Wichita eagle., 1890-02-02
THE CHEROKEE OUTLET.
INCIDENTS AND PROMINENT MEN
IN CHEROKEE HISTORY.

The Latest Phase of the So Called Cher
| okee Questdon"-It Has Come Up q
| Regular Intervals for Over Century.
| with Continuous Changes.
| The opening of Oklahoma, and the move
ment to buy the so called Cherokee outlet
have brought the Cherokees once more be-
| fore the country, and there is the usual di-
vision Of parties among the 1ndians-one for
| giving up their peculiar organization, divid-
| ing their lands in severalty and becoming
ordinary American citizens; the other for
uniting all the civilized tribes into one 'sNa-
ton" and maintaining their comparative $50
lation little longer.
The most conservative, however, admit
that Glands in severalty" and citizenship must
eventually come-''it is but a question of
time" they say, shut we do not want TO be
pushed; give us time to prepare for it." And
the most radical admit that the conservatives
are doing much to prepare; schools, churches
and newspapers are fairly abundant, and the
progress of the Cherokees IN education and
property is quite encouraging. But, say the
conservatives, if we cease to hold land in
common, assign q farm to each family and
allow white men to settle on the rest, the
poorer class of Indians will soon lose their
farms, "contriving white men will get most
of the land, and as soon as they have ma
jority in the new state they will Cypress US in
thousand ways by petty exactions and In
tricate laws. Give us more time"
And this has been the plea of the Cherokees
since 11S5, when they made their first treaty
with the new American republic. At the
close of the revolutionary war large num-
Der of those people in North and South Caro-
lima who were stigmatized as Torres, but are
more politely referred to III British history as
UNITED Empire Loyalists, crossed the
mountains and located among the Cherokees.
They were men of ability and good character,
largely Scotch in blood and Presbyterian in
religion; they set up looms, mills, schools and
churches in Cherokee Georgia, and with
their aid the already progressive Cherokees
progressed SO rapidly that by 1908 they had a
tolerably well organized government, with
written laws. May 6, 1917, delegates from
flfty-four towns convened, and written
constitution was adopted. Ever since the
Cherokees have been a nation"
The white man pressed upon them and
they began to move westward. Then came
that remarkable national debate in which
congressman argued long about the national
rights of the Cherokees, orators depicted
their wrongs and poets sang of their print
tive virtues. 1t ended in the expulsion of all
the tribe from Georgia and adjacent states,
and in 1899 they reorganized their nation in
the Indian territory. From the Tennessee III
Carolina to the Tennessee in Alabama the
local names testify of their former presence
Chickamauga and Chattanooga, Etowah and
Connesauga, Kenesaw and Oostenauia. Since
their first treaty with the United States after
the constitution was adopted-it bears the
honored signature of George Warrington
they have eeded 81, 900 900 acres of land and
have but 100000 left Yet the clamorous
cry of the white man is for ''morel"
In 1860 the Il. 600 Cherokees formed, per
haps, the richest rural community in the
United States 1t was estimated that their
live stock, at current rates, would have
amounted to 81, 000for each family. Their
invested funds for their lands returned an in
come sufficient for schools and colleges The
war left them with nothing but the bare
land. Their stock had been driven into Kansas
and jsyhswked, ''copfscated," if
YOU please-and as the majority went with the