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The agent was George W. James. The Prairie band on the reservation numbered 560. The school on the reservation was known as the Pottawatomie Boarding School. It was beginning to reach its old efficiency.

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The boys were capable of doing farm work and fence building of excellent quality without direction from instructors. The girls did their work in a commendable manner. The enrollment was 105. It had been finally discovered that the Indians could be best governed by treating them as intelligent human beings. Evidence the following from the agent's report:

"I stated in my last report that 'attendance at this school could not be maintained by withholding annuity payments, seizing the children by the police force, or by any resort to arbitrary measures, but that if the employees would visit the Indians in their homes and promote a friendly feeling towards them and the school, and that if milder methods generally were practiced, a better feeling would soon be established and the school better supported.' In accordance with these views, I informed the Indians that every one of them should receive their annuities, and that the police would not be used to obtain children, but that I should expect them to properly support the school. The experience of the year has proven that, in this matter at least, my judgment was correct, as the enrollment was increased 27 pupils, and the attendance proportionately more than the enrollment. When the school session closed 105 children were in attendance, which in itself was gratifying, and this feeling was intensified by the fact that there had been no 'runaways' for months, and that a majority of the children had commenced to comprehend the real purposes of the school and desired to profit by them."

Agent, W. R. Honnell. Number of Prairie band on reservation, 569. The school was reported as doing good work. The evils of the leasing system were becoming more apparent all the time. Its demoralizing effects were enumerated by the new agent as follows:

"So far as the Indian is concerned, this system is responsible for much graver difficulties than those referred to, and among them is the total demoralization of a considerable portion of the Indians in the agency, and in which class a large majority of them will finally be embraced unless the system is modified. This condition is brought about by the fact that when the Indian leases his land he stops work, loses interest in his home, frequently sells his small holdings of stock, and consumes his time in visiting and in extravagant and riotous living. In some cases they have been known to surrender their houses to lessees and live in shanties and wigwams. The Indians who leases at all continually wants to lease more, and he never expects to cease leasing or to work himself, and as industry is the only principle upon which he can be practically elevated, and the necessity therefor disappears through his income from leases, annuities, etc., he will make no advance, or even hold his ground, but will retrograde.

"Moreover, the system involves the breaking and cultivation of lands of minors, as every Indian who leases wants the greatest possible income from the lands, and when the minor reaches mature age and receives his land, it will in all probability be worn out and weed poisoned, and lost to him, as have been the proceeds during his minority."

There was no change of agents this year. The Prairie band on the reservation numbered 578. The houses on the reservation were 130. The Indian Office had undertaken to correct some of the evils inherent in the leasing system by permitting the use of income from annuities and other sources for making improvements on allotments.

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The opposition to accepting the lands in severalty had been almost broken down. Allotments had been made to all except to those children born after 1895. The 16,000 acres surplus was still a matter of contention. Some desired to sell it after supplying all the children born after 1895 with land. Others wished to hold it for their children of the future. There was a Methodist missionary stationed on the reservation, and a church building was contemplated. The Catholics expected to erect a church. The school farm had been enlarged to 160 acres, 80 acres of which had been put into cultivation. The usual crops were raised this year. The large frame dormitory was reported in need of repairs. There was a lack of sewer and water systems, which was counted a serious defect in the equipment of the school.

There was beginning to be trouble about estates. By law, when an allottee died, the allotment was to follow the course in descent and distribution set out by the constitution and laws of Kansas. There were beginning to be instances of this kind. Of the original allottees 140 had died.

Total number of the Prairie band on the reservation in 1901, 572. The agent was W. R. Honnell.

The Pottawatomie agency was also the agency for the Kickapoos, Iowas, and the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri. For a time it was also the agency for the Chippewas and Munsees, living in Franklin county.

The reservation of the Kickapoos was in the southwestern part of Brown county; that of the Iowas and Sacs and Foxes was in Brown county, Kansas, and Richardson county, Nebraska. The Kickapoos numbered 197, the Iowas 214 and the Sacs and Foxes 78, respectively, on the reservations. The Chippewas and Christian Indians (Munsees) had been dropped this year before the writing of the report of the agent. Those of the Kickapoos who made a final settlement with the government had been dropped this year.

The Prairie band began again to show progress. It was something like that made in the eighties. Houses were repaired and the grounds put in better order. The leases which had given so much trouble had been adjusted to a legal status, and the trouble from that source was decreasing. The Catholic Church had raised $400 and the Methodist Church had raised $200. These churches were intending to build church buildings with this money.

The boarding school was reported as a fine frame structure erected in 1893. All the buildings of the school had cost $22,500, including the water system and steam-heating apparatus.

W. R. Honnell was the agent. The death of George W. James was announced. He had been agent for the Pottawatomies in 1897 and 1898. He was a member, by adoption, of the Prairie band, and his home was on the reservation. His death was on April 6, 1902. He had been prominent in the affairs of the Prairie band for thirty-three years.

Number of the Prairie band on the reservation, 590. There were 188

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families living on their allotments, and they were cultivating 6,080 acres of land. The largest tract cultivated by one family contained 200 acres. Of the 16,000 acres surplus land the agent said:

"The Prairie band Potawatomi rejected the proposition to allot the surplus land on their reservation when submitted to them as a general council of the tribe. A few were very bitter against the measure, a number indifferent, the two elements being sufficient to defeat the proposition. The indications now point to a changing sentiment in favor of allotting the surplus land to the children born since the close of the allotments in February, 1895, and to the absentee members of the tribe. One or two members of the council have lately expressed themselves in favor of the proposition, and I think that with discreet management in a short time the measure will be adopted and the question of surplus land will be settled."

