USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I > Part 49
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"The Indian menagerie called a reservation has undone whatever good the missionary and the mis- sion school may have accomplished. The agency system as political patronage is responsible for a large share of the failure. The Indian has been the victim of a bureaucracy which has held him a spoil of politics. When we consider how long he has run the gauntlet of rascally agents and thiev- ing contractors, it is a wonder he has come out with a blanket on his back and beef entrails in his stomach. It is a wonder there have not been more Wounded Knees. The paternalistic policy of the government has put a premium upon idleness and fostered abject dependence. Industrialism and citizenship go hand in hand in Indian civiliza- tion.
"That the United States should have been so shortsighted in formulating and carrying out its
moral right and law. Knowing the temper of an aggressive body of American settlers, the outcome could not long remain in doubt. When the first railroad was built through the Territory and white men's towns and cities sprang up along the right of way, the doom of Indian seclusion was pronounced, and it now remains to describe the manner in which the adjustment of the relations between members of the tribes and non-citizens was effected.ª
Indian policy is astonishing. It seems to have been its purpose, through binding treaties and the creation of a special bureau, to eternally per- petuate the reservation system of isolation and pensionary dependence. It seemingly never con- templated the elevation of the Indian to citizen- ship and the razing of the Chinese wall which has been studiously built to keep him apart from the rest of humankind. Worse than this, it has clothed certain of the tribes with elements of sovereignty little short of foreign independence, virtually establishing alien powers within our borders. The Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choc- taws and Chickasaws, composing the five civilized tribes, furnish an instance in point. These In- dians were removed to the Indian Territory more than fifty years ago and given extraordinary prom- ises and privileges. Their lands, a rich domain as large as any of the states, were patented to them to be held in common by the members of the re- spective tribes 'as long as grass grows and water runs,' and they were guaranteed as perpetual sov- ereignty.
"When the skirmish line of the westward march- ing army of civilization reached the dead line of this Indian principality it halted and parleyed. The parley evolved a truce. The truce resulted in an invitation to the white man to come across the line and become an Indian. This singular meta- morphosis was legally effected by the party of the first part being adopted by or marrying the party of the second part. Thus the 'squawman' began to work out the solution of a great problem, for none will gainsay the potency of amalgamation as a civilizer. All else failing, that will win. The Indian, singularly enough, almost invariably inter- marries with the white race when the opportunity presents itself, and his land advantages serve to put a coveted premium upon the marital union which never goes a begging. The 'squawman,' be it said to his credit, could not be an Indian in
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mode of life. Once in the tribe his native enter- prise and thrift asserted themselves. The rich pastures and fertile valleys of his adopted country appealed to his cupidity. He became a farmer and a herdsman. As his crops and his herd in- creased, he perceived the need of alien labor, for the Indian will only work by compulsion or from direct necessity. This need was supplied from the main body of the army which he had preceded and which, having arrived on the outside, clam- ored for admittance. The Indian councils, kindly disposed toward their adopted brother, and easily persuaded, enacted laws permitting the introduc- tion of white laborers, which, being liberally inter- preted, led to an indiscriminate immigration of tradesmen, craftsmen and adventurers. In this the benevolent purpose of the federal government was set at naught, if indeed, the treaties were not violated by the Indians themselves; but the powers at Washington winked at the infraction. The land of the five civilized tribes filled rapidly with a white population and the material resources of the country were developed proportionately. At this time [1894] there are 250,000 alien white residents in the Indian Territory and but about 50,000 tribal members.
