Browning Chief

INDIANS PROVEN HONEST
Records of the federal government strongly support a conclusion that the American Indians are more honest than the white man, at least in the matter of keeping their pledged word or contractual agreements.
The proof is in a report of the bureau of Indian affairs, where it is set out that of $16,500,000 advanced by the federal government to Indians and their group organizations only $6,000 has had to be written off as bad debts. That is a record of honesty that would delight any credit bureau.
In the case of full-blooded Indians, the signing of multiple papers to enforce the financial obligations actually would be unnecessary.
There have been many instances in our country's history to prove that the word of an Indian or a tribe is as good as a bond. In the notable case of Cochise in the southwest, and in many lesser known instances, an honorable Indian's spoken pledge holds without question until some irresponsible white's action breaks the contract. Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman cited the financial record in an effort to prove that the American Indian is qualified to be successful in business.
The point is well made. Some might say that the Indian has learned fast in borrowing so many millions from Uncle Sam, yet nothing could be a more unjust insinuation. He was doing all right for himself long before the white man came along and forced him to become a ward of the government, introducing him to the charms of relief, federal loans and pork barrel politics.
Great Falls Tribune.