USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. III > Part 53
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During the past year nine different lines of railroad have been under construction, and about 400 miles of new roads have been completed and put in operation.
Taking the figures ot the last census, with such particulars as to exact number of Indian citizens as may be gathered from the reports of the Dawes' commission and the Indian inspector, we find that of the 392,060 population about 85,000 are Indian citi- zens. This includes the freedmen who were given the privileges of citizenship by the treaties of 1866. Analyzing the figures a little more closely, we find the whole population made up as fol- lows :
Whites
Per cent. 76
Indians
16.77
Negro citizens
4.78
Other negroes
2.45
Total
100
It will thus be seen that over three-fourths of the entire popu- lation are white people, only a very insignificant proportion of whom are foreign born.
While the proportion of illiterates in the Indian territory is unfortunately rather large, it is smaller than that of some of the states in proximity with it, and this condition is directly traceable to the anomalous conditions existing at present, and makes the strongest kind of argument for statehood, which would give these people the power, which they have been praying for, of establish- ing a public school system.
It has been stated that the large number of crimes reported in the Indian territory indicate the unfitness of its people for state- hood. In that connection it should be borne in mind that the
538
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
Federal courts have to place upon their dockets and report a very large number of minor offenses which under any organized gov- erminent would be disposed of in the lower courts. It should also be remembered that a very large number of the cases reported are of a crime peculiar to the Indian territory, known as "intro- ducing" or more fully "introducing intoxicating liquors." Deduct- ing these from the whole number reported would make the show- ing for the Indian territory not a bad one as compared with the states of the Union.
As far, however, as the charge that the Indian territory has an exceptionally large proportion of criminals can be substantiated, the claim for statehood for these people is made stronger rather than weakened. A very large proportion of the criminals are very young men, and nothing is more largely responsible for the number of this class of criminals than the want of educational facilities, which the people are pleading for some means of rem- edying. But the highest proof of the law-abiding character of the overwhelming majority of the white people in the Indian ter- ritory is found in the fact that they have borne themselves so patiently for so long a period under almost intolerable conditions. There is a tendency in some quarters to class all these people as trespassers or intruders upon the lands of the Indians. There has always been a way for the Indian tribal governments, with the aid of Federal officials, to rid the territory of real intruders, and, as a matter of fact, only a very few of the white people of the Indian territory can with any propriety be said to belong to this class. As a rule they have come at the invitation of the Indians and in compliance with their laws to rent farms from them or to engage in business or practice some profession or occupation among them, always paying a tribal tax or license for the privilege of doing so.
The marvelously rich heritage which is being divided among the Indians today would have been utterly undeveloped and of comparatively small value had it not been for this class of people. So far from being regarded as trespassers, they are surely entitled to special consideration in the settlement of the future status of the country which they, under so many disadvantages, have brought to its present advanced state of development. For the land they have used they have paid to the individual Indian citi- zens good rent ; as laborers they have rendered him valuable serv- ices, and in their professions they have been of unspeakable bene- fit to him. For him they have made an unexplored wilderness blossom into a land of abounding riches. Socially, their influence upon the Indians has been such that these tribes have become
539
INDIAN TERRITORY, RECENT CH.INGES.
justly entitled to the proud distinction of being known as the five civilized tribes. In addition to all this, these white people have contributed vast sums to the treasuries of the Indian tribes. For example, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902, the follow- ing sums were collected from these people by the government offi- cials and placed to the credit of the Indian tribal governments :
Merchandise and occupation tax $11,067.20
Coal and asphalt royalties. 255,462.13
Timber, stone and gravel royalties 85,213.89
Ilay royalty 7,422.31
Cattle and pasture tax
6,248.00
Total
$356,313.53
Thus in actual taxes in the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1902, these people have paid to the Indian governments the sum of three hundred fifty-six thousand three hundred thirteen dollars and fifty-three cents. Not one cent of this amount is to be used for making roads, for providing schools for white children, or in any other way for the amelioration of the condition of the white people. The merchandise and occupation tax has been especially galling, but the white man has submitted to this taxation with the utmost patience. For years the laborers in the mines had to pay a monthly tax for the privilege of being allowed to do manual labor. Surely it says much for the law-abiding character of this people that they have submitted so patiently to this taxation, not only without representation, but also without any expectation that any part of the taxes paid will be used in any way to ameliorate their condition.