"After half a century of settlement and devel- opment under such anomalous conditions it may
be imagined what a unique situation is presented by the Indian Territory and what a complex prob- lem it forces upon Congress. Here are a quarter of a million United States citizen residents with many millions of dollars and an infinite amount of labor expended in fixed improvements upon soil to which they can acquire no title, without common school facilities, without governmental organiza- tion or representation, without eleemosynary or penal institutions, without care for their insane, without the simplest municipal regulations for towns of 5,000 inhabitants or state relief from the various public burdens. Despite these draw- backs it is a remarkable fact that this country has kept well abreast of the progress of the adjacent states. Little if any difference in surroundings will be noted by the traveler in passing from one of these states through the Five Nations. The churches, the schoolhouses, the stores, the resi- dences, the mills, compresses, gins and small fac- tories are quite as substantial, attractive and numerous in the latter section, while the face of the country shows as marked improvement. The mere statement that more than fifty newspapers and perodicals are published there will give the reader some idea of the extent of this develop- ment. .
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CHAPTER XXV
THE DAWES COMMISSION
The next important step was the crea- in a government commission; the lands of tion of the Dawes Commission. The dis- the five tribes were surveyed and sectionized by government surveyors; by the Curtis act the entire control of tribal revenues had been taken from the five Indian tribes and vested with a resident supervising inspector, the tribal courts were abolished, allotments were made compulsory, and authority given to incorporate white men's towns in the Indian tribes. turbing presence of the white intruders hastened the movement for allotment and citizenship, and in 1896 the decision of citi- zenship claims was taken out of the control of the Indian courts and vested with the Dawes Commission. The survey of the Indian Territory had begun.1 "The mean- ing of such survey," said Agent Wisdom in September, 1895, "is too plain to be disre- Such in brief is a statement of the suc- cessive steps taken in bringing the Indians to citizenship during the last decade of the nineteenth century. The history of these developments is mainly an account of the Dawes Commission2 and its work under the direction of Congress. A volume would hardly contain the records of this commis- sion, and this chapter must deal only with the important features of its work, espe- cially its labors in preparing the Indians for the condition of statehood. garded, and it is justly considered as the initial step, solemn and authoritative, to- ward the overthrow of their present com- munal holdings." The end of the peculiar civil government of the Indians was ap- proaching. By successive enactments the jurisdiction of the Indian courts had been steadily narrowed, and the authority of the federal courts proportionately extended ; the right to determine Indian citizenship had been taken from the Indians and vested
" The initial point of land survey of Oklahoma and Indian Territory was a mile south of old Fort Arbuckle. A sandstone pillar five feet high and a foot or more square was placed to mark the spot. On one face were carved the letters "I. P." (Indian Principal), on the opposite the date 1870. In that year the surveyors began their work, lay- ing off the meridian from Red river to Kansas, and the base line from Arkansas to the Panhandle. From these lines the townships and range lines of the entire state were run, but the survey in old Indian Territory was not completed until late in the '90s.
2 A commission appointed by President Cleve- land, under an act of Congress of March 3, 1893, and consisting of Henry L. Dawes of Massachu- setts, chairman (1893-1903) ; Archibald S. McKen- non of Arkansas (1893-98), and Meredith H. Kidd
of Indiana (1893-95). It was increased to five members in 1895 and reduced to four in 1898. In addition to those named, it has included Frank C. Armstrong of the District of Columbia (1895-98), Thomas B. Cabaniss of Georgia (1895-97), Alex- ander B. Montgomery of Kentucky (1895-97), Tams Bixby of Minnesota (1897-1905), Thomas B. Needles of Illinois (1897-1905), Clifton R. Breck- enridge of Arkansas (1898-1905), and William E. Standley of Kansas (1903-04). On the death of Mr. Dawes, in February, 1903, Mr. Bixby was ap- pointed chairman. The work of the commission being finished, it expired by law July 1, 1905. As the Indian government did not dissolve until March 4, 1906, all the remaining powers of the commission were vested in the secretary of the interior during the interim and administered by a "commissioner to the five civilized tribes."
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In the creation of the Dawes Commission in 1893, its objects were defined to be:
The extinguishment of tribal titles to any lands within that Territory, now held by any and all of such nations or tribes, either by cession of the same or some part thereof to the United States, or by the allotment and division of the same in severalty among the Indians of such nations or tribes, re- spectively, as may be entitled to the same, or by such other method as may be agreed upon between the several nations and tribes aforesaid, or each of them with the United States with a view to such an adjustment upon the basis of justice and equity as may, with the consent of the said nations of Indians, so far as may be necessary, be re- quisite and suitable to enable the ultimate creation of a state or states of the Union, which shall embrace the lands within said Indian Territory.
