Wilson ~ Indian Land Problems / Land Planning Report

The 1935 report Indian Land Tenure, Economic Status, and Population Trends (Part 10 of the National Resources Board's land planning study) details how U.S. allotment policies fragmented tribal lands, reduced holdings from about 138 million acres in 1887 to 52 million by the 1930s, and left many Native Americans landless or with parcels too small or encumbered to use productively. It analyzes problems such as "checkerboarding" from land sales to non-Indians, the complexities of heirship that divide allotments into uneconomic fractions, the high administrative costs of managing these lands, and the widespread leasing of Indian land to white operators.

The report profiles extreme poverty among both enrolled and unenrolled landless Indians, outlines the inadequacy of agricultural credit and extension services, and tracks a modest but steady population increase. It recommends halting further alienation, consolidating fragmented lands into tribal or corporate ownership, reforming inheritance laws, promoting cooperative land use (especially for grazing and forestry), and ensuring Indian participation in land policy to build a secure, self-sustaining economic base.