under their feet, but they wanted to protect the old people. At the same time, those who had no power or income constantly generated jealousy and accusations against leaders and the prosperous. Ewers felt some of this was cultural and tied it to “give-aways.” The danger was that these groups would harden enough to pull the tribe apart.

Another Special Investigating Committee of the House Committee on Indian Affairs visited the reservation in the summer of 1944. The next spring, as encouraged by the government, the Blackfeet made some changes in their constitution. The idea was to fine-tune the document until the problems were solved. Since US senators were also using this Committee as a way of discrediting the Wheeler/Howard Act in order to withdraw it, recording was slightly skewed, neglecting the positive. There was a provision discussed for members of the tribe to renounce membership on their own behalf for their own reasons.

In late fall D’Arcy McNickle was sent to try to arbitrate. He was brushed off. But it is important to note that: “Not once during the subcommittee hearing, the constitutional convention, or the public meetings did a full-blood complain of religious or cultural persecution.” Examination of the records show that full-bloods got their share of loans. (These two assertions were not true on other reservations.) In the end oil leases were left in the hands of the government. Accusations of corruption did not end.

The full-bloods quoted in this chapter include some of the most colorful personalities of the time: Brian (Briney) Connelly, Charlie Reevis, Chewing Black Bone (the seated old man in Bob Scriver’s sculpture called “Transition.”), Juniper Old Person (father of Earl Old Person), Levi Burd, Wright Hagerty each were worthy of biographies!

At Lucille McKay’s funeral yesterday, Earl Old Person told a Joe Brown joke. It seems that some white man from back east came to town. He needed gas and was told that the owner of the service station was So-and-so Brown. Then he got a motel room and the motel was run by Such-and-such Brown. He went drinking at a bar owned by Someone Brown and got into a fight which ended with him going to jail where he was tried by Judge Brown. Overwhelmed by Browns (and Earl was telling about real people who really did have those properties), the man said, “I’m never coming back here again. What’s the name of this town?” BROWNing!!! The sharp edge of the joke, of course, was that Joe Brown, as chair of the Blackfeet Tribal Council, was helping out his family.