The labors of the commission during the first ten years of its existence were de- scribed in its tenth annual report, which is quoted :
"For the first five years-namely, from 1893, the year the commission was created, until 1898, when the Curtis Act was passed -this body was clothed with only negotiat- ing power, except a limited function under the act of June 10, 1896, relating to de- termination of citizenship rights.
"The object of Congress from the begin- ning has been the dissolution of the tribal governments, the extinguishment of the communal or tribal title to the land, the vesting of possession and title in severalty among the citizens of the tribes, and the as- similation of the peoples and institutions of this Territory to our prevailing American standard.
"It was evident at the end of the first five years that the accomplishment of the fore-
going object by negotiation alone was prac- tically impossible. The Indians (so called, for most of them by a century and a quar- ter of intermarriage have far more Saxon than Indian blood) would never surrender by consent what they did not want to give up at all. The commission, as then consti- tuted, was able to bring to the discussion neither inducements nor force. Some of the tribal members held passionately to their institutions from custom and patriotism, and others held with equal tenacity because of the disadvantage and privileges they en- joyed. It was almost worth a man's life at that time to advocate a change.
"Under these conditions Congress was in 1898 fairly confronted with the alternative of either abandoning its policy and abolish- ing the commission, or else of converting the commission from merely a negotiating body into also an executive and semi- judicial body, and of proceeding with the work under the constitutional power of Congress, and largely at least, regardless of the will of the tribes. A strenuous effort was made to prevent the adoption of the lat- ter course. So pronounced was the opposi- tion and so severe were the criticisms heaped upon the commission that at one time there seemed to be no doubt of success for those who favored this policy. But in what may be deemed a fortunate hour it was decided not to act without giving a chance to the special representatives of the government to be heard, both in their own defense and with respect to what course should be adopted. This led to such a reve- lation of slander, corruption and oppression that Congress immediately passed the Cur- tis Act, and it has been followed by prompt appropriations for its execution, amounting now to nearly $1,000,000.
"That act undertook, not to let anybody
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and everybody come forward and take pub- lic land, but to administer upon five great estates, aggregating 20,000,000 acres. It ordered these estates to be partitioned among the individual heirs upon the princi- ple of equal value ; and it could hardly have done less, and at our expense, under the stipulations of treaties.
"Nor was it a disposition of wild lands, or of lands of uniform value. It related to vast tracts, covered by the homes and other improvements of a great population, threaded in every direction with railroads, filled with villages and large towns of the most modern character, and without a wig- wam or a blanket Indian within the limits of the Territory. It was a vast and difficult undertaking ; and no previous disposition of either lands or tribes afforded precedents for guidance.
"Manifestly two indispensable duties lay at the very beginning of the business-first, to determine who were the bona fide citi- zens or heirs entitled to inherit these prop- erties ; and, second, to take an inventory of the properties to be divided.
"When these two tasks had been per- formed as to any tribe, then only was it possible to begin the intelligent and equita- ble division of its estate. There was prac- tically nothing to go upon in either in- stance, and the whole work had to be done from the beginning.
"In determining the heirs, the commis- sion has heard and passed upon' the indi- vidual applications of more than 200,000 claimants; and of this number some 128,000 have been so disposed of since the passage of the Curtis Act. All of these cases had to be made matters of record, many of them involving hundreds and some of them thou- sands of pages of evidence and pleading ; and of the total number more than half
have been rejected as not entitled to share in the properties of the tribes.
