Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-04-09
The Indian to be Made Person

The Senate on Wednesday last pass
ed bill which, if it becomes a law,
will work, gradually, most important
change in the status of the Indians. 1t
provides for the allotment to them oi
lands in severalty, and declares that
every member of the respective bands
or tribes of Indians to whom allot
ments are made shall have the benefit
of and be subject to the laws, both civil
and criminal, of the state or territory in
which they may reside. It's provided
further, that "no state or territory shall
pass or inforce any law denying any
such Indisn within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the law"
This important measure, which
makes Indians for the first time persons
under the law and opens the courts tc
them to maintain and defend their
rights, passed the Senate after very
brief discussion, as nearly all the Sena,
tors were familiar with its provisions
The measure has been before Congress
for five years, and in the Forty sixth
Congress the debate upon it raI
through several weeks. 1t did not Sc
cure majority, however, until the last
Congress but, with many other ex
cellent Senate measures, it was moi
acted upon by the House. A secont
time the bill goes down to the HOUSE
of Representatives, and the friends o
the Indians should organize public sen
timent in support of it, lest it agair
perish through the Indifference and in
attention of the more popular branch o
Congress.
The shifty policy of moving trouble
some Indians to the farther West can
not longer be pursued. The territories
are filing up. The Indian reservations
are being pressed in by whites on al
sides. The time has come when the
Government, if it does not wish to ex
terminate the Indians or let then
starve. must either put them in way
to take care of themselves or make
them permanent paupers. The object
of the present bill, as its chief sponsor
Senator Coke, of Texas, describes it
is, Gin slow and gradual way, to
bring the Indian out of his tribal con
dition and relation which surrounds
him and individualize him, make bin
member of society, and throw him
upon himself for support"
The bill provides that the reserva
tions occupied by Indian tribes shall
be patented to the tribes, the fee to
vest in them at the expiration of TWEEN
ty-fve years. That in any case where
the President shall believe that an al.
lotment of lands in severalty would
be of any advantage to tribe located
on a reservation, he shall cause the
reservations to be surveyed, and allot
to each head of family l60 acres; to
each single person over Is, or orphan
under that age, eighty acres, and to
each other Indian in the tribe, forty
acres If the reservation is not large
enough for such a distribution, it shall
be allotted in the proportions indicated
as far as it will go. Provision is made
for allotment of other Government
lands to non-tribal Indians. Patents
are to be issued in the name of the al.
lottee, stating that the United States
will hold the land in trust for the own.
er for twenty-five years, at the end OF
which time the United States will con.
vey the land to the allottee or his heirs
absolutely. This is to protect the In
dians in the possession of the land, as
an absolute grant in their present state
of ignorance would soon be purchased
from them and leave them no better
than before. Phitadelphta Press.
Liverpool is the greatest shipping
port of the world, its annual tonnage
being 2, 647 ,342 London is the next
port with 2,33O,588 tons. Glasgow
ranks third with tonnage l, ,432, ,354
New York comes fourth on the list Of
shipping ports of the world with ton.
mage of 1,l53,G76.
An instance of the inconsistency
of inGdels occurred recently in Paris
during the session of Congress of the