Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 30 75
suited potential selectees, picked six men from the
crowd. The six were led in circular procession
around a large drum. In this context, the drum
was viewed as sacred and the ceremony was
conceptualized as a form of prayer. "Honor
songs" then were sung, which morally obligated
the new councilmen and their families to make a
generous distribution of gifts to the crowd. When
one of the councilmen "retired" or died, the elders
would choose a replacement in like fashion (Fowler,
1982:87, 98, 149-151). This Drum Ceremony
dramatically impressed upon the individuals chosen
that they had a sacred duty to the tribe as a
whole. The ceremony also was public acknowledgment
of the councilmen's subordination to
tribal elders.
Prior to the establishment of the business council,
important government proposals usually were
brought before the entire tribe. The tribe was
feasted at government expense and officials
waited while issues were discussed at long length.
All tribal members had to be in agreement (or at
least not in overt disagreement) before the chiefs
would acquiesce to the government proposals.
With the inception of the business council, the
BIA had anticipated that the six men representing
the tribe could be more easily convinced or
coerced to support government policies and programs,
that these six men could come to an
agreement much more quickly (and inexpensively)
than the tribe as a whole, and, finally, that
the new form of political organization would
discourage elderly Arapahoes from attempting to
influence tribal politics. However, the operation
of the Arapahoe business council did not conform
to BIA expectations.
Although councilmen professed cooperative intent
and encouraged and coordinated the efforts
of Indian employees working on Agency projects,
they also served as advocates for tribal interests
(NA, 1918a). Councilmen obtained permission to
send a three-member delegation to Washington
in 1908 and again in 1913. The councilmen representing
the Arapahoes and those representing
the Shoshone tribe, which also occupied Wind
River, worked to convince the Indian Office to
allow tribal members to have the tribal income
that was held in trust, suspend water charges on
trust lands, fulfill promises made during the land
cession agreements, and put a stop to graft on the
reservation. The delegations had some success in
these endeavors. For example, the tribe was given
1300 head of cattle to start a tribal herd; the
cattle had been promised when land was ceded
by the Arapahoe and Shoshone tribes in 1904.
The relative success of the delegations contributed
to the tribal members' acceptance of councilmen
as political intermediaries (Fowler, 1982:
131-133). To the BIA's annoyance, the councilmen
steadfastly refused to promote economic individualism.
The councilmen's priority was to
obtain the money from leases on tribal land in
the form of per capita payments to all tribal
members. The council members objected to the
Indian Office's efforts to use tribal funds to finance
farming or ranching enterprises for individuals.
As Lone Bear (chairman of the business
council until his death in 1920) put it: "They [the
BIA] think their own way and think they can
change the Indians in accordance with their
[Whites'] own way of living. They think the
Indians can make money and have money like
they [Whites] can, but that is impossible." Sam
Wolfrang (Painted Wolf), councilman from 1913
to 1933, concurred: "No one except a few of the
able bodied men [benefit] by expending this
money in such work [financing individuals]. The
only way, injustice to the Indians, is to . . . let the
Indians, each and everybody as a tribe, get an
equal share of these monies" (NA, 1914a).
The councilmen were expected by their constituents
to articulate tribal consensus, not to
make decisions independently. One of the elderly
councilmen. Goes In Lodge, who served from
1913 to 1920, advised his fellow councilmen,
"Consult your other people who are not members
of the council and have it understood outside [in
the community] and when you come in here [to
the council meeting] and then, whatever you do,
there is not any chance for any argument anywhere"
(NA, 1915b). The superintendent complained
to the Commissioner that the Arapahoes
"do not seem to be willing to abide by the action
of such [business] committee, but wish to discuss