Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1890-11-13

lCcI lDI l0tlT clOCk. anu lnC AdAAi0
valued on account of the natural
growth it furnished for the CUB
sistence of ones herds; then the
settlement of the public domain
was an easy problem. But to-day
the Cherokees are an agricultural
people-wheat. corn, cotton, fruits
and vegetables are produced IN
abundance for expectation Large
wealth is now being accumulated
in tilling the soil, so much so that
our valuable lands will soon be
taken up and be put in cultivation.
thereby making permanent and
happy homes. Hence this i'm
pOrtant question presses itself up
on your consideration. The strong,
energetic and wealthy class of our
citizens will naturally get posses
sion of our rich lands and monop-
olize the use of the same. Our
forefathers IN the formation of this
government wisely looked to this
day and engraited in the constitu-
ton a provision by which this
monopoly could be restrained.
At this time the monopoly has
grown TO be an evil tha; demands
your immediate action. The in
formation l have from many parts
of the country is that individuals
have become 90 infatuated with
the accumulation of improvements
that single persons claim as many
as thirty farms. The country in
some sections is literally fenced
up without n pass way While
you should encourage every citizen
to make and own good farms and
become large tillers of the soil,
there should certainly be a limit
to this greed. You should teach
the people that every one has an
interest in this, our common coun-
try, and when they properly un-
derstand and fully appreciate this
great family government and es-
tate, they viii then know that
few citizens cannot fence up and
own the entire country.
The way in which this monopoly
is greatly carried on is by our cit
izens entering into pretended
leases of the land 10 non-citizens
for a number of years, which is in
plain violation of the laws of this
nation. The citizen is to get all
Improvements after the nOn-citizen
gets the use of the land and in many
instances after the land is nearly
worn out. The citizen as a gen.
eral thing has never invested
dollar in this transaction. | am
also informed that a land-Ofiice
business is being carried on be-
tween non-ciiizens in buying and
selling these leases. You can at
once see the great evil and danger
Il will be entailed on the cOun-
tr, by this unscrupulous action of
our own citizens. | am of the
opinion that you are justified in
resorting to extreme measures to
relieve our country of this curse.
We have many good and whole
some Laws and if properly ex-
ecuted, would correct many evils
that exist. There are violatOrs
of law who 60 unpunished. This /
state of affairs is greatly due 10
the fact that the district solicitors
are neglectful Of their duties, or
incompetent. / recommend that 4
you provide for a Solicitor Gen
eral for the Cherokee nation, with /
4 salary sufficient TO demand the .
services of an able attorney.
INTRUDERs-5, ,333
This question has become sick |
ening to the pride of every Chero-
kee who has a bona fide interest
in this nation and Is enough to
arouse his indignation and ven-
geance, after having endured the
burden, hardships and expense Of
owning and holding this country
for themselves and posterity. to
be compelled to sit quietly and
see Il herd of vagabonds organizing
themselves into citizenship as
sociaiion" with a fund placed by
il in the hands of unscrupulous
lawyers to carry out one of the
boldesi rObberies ever perpetrated
on a people. This lawless class
of marauders, who have come
from the four corners of the earth,
have fastened themselves upon
our rich soil and claim to be Cher
Okees by blood. appealing to the
United States government for pro-
lection in carrying out this infa-
nous scheme. 1t makes no diff
ference from what country he
halls, if he only has the initiation
fee of FIVE dollars, he is duly in
grated into said association and
then instructed by the leader
to make Improvements on Cher
okee land. How wonderfully
strange the officers of the United
States government, whose duty
it is to remove them, after
knowing all the facts connected
with this fraud, will listen to their
plea and afford them protection.
While recently in Washington.
the commissioner of Indian affairs
gave me his sacred promise that
he would see that they were re-
moved, but means and ways are
used to defeat this purpose.
The matter passes through many
hands; many formalities are gone
through with and finally the prop
er officer loses sight OF it and
thereby this outrage goes On IN
settled. Thiss class of persons
have lived here for years and in
many instances accumulated for