There can be no question that without the labor and enterprise of the white man not one of the coal mines in the Indian territory, which in the past four years have paid seven hundred thousand dollars into the Indian treasuries, would have been opened. The half a million acres of coal lands which are to be sold for the benefit of the Indians and which will add a magnificent sum to the value of their estate would have been explored, and would have brought very little to them. But it is not only in values returned to individuals and in the payment of taxes that the white man has been benefiting the Indian. Nearly 200 towns have been surveyed and platted. The lots in these have been appraised and the occu- piers of these lots are paying the Indian tribal governments for them. The work of appraisement is not yet completed and the report of the Indian inspector for the year ending June 30, 1902,
540
THE PROVINCE IND THE STATES.
only gives the figures for some of the towns in the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek nations.
The appraised valuation for the towns where the work is com- plete is two million two hundred seven thousand four hundred and twenty-three dollars. When the appraisement is completed it will show an immense sum of money to be paid by the residents of the towns, who are nearly all white people, into the Indian treas- uries. During the past year the Indian inspector reports having collected and placed to the credit of the Indian tribal govern- ments for town lots the sum of two hundred thirty-seven thousand seven hundred twenty-five dollars and thirty-nine cents. It is undoubtedly the white man's presence and enterprise that has given any substantial value to the lots in these towns, so that he is now paying to the Indian largely for the values which he him- self has created. From the above figures it will be seen that in addition to what has been paid in rent and in other ways to the individual Indian citizens, the white men have contributed to the Indian treasuries during the last fiscal year in taxes and for town lots a total of about six hundred thousand dollars.
Thus, so far from being a lawless class of trespassers on the domain of the Indians, these people have certainly placed not only the Indians, but the whole nation, under some obligation to ren- der them fair and equitable treatment. More in number than the entire population of Arizona and New Mexico, essentially Amer- ican, manifesting a determined spirit of enterprise in the face of tremendous discouragements, law-abiding under circumstances calculated to try the patience of the best citizens, these people, gathered from every state in the Union and representing much of the most vigorous manhood and enterprise of all, have shown themselves to be preeminently the material of which great states have been built in the past, and which can be trusted to make great states today.
According to the last census there were 392,000 people in the Indian territory, nearly 300,000 of whom are white American citizens. The development in the last two years has been tremen- dons, so that there are probably at least 400,000 people in the Indian territory today who are not citizens of any of the Indian tribes. The omnibus bill leaves these people without any imme- diate relief and with a prospect suggested of being ultimately absorbed piecemeal into a state now to be created, which has a population about equal to that of the Indian territory, and which has not as great natural resources. It leaves the 400,000 people without any means for providing themselves with such essentials of American civilization as the public-school system. Being
541
INDIAN TERRITORY, RECENT CHANGES.
utterly unorganized, except as regards a judicial system, there is no way in which they are allowed to make public roads, to estab- lish asylums for the insane and other helpless classes, and, above all, to establish schools for the education of their children.
Government officials estimate that there are at present in tlie Indian territory 100,000 children of school age. A study of the provision made for these is fearfully suggestive. Under the Cur- tis act and subsequent treaties with the Indian governments it was made possible for incorporated towns in the Indian territory to tax themselves for the support of public schools. The report of the government superintendent of schools for the year ending June 30, 1902, shows that 16 towns have taken advantage of this privilege. Various missionary boards have schools which have been doing excellent work, to which both white people and Indians are admitted. Each of the Indian tribes has its school system now under the oversight of government officials. To some of the Indian day schools white children are admitted upon payment of a stipulated fee. A good many are shown to have attended, ' but a close examination of the reports shows that in the great majority of cases the attendance has been for so short a period that not much advantage could have been reaped.
The following table shows the entire educational provision as reported by the superintendent of schools for the year ending June 30, 1902:
Whites.
Indians.
Negroos.
Total.