"In valuing the properties for distribu- tion, every forty acres has had to be located, classed and platted, making some 500,000 separate items of property to be so treated; and it has been necessary to locate by care- ful surveys the homes and improvements of the people upon many millions of acres in order to get their correct land numbers and thus enable them to secure the lands they wish and retain possession of their homes as required by law. They had settled and lived for nearly three-quarters of a century. with no regard for survey lines, and with no records such as we have in the states and in the other territories."
"The Atoka agreement," as it has been generally known, has had an important place in the history of the dissolution of tribal government because it was the first practical agreement between the Dawes Commission and one of the civilized tribes, in accordance with which the final solution of the severalty and citizenship problem was worked out. The Atoka agreement had been negotiated between the commission and the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes, April 23, 1897, and the ratification of the agree- ment was appended to the Curtis Act of June 28, 1898.
The first and principal consideration in the agreement provided "That all the lands within the Indian Territory belonging to the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians shall be allotted to the members of said tribes so as to give to each member of these tribes as far as possible a fair and equal share thereof, considering the character and fer- tility of the soil and the location and value of the lands." 1
It was provided that the allotted lands should remain untaxable for the period of
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twenty-one years provided the title re- mained with the original allottee; that the allottee's homestead of 160 acres could not be alienated for a period of twenty-one years from date of patents, but that the re- mainder of the allotments might be sold, one-fourth in one year, one-fourth in three years, and the balance in five years from the date of patent.ª
The principal features of the Curtis Act were :
Ist. The enlargement and extension of the jurisdiction of the United States courts for the Indian Territory so as to include all causes of action irrespective of the parties, and so as to give those courts jurisdiction to try certain suits by or against the several tribes.
2d. The conferring of jurisdiction for police purposes on the courts and municipal authorities of Fort Smith, Arkansas, over a certain portion of the Choctaw Nation lying between the corporate limits of Fort Smith and the Arkansas and Poteau rivers and extending up the Poteau river to the mouth of Mill creek.
3d. The making of the enrollment of the tribes by the Dawes Commission conclusive
'In its eighth annual report (1901) the com- mission said the Atdka agreement "is inadequate and ambiguous, and affairs within those tribes may not be satisfactorily administered under its provisions. It is essential that a date be fixed for closing the rolls, that some legislation touch- ing upon the rights and benefits of Mississippi Choctaws and other matters of somewhat less im- portance be had if the work of the government is to proceed satisfactorily." To remedy these con- ditions a supplemental agreement was had with the Choctaws and Chickasaws and ratified by Congress by act approved July 1, 1902.
The subject of townsites was among the first considered by the Dawes Commission. In Novem- ber, 1895, it reported the existence, along the rail- road lines, of many considerable towns, with costly business blocks, residences and good improvements. But owing to the fact that none of the white citi- zens could gain permanent title to the lands on
as to the membership of each tribe. This provision was designed to determine defi- nitely the membership of the tribes and dis- pose of all claims to citizenship.
4th. The allotment of lands in severalty to the members of the tribes by the Dawes Commission, so far as the use and occu- pancy of the lands were concerned, reserv- ing all minerals for the benefit of the tribes.
5th. The leasing by the secretary of the interior of the mineral lands of the different tribes under regulations to be prescribed by him.
6th. Providing for the incorporation of towns and cities in the Territory under the provisions of the Arkansas statutes."
7th. Providing for the surveying and laying out of townsites and sale of town lots within the Territory.
8th. Providing for the payment of all rents and royalties due the tribes into the treasury of the United States to the credit of the tribes, and prohibiting the collection of the same by individuals of the tribes, but permitting the leasing by individuals of their allotments, except as to minerals.
9th. Prohibiting the payment of any moneys on any account whatever to the
which the buildings were located, a feeling of insecurity and lack of permanence hindered the progress that might have marked these towns un- der better conditions. The commission then ex- plained the mode of acquiring temporary title on these townsites. "Generally these towns rest on the following unsubstantial arrangement with the national authorities. A citizen Indian is first authorized by the laws of the nation to inclose for his own exclusive use any unoccupied territory. He, having first enclosed a prospective townsite, leases town lots at a ground rental, or quitclaims his title for a gross sum to the incoming builder, sometimes covenanting that if he ever gets a bet- ter title it shall inure to his grantee. Millions of dollars have been expended in the laying out of streets and building of necessary structures in these towns by those who have no other title than this, hardly more as against the holder of the fee than a tenantcy at sufferance."
