The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-04-06
The Mixing Of Races in Indian Territsry.

The Cherokees have 4,47s adopted
whites, who have married Cherokee
women and have all the rights Of citi
zen of their Nation. An Indian nader
viii choose q white man for q husband
every time, for he makes better pro
wider than an Indian. By marriage she
thinks she confers q great honor on him
in thus elevating him to citizenship in
her Nation, and comforting upon him
free lands, no taxation. office in the
Tribal government and other emolu.
ments. Many of these half-Meed Chero.
kee women are cultivated in mind, beau.
tiful in person, industrious in habit, and
will compare well with the more favored
women in the North and East. They have
magnificent heads of hair, long and black.
all their own, and with jet black eyes and
pearl teeth, dressed in that fashionable
attire in which they all love to appear,
they would not be recognized in Eastern
drawing rooms as that part of the orig.
inal inhabitants of our country known
as squaws, a name long since repudiated
here, Let it be known, then, that white
men of worth and character are popular
among the beauties of this Territory,
and four out of five who come to make o
home among them marry these dusky
maidens, get a citizenship, surround
themselves with ample acres and the
comforts of life, participate in the affairs
of government and become the most
active and wealthy citizens of the Terri
tory. A chief trait in the character of
many white men both in this country
and out OF it is to get possession of its
productive lands. By committing mat
rimony, they can kill two birds with
one stone-get wife and farm, too. 1t
is expected, therefore, that mercenary
motives lie at the foundation of matri-
monial movements. The Cherokees are
proud of their blood, and every white
man that has drop of Cherokee blood
in his veins will appear at court and
prove it and become legally recognized
as a Cherokee. 1t sometimes appears
that man learns that one of his an
cestors married Cherokee in Georgia
or Alabama, and that he has a little
Indian blood in him. He then forthwith
makes out application and files affidavit
in proof of the fact. Hence we have
many who are called Cherokees who are
as white as the whitest man in New York
or New England. OF such applications
265 have been accepted and 521 rejected.
This shows that the Indians are particu-
lar to preserve their tribes from eXtinc-
ton, and yet be just to every man en-
titled to citizenship. In the Cherokee
Nation there are $3.50 white men who
are not citizens. They include various
trades and professions. Some of them
keep great herds of cattle and make
large amounts of money from these
splendid pasture lands. There are from
5000 to 10000 colored people in the en-
tire Territory, and from 10000 to 12,0 0C
whites all told. The human counte-
nanceS present among us a brilliant
rainbow of eolors, from the deepest jet
of Africa to the purest white of
CaucaSsia. This is a land of MKT
ures, of the intermarriage of races.
Indians are married to negroes, and
whites are married f6 Indians, and to
negroes also. Wherever the white blood
is intermingled through marriage with
either Indian or negro blood the white
principle prevails in the children. Hence
it is that We have so many white Indians
and white negroes. One might visit
whole villages along the Missouri Pa
cific Railroad without the least suspicion
from the appearance of the inhabitants
that he was in an Indian country. If
the intermarrying goes on in the future
as it has in the past every particle of
Indian and negro physiognomy and color
will disappear from the people of this
land. As the English language is up
roofing and banishing Indian dialects,
so white will in time extirpate both black
and copper color. Wherever the white
blood prevails in an Indian the elements
of white mans character prevail. The
whittier he gets the more he cultivatcs
. yriculture and commerce, liberty and
law, learning and letters. '.The Indian
problem" as it is called, is being solved
by the blending of the blood of both
whites and Indians in their offspring
L,'tltqn Territory Cor. Chicago Journal.