Privato and mission schools
1,158
540
1,693
Public schools
6,511
748
965
237,א
Indian schools
6,652
10,702
1,957
19,351
Total
14,391
11,990
2,925
29,306
The above figures give the total enrollment, which in a great number of cases is only for a very few weeks of the year. It is thus seen that out of an entire school population of 100,000 less than 30,000 have been enrolled in any kind of school, and for the remaining 70,000 no provision whatever is made, and there is at present no legal way of making it. A very serious aspect of this is the fact that under existing conditions the more intelligent class of people who are anxious to lease or rent Indian lands and make their homes in the territory are discouraged from coming. The best settlers will not go where they can not get school advantages for their children. Thus the country is in danger of being left more and more for the illiterate, ignorant, and shiftless class of
542
THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
settlers. It seems a cruel mockery under these conditions to taunt these people with their illiteracy. The marvel is under the cir- cumstances, that the percentage is so low.
In the rural districts may be met the Indian children and the children of negro citizens of the tribes coming home from their schools, hut for the white American citizens there is no school at all. A not uncommon incident in the towns is the visit of some sturdy and intelligent white farmer, who has to stoop to go round, hat in hand, begging the merchants and others for a contribution to help the white people in his neighborhood get a small building in which they can attempt to carry on a subscription school. l'resent conditions are such as to altogether discourage this class of citizens and drive them away, leaving the country for those who care for none of these things. If relief is not given, and that speedily, there is great danger that the problem in the Indian territory may change from its present form of "Ilow may the people be supplied with the schools for which they are begging?" to the far more difficult one of "How can the people be interested in schools and made willing to have them?"
There is a vigorous claim made in some quarters that there should be no change in' conditions in the Indian territory until the final extinction of the Indian tribal governments on March 4, 1906, and that under old treaties the Indians should be given the first voice in deciding as to their future status. This claim can hardly be put forth seriously by those who are advocating an arrangement by which the Indian territory may be absorbed piece- meal into another state in the making of the constitution and the founding of the institutions of which it has had no voice. When the Indian becomes a citizen of the United States, as he is today, he can claim no more than influence in direct proportion to his numbers. Surely it is not unprecedented or impracticable that in the organization of a state the new government should be bound to make no arrangements which would in any way interfere with the pledges given by the Federal government. In any legitimate change of government the fulfillment of such pledges must always be considered essential.
A very small proportion of the Indian citizens need or expect any different treatment from that given white people. In many cases there is far more white than Indian blood in their veins. Only a very small minority speak the Indian languages and are unable to speak English. These are the fullbloods to whom every consideration of justice and humanity demands that we should accord the tenderest and most generous treatment. For them more than for any class it is imperative that there should be imme-
543
INDIAN TERRITORY, RECENT CHANGES.
diate relief from present conditions. In three years the Indian will have no longer the protection of the tribal or the Federal government. He will have to stand or fall for himself. The worst and most cruel thing we can do for him is to maintain such conditions as will inevitably surround him with white neighbors and negroes belonging to the most shiftless, ignorant and degraded classes, and the best thing we can do for him is to make such conditions that his neighbors will belong to the opposite classes, and his children be given the opportunity of learning the English language and American citizenship, where it can be most effectively taught in the common school.
It is hard, almost impossible, to get any general or reliable expression of their desires from these people. . There are plenty of white Indians who have become wealthy under existing condi- tions and are not anxious for a change, but for the masses of the poorer Indians, especially the full-bloods, no voice is competent to speak. Wisdom and justice can alone be our guide in deciding as to their destiny. Could anything more just be offered than that he should be given the right to his fair proportionate share of representation in the organizing of a great state in the terri- tery which was not so very long ago occupied entirely by Indian tribes, with the right of full citizenship in it? And could any- thing be more mercifully wise, in his behalf, than that steps should
be taken without delay to enable that part of the state in which he has had and will have his home to be the abode of thrifty and intelligent citizens? The Indian citizens have carried on for over half a century governments republican in form ; they are familiar with republican institutions. For whites and Indians alike it may be said that never has a state been admitted to this great Union whose citizens were better prepared for the duties and responsi- bilities involved in such admission than the people of this great territory are now.
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