The Press., 1888-06-28
CHEROKEE LAND TITLE.
A CURIOUS ILLUSTRATION OF THE
 SOclALISTIC IDEA.

SOclALlSTIc IDEA.
 The I and Held as Common Property,
 but the Improvements Are the Prop
 erty of the Individual - Certain Re-
 strIctions Laid-Farmers and Farm.
 To the student of land problems the Chero- kee land title is a most interesting feature of their life, and the inferences to be drawn from it's workings are. many and valuable. The Cherokee is usually known as com munist, and in some sense of the word this is true; but the peculiar situation is such that what he lacks in legal communism he makes up through other circumstances. In so far as the ideal of the communist will be realized when every man lives on his own land, and finds his wants as a member of the community supplied by the central gov ernment-in so far as this is the communistic ideal, the Cherokee presents today an illus tration of national land holding.
 On the 1st day of August, 1888, the Chero- kee tribe, assembled in camp at Oquohee, I. 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 abso- lute known to man, its date is beyond the recall of human record, its validity con- firmed and illustrated by possession and en- joyment antecedent to all pretense and claim by any other portion of the human race"
 NATIoNALIzATIoN 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 a 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 communistic brother is as air and water, the property of all; 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:
 ''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 rightfully 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, of course, refer to the towns. He must establish a claim to this land by proving it to be un- 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 it for two years, it reverts to the nation again. There is absolutely no limit to the amount he may 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 a mine punishable with death. The remembrance of their cruel ejectment from their rich mineral lands in Georgia is thus curiously embalmed in the law. And while there is no limit to the amount which a 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- tralized by the vast tracts of rich unoccupied 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 5000 each), and the nearly similar number of farms and farmers-3, 800 farmers on 4,OOO farms. Moreover the right of a woman to the land is the same as that of 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,n joined to the pretty faces gained from mixed Indian aud white ancestry, have proved strong at- traction to many @ wanderer, and "a herit- age of joy and sorrow, it might be, to many an Indian woman.-Anna LaurenS Dawes in Harper's Magazine.