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National Geographic : 1974 Aug
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government for most of the services of the Bureau of Indian Affairs-a hospital, schools, highways, and power plant. During most years federal aid to the Menominees was the lowest of any tribe in the nation. Bank Balance Tumbled After Termination But with self-government, the Menominees' fortunes plunged. By 1972 the tribe's bank account had sunk from some $10,000,000 to $59,000. Where did it all go? Shortly after the termination act was passed in 1954, the Menominees elected to distribute nearly $5,000,000 in $1,500 payments to each of the 244 3,270 members of the tribe. That money was part of an $8,500,000 judgment granted the Menominees in 1951 for government mis management of their forest land. Legal fees took $900,000 of the award. In 1955 more than $2,260,000 was dis tributed in $750 payments when the Bureau of Indian Affairs discovered that for 13 years it had erroneously been assigning to the tribe's general account certain funds that should have gone to individual Menominees for timber cut. The $1,840,000 left in the account was eaten up by the financial burdens of getting National Geographic,August 1974
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