Wichita eagle., 1888-04-27
AN UNKNOWN NATION.
.aurens Dawes. in .Harper's Magazine.

|
| tory. The imaginary lines which divide
it from the neighboring states. have been
strengthened by national law into strong
walls, which. if not actually impossible,
| have vet proved substantial barriers.
Even the inhabitants of the contiguous
states have little personal knowledge OF
the people of the land beyond strong
| hatred of the one, born of an undue lust
| for the other. The eastern part of this
territory is inhabited by what are called
the five civilized tribes '-he Cherokees,
Greeks, Seminoles. Choctaws and Chica-
saws. Each of them live a life absolutely
separate from the rest, with its own pc
culiarities. its own institutions. and its
own national characteristics. for each
let it not be forgotten-each is nation.
But certain things are true
of them all. Common cir
cumstances and common needs
have wrought upon common traits of
race and character to produce ike re-
suits. The government of each nation
is republican, with frequently recurring
elections, legislatures, executives and
| systems of judiciary. Each nation sup
ports common schools and high schools,
provides charitable institutions and fR
tiers churches. Whether Choctaw or
| Cherokee, these Indians carry on large
| business interests. and live intelligent
| and valuable lives.
The traveller who leaves st. Louis at
night wakes to find himself in the prairie
country, strewn thick with villages of
| the peculiar, unthrifty, huddled appear
ance of southwestern hamletS. He has
scarcely breakfasted before, on a sudden,
! he discovers the prairie roll away before
| him unveXed with hut or herd, and mile
after mile the railway strides on
| through the luXuriant acres, past
the fertile bottoms. The mysterious
silence and space explain them
selves. This is Indian land and the
Cherokee people have as yet found no
better use for this northern country than
| to keep an unoccupied strip between
themselves and their white neighbors.
When at last town appears, it Is still a
southwestern town, but i is brick and
mortar city, with shops and newspapers
and busy life of its own. 1t is a con-
siderable tax on credulity to discover
that this town of Vinta is also Indian,
and altogether Indian; that its business
life is full and active and reaching out
widely: that its citizens have private
interests in many other regions, and
affect the public affairs of two nations.
moving sometimes the deStinieS of an
alien and mightler race than their own.
Its men and women have their life in
books and thought and music, brave
men marry fair women, and children
play about the streets, whose future
holds happiness and prosperity.
This is is the most commercial town of
this nation, but not its most representa-
tive settlement. Have you soen Table
quah? is the instant question asked of
him who processes knowledge of the
Indian Territory, and not without rea-
son. Located in the interior of the coun-
try, among the mountains, the approach
by all-day ride among the wooded hills,
over the grassy uplands and through the
forest glades, threaded everywhere with
rushing creeks, serves to heighten the
effect. Tahlequah first discovers itself
afar off, across one of the most beauti-
full of these prospects, in large and
somewhat imposing brick building,
standing out alone upon a swell
ing height. Unneighbored, and yet
requiring considerable popula-
ton to fill it, it seems something
of m ystery: and when the winding
road comes face to face with its sim
pliclty and It's size, 1t proves no less mys-
FERROUS, although in different way.
since it is public college for Indian
boys and young men. Three miles fur
Their ride, still in the open country,
though no longer through an altogether
uncultivated region. brings the traveller
suddenly into the long main street of a
large town. lie sits III serene and self
conferred isolation the capital of nation.
containing III itself every element of
such a capital except those metropolitan
products which belong to crowded cen
tiers Of the worlds life.
In the very middle of Tahlequah is its
capitol, large brick structure surround
ed by an open square filled with locust
trees. The size and relative Importance
of this building mark the feeling that
this is a nation. Here meets a legisla- /
ture that is composed of two houses, re-
tanning traces of the common Indian |
and white influence over their origin. in |
their titles of council and senate. The |
council is presided over by a speaker, |
and the senate by the assistant chief |
Bills must pass both houses, and require |
the signature of the executive. This Of /
ficer possesses much power, and is man |
of many titles, since he is actually pres
ident, and Is better known as principal /
chief, while in common conversation he
is usually addressed as governor. Under
him Is an assistant-chef answer
ing to our vice president, a secre-
tary Of state, a treasurer, a super
of public instruction. and sew
eral other officers. All are elected directly
by the people, and for terms of four
years. These hotly contested elections
occur every two years, when half of the
council are chosen, and in August. a
month of agricultural vacation, thus
the chief occupation of the peo-
pie. All the affairs Of the nation--very
nearly literally all of them-are debated
and settled by this legislature. The es-
Enlistment and support of schools,
questions of finance, permission or
licenses TO railways or telegraphs, the
admission of religious teachers to the
privileges of the nati0n-all these mat
.ers are decided as Of old in council; but
neither the hereditary right of Indian
custom on the one hand, nor the Anglo
saxon condition of age on the other. / {
admits to this body. Every lad among :
he CheTokees may vote and be voted (
Tor. In the capitol are the various Off ]
,es of the president. the treasurer and
he other officers of state, and here they
spend busy days, for it Is no trifing {
natter To administer the affairs of TINS
title nation OF p, 900 souls. II it be lit
le, it l. also rich: $50, 90 come every
year into the hands Of it, treasurer in
good drafts Of the United States, interest !
N the funds held by Us in trust for these
indians. and as much more from the |
;reat cattle companies who have leased
ONE of their.unooupied northern land.