This year there was no agent. The report was made by G. O. Williams, superintendent, and special disbursing agent. The agency no longer included other Indians, but was maintained for the Prairie band alone.

On June 30, 1903, the census of the Prairie band was completed. It was as follows:

There now began to appear another complication on the reservation. Upon the death of an Indian his allotment might be sold to a white person. The amount of such sales for the year 1903 amounted to $36,550. This process, it was foreseen by those opposed to allotment, would in time wipe out the reservation and divest the Prairie band of homes for its members. It is one of the strongest arguments against allotment in severalty.

The report is made by G. L. Williams, superintendent and special disbursing agent. The report shows that the population of the reservation was decreasing. The census gave a total of 609, but some of this number represented absentees who had been enrolled. Deaths had exceeded births for some years. Tuberculosis was given as the foe to Indian life, and the cause of the decrease.

By this report it appears that the original allotments numbered 588. Under act of March 3, 1903, 190 additional allotments had been made to children born since the completion of the allotment in 1894, and to absentee members of the Prairie band. The council of the tribe recommended that the allotments be made to children born to the families of the band since March 3, 1903, and to absentee members of the band. It was supposed that there would still remain a surplus of some 3,000 acres.

The Indians wore citizen clothing and most of them spoke English. The sale of inherited lands continued to white people.

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The report was made by G. L. Williams in the same capacity as in 1903 and 1904. The population of the Prairie band amounted to 601.

The total number of allotments to the Prairie band was 812. This absorbed the whole reservation. Only a few fractional tracts scattered over the reservation remained unallotted. The superintendent reported as follows on "inherited lands":

"Under the act of May 27, 1902, for the sale of inherited Indian lands, there have been about 5,000 acres sold, the average price received being a fraction over $20 per acre. A number of the tracts were bought by men who are improving them for the purpose of making homes, and no better plan could be introduced for the civilization of the Indian, the white purchaser becoming a neighbor to the Indian, and in the daily contact with the civilization of the white man they acquire more or less of his customs. In a few years it means free schools on the reservation for the white and Indian children.

"I am more than ever convinced that if these lands were offered for sale upon the plan suggested in my annual report for 1904, on annual payments at a low rate of inteest, the heirs would obtain a better price, and a class of men would become the purchasers who would become citizens of the reservation, and thus benefit the heirs in the additional price paid for the land, as well as the substantial improvements made thereon, enhancing the value of the adjoining property."

This year the Pottawatomie Indian Fair association was formed. The progressive Indians, under the guidance of G. L. Williams, superintendent, organized the association. The officers were Kack-kack, president; Mas-quos, vice president; Albert Wyotten, secretary; Pac-ten-maw- gah, treasurer.

The directors were all Indians. The fair was held on the reservation September 19 and 20, 1905. A copy of the premium list is in the library of the Kansas State Historical Society. Premiums were offered for exhibits of those products usually shown at agricultural fairs. It is quite a respectable list, and it was announced that the premium awards would be paid, so far as possible, on the evening of the first day of the fair. There was a long list of attractions on the program for each day, beginning with a grand parade of Indians in costume. There was a prize of $3 for the best-dressed Indian man in the parade. There were native ball games by women, pony races, foot-races, broncho riding, baseball games, la crosse or Indian ball, and many others. The list contains portraits of G. L. Williams, Kack-kack, Mack-ka-taw-o-zee, Mas-quos, and Ken-nee-kuk, a Kickapoo chief. It also contains a brief biography of Kack-kack, the most distinguished Pottawatomie, and who was said to be at that time seventy-nine years of age.

G. L. Williams, superintendent and special disbursing agent.

It is reported that fifty percent of the Prairie band speak and understand English sufficiently to conduct their own business affairs. Progress was seen in the agriculture of the band and good dwellings were being erected. The census gave the following: Males, 356; females, 269; total 625.

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The death of Mas-quos was noted in the following paragraph:

"The death of Mas-quos, one of the old councilmen of the Prairie band of Pottawatomi Indians, deserves a notice in this report, as he has been one of the most progressive men of his tribe; always a staunch friend of the school, sustaining the agents in their efforts to promote the cause of education, and in the moral development of the younger members of his tribe. Mas- quos served his people as a member of their council for more than fifty years."

The dormitory of the training school as destroyed by fire in December, 1905. The beds of the school were not saved, and for a time the school was discontinued.

The Methodist Church had erected a neat chapel on the reservation. It was used for religious and school purposes. These activities were managed by a resident missionary and his wife. The Indian religion was still practiced.

The leases in force on the reservation numbered 250. They had paid the Indians $150,000 in six years.

The reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs are practically worthless for the year 1907 and following, down to this time. They omit altogether the reports of the agents. There are a lot of dry statistics tabulated at great length, and which reveal nothing of the condition of the Indians whom they concern. There is a long and almost meaningless report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs as an introduction. These reports are famous for ambiguity and for what they do not say. They are almost as applicable to the scientific consideration of London fogs as to the North American Indians. This change occurred in the administration of Francis E. Leupp, commissioner.

The worthlessness of the reports of the commissioners after 1906 makes it impossible to continue this article further on the lines designed for it.

Introduction nIshnabe'k The People mzenegenek books bode'wadmimo speak Potawatomi

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