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tribal governments for disbursement; pro- viding that the payment of all sums to members of the tribes shall be made by a disbursing officer of the government, under the direction of the secretary of the interior.
roth. Directing the enrollment of the freedmen of the Chickasaw Nation and the allotment of lands to them.
IIth. Declaring all grazing leases made prior to January 1, 1898, to be terminated on April 1, 1899, and all farming leases made prior to January 1, 1898, to be terminated on January 1, 1900, and all leases made subsequently to January I, 1898, to be null and void.
12th. Authorizing the segregation of 157,600 acres of lands in the Cherokee Nation for the Delawares, subject to ad- judication of the rights of the Delawares.
13th. Prohibiting the enforcement of the
5 The Curtis Act June 28, 1898.
Sec. 3. That said courts [U. S. District Courts] are hereby given jurisdiction in their respective districts to try cases against those who may claim to hold as members of a tribe and whose member- ship is denied by the tribe, but who continue to hold said lands and tenements notwithstanding the objection of the tribe; and if it be found upon trial that the same are held unlawfully against the tribe by those claiming to be members thereof, and the membership and right are disallowed by the commission to the Five [Civilized] Tribes, or the United States court, and the judgment has become final, then said court shall cause the par- ties charged with unlawfully holding said posses- sions to be removed from the same and cause the lands and tenements to be restored to the person or persons or nation or tribe of Indians entitled to the possession of the same.
Sec. 11. That when the roll of citizenship of any one of said nations or tribes is fully com- pleted as provided by law, and the survey of the lands of said nation or tribe is also completed, the commission heretofore appointed under acts of Congress, and known as the "Dawes Commis- sion," shall proceed to allot the exclusive use and occupancy of the surface of all the lands of said nation or tribe susceptible of allotment among the citizens thereof, as shown by said roll, giving to each, so far as possible, his fair and equal share thereof, considering the nature and fertility
laws of the various tribes by the United States courts in Indian Territory.
14th. Authorizing an Indian inspector in Indian Territory, to perform any duties required by law of the secretary of the interior relating to affairs therein.
15th. The abolition of all tribal courts in the Territory, and prohibition of all offi- cers of said courts, after July 1, 1898, from performing any act theretofore authorized by law in connection with those courts, and directing the transfer of all civil and crimi- nal cases then pending in the tribal courts to the proper United States court in the Territory. This provision did not affect the Creek court until October 1, 1898, and under other provisions of the same act did not affect the tribal courts of the Choctaws and Chickasaws at all.5
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of the soil, location, and value of same; but all oil, coal, asphalt, and mineral deposits in the lands of any tribe are reserved to such tribe, and no allotment of such lands shall carry the title to such oil, coal, asphalt, or mineral deposits; . and all townsites shall be reserved to the several tribes, and shall be set apart by the commission hereto- fore mentioned as incapable of allotment. There shall also be reserved from allotment a sufficient amount of lands now occupied by churches, schools, parsonages, charitable institutions, and other pub- lic buildings for their present actual and neces- sary use, and no more, not to exceed five acres for each school and one acre for each church and each parsonage, and for such new schools as may be needed; also sufficient land for burial grounds where necessary. When such allotment of the lands of any tribe has been by them completed, said commission shall make full report thereof to the secretary of the interior for his approval.
Sec. 14. That the inhabitants of any city or town in said Territory having two hundred or more residents therein may proceed, by petition to the United States court in the district in which such city or town is located, to have the same incor- porated as provided in chapter twenty-nine of Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas, if not already incorporated thereunder; and the clerk of said court shall record all papers and perform all the acts required of the recorder of
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