Wichita eagle., 1888-04-19
CHEROKEE LAND TITLE.
A CURIOUS ILLUSTRATION OF The
SOclAlISTIC IDEA. -
The Land Held as Common Property
but the Improvements Are the Prop
erty of the Individual - Certain Re
strictfons Laid-Farmers ana TarU'

strtc.tons Iaid-Farmers and Farm.
To the student OF land problems the Cnero-
kee land title is most interesting feature VI
their life, and the inferences 10 De drawn
from its workings are many and VALUABLE
The Cherokee is usually known as COM
munist. and in some sense OF the "oro ILLS
is true: but the peculiar situation Is SUCH
that what he lacks in legal communism lie
makes I'D through other circumstances III
so far as the idealN5f the communist VIII pe
realized when every man lives on MS own
land. and finds his wants as memoer Ok
the community supplied by the central gov
ernment-in so far as this is the conmunlstic
ideal the Cherokee presents today an Illus
tration of national land holding.
On the LIST day of August, 1888, the Chero-
kee tribe, assembled III camp at Oquohee, L.
T., began their proceedings with this some
what grandiloquent claim:
Whereas. The title of the Cherokee people
to their lands is the most ancient and aoso-
Lutte known to man, its date is beyond Tie
recall Of human record, its validity con-
firrned and illustrated by possession and en-
joyment antecedent to all pretense and claim
by any other portion of the human race
NATURALIZATION OF LAND.
On this basis the remarkable men assem-
bled in this council proceeded to form the
wonderful constitution under which the
tribe has lived and prospered so signally,
and from which were copied in measure
the constitutions Of the other nations. Prob
ably Influenced by the Indian idea OF prop
erty in land-the idea OF socialism-they
held that the land belonged to the Cherokee
| tribe. and not to the individuals thereof.
Land, says the Indian, like his eo,nmunistic
brother. is as air and water, the property Of
ell; it cannot be given away to the few. Pur-
| suing this theory, the Cherokee constitution
secured the naturalization OF land IN the
Cherokee state In these words:
1.-THE land of the Cherokee nation shall re-
main the common property, but the improve
ments made thereon and in the possession OF
| the citizens of the nation are the exclusive
and indefeasible property of the citizens re-
spectively who made and may be rightfuIy
| in possession thereof"
These improvements therefore descend to
| the heirs of the citizen, or they may be sold
| by him, but the land, occupy it as long as he
will, can never be his. He may occupy as
much land as he can cultivate provided he
does not come within one-quarter of mile OF
his neighbor. This prohibition does not, or
course, refer to the towns. He must establish
a claim to this land by proving it to be IN
| occupied, and at the proper distance from
| his neighbor. and when he shall have fenced
| it, or put upon it $50 worth of improve
ments, he has the right to occupy as long as
| he chooses; but if he fails to so occupy 1t for
| two years, it reverts to the nation again.
There is absolutely no limit to the amount he
NAV thus use if he can cultivate it; but if he
wishes to possess himself of two different
farms, they must be the required quarter of a
mile apart.
CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS LAID.
To be sure that speculation does not inter
| fere with the common right of all to her
land, the Cherokee nation through her legis-
! lature has laid certain restrictions upon her
! people. The valuable black walnut and
pecan timber belongs to the nation, the in
dividual may neither cut it nor sell it. The
| possible mines of her rocky hills may not be
| opened, for an old statute makes the discov-
| cry of mine punishable with death The
remembrance of their cruel ejectment from
their rich mineral lands in Georgia is thus
curiously ernbalmed in the law. And while
there is no limit to the amount which citi-
zen may cultivate, he can take up for pastur-
age but fifty acres thus effectually prevent
ing the absorption Of the land by great graz
ing firms. Thus the Cherokee has his land
held for him forever by his state. He may
sell his improvements, and he and his family
may practically reside in the same place per
manently, since the right Of occupancy may
be devised This right may also be sold.
| But the individualizing of the land that
| would seem to be thus brought about is neu-
| trali1ed by the vast tracts Of rich unoccupled
territory waiting the industrious hand.
| How thoroughly this plan has worked, as
| its sanguine modern advocates would have
us believe it always will work, is shown by
| the exact correspondence between the num-
Der OF male inhabitants and the number of
| dwellings e, 900 EACH, and the nearly similar
number of farms and farmers-3,50p farmers
| on 4,OOo farms Moreover the right of a
woman to the land is the same as that of a
man; and her husband, although not Cher
okee nor even an Indian, may acquire her
rights by marriage, and be adopted into the
| tribe This is the only dover; for alien pro-
prietorship and Cherokee rights joined 70
the pretty faces gained from a mixed Indian
and white ancestry, have proved a strong at
/ traction TO many wanderer, and a herit-
| age Of Joy and sorrow, as it might be- to
| many an Indian wonan.-Anna Laureni
| Dawes in Harper's Magazine
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