Indian population in the United States and Alaska. 1910 - RootsWeb

The apportionment of congressional representation
under the Constitution is made proportional to the
population of each state, "excluding Indians not
taxed." The status of the Indian in regard to tax-
ation is therefore a matter of importance to Congress.
One of the inquiries for which an answer was required
concerning each Indian enumerated on the special
Indian schedule in 1910 was: Is this Indian taxed?
It proved inadvisable, however, in determining the
number of Indians not taxed, to depend entirely upon
the answers made on the special Indian schedule,
because of the fact that many of the Indians were
incompetent or possibly unwiUing to give their own
status, while the enumerators were unable to correct
or supplement the information thus secured. The
problem was not an easy one to settle, as it involved
not only questions of fact but also questions of law.
For these reasons special arrangements were made in
the bureau for the consideration of the problem in all
its phases, utUizing all the data which might throw
INDIANS TAXED AND NOT TAXED.
light on the subject. In this work the Bureau of the
Census was also aided by the Office of Indian Affairs.
The number of Indians taxed and not taxed in the
United States in 1910, as compared with 1900 and 1890,
is shown, by states, in Table 110 on page 284. The
proportion of Indians taxed in 1910 and in 1890 is
shown graphically in the maps on page 285.
In 1910, as shown by Table 110, the taxed Indians
numbered 193,811, and constituted nearly three-
fourths ( 72.9 per cent) of the total Indian population,
as compared with 58,806 in 1890, or less than onefourth
(23.7 per cent) of all the Indians enumerated
at that census. Prior to 1890 no systematic attempt
was made to enumerate aU Indians, but in 1880 there
were 66,407 "civilized" Indians reported; in 1870,
25,731; and in 1860, 44,021. In a general way the
"civihzed" Indians of the earher decades, meaning
those off reservations and found scattered among the
general population, may be considered synonymous
with "taxed" Indians of to-day.
There were 33 states, besides the District of Colum-
bia, in 1910, in which aU the Indians were taxed, as
compared with 26 states in 1890. There were 4 states
in 1910, as against 1 in 1890, in which between 75 and
100 per cent of aU the Indians were taxed; 5 in 1910,
as against 4 in 1890, in which they constituted between
50 and 75 per cent; and 2 in 1910, as against 5
in 1890, in which they constituted between 25 and 50
per cent. In 1890 there were 12 states in which the
taxed Indians constituted less than 25 per cent of all
Indians, but in 1910 thwe were only 4 states with so
low a percentage.
The increase in the number of Indians taxed began
after the passage of the Dawes Act in 1887. The num-
ber of taxed Indians rose from 58,806 in 1890 to 107,-
678 in 1900 and then to 193,811 in 1910, leaving, in
1910, only 71,872 who were still not taxed as compared
with more than twice that number in 1890
(189,447). In 1910 all the Indians east of the Mis-
sissippi, except those in New York and Wisconsin,
were taxed; CaUfomia had 94 per cent taxed,
Wisconsin 90.1 per cent, Minnesota 85.3 per cent,
and WashiQgton 83.1 per cent; Colorado, Nevada,
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah had over
50 per cent taxed, and Idaho and New Mexico
over 35 per cent. The low percentages occurred in
New York, 22.6; Arizona, 17.4; Wyoming, 12; and
Montana, 9.6.
(283)