The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-11
The aaaerita 9au Eagle ghursday gorno auue L. 1891.

only by treaty, there might be some
| ground for their fears, for this great Yam
| kee government has never been a sticker
on points of honor when dealing with the
| simple children of the forest. But the
| Choctaws and Chickasaws have a patent
| for their country which is absolute as any
| title and which secures them, $50 long as
the water runs and the grass grows" in
| the peaceable possession of their heritage.
unless they should see ut TO accept lndi-
vidual patents under allotment. The
white men who are focking TO this coun-
try have not the power if they have the
| will to usurp the Indian. They are here
to cultivate the land under contracts IA
yorable to both landlord and tenant. The
more of them that come. the more pros
porous and intelligent will be the Indian
and the richer the heritage he bequeaths
to his children.
In the recent allotments Little river
was made the dividing line between the
Pottawotomies and Shawnees, and the
agent instructed that no Pottawotomies
would be allotted north of the Little river
except those who had improvements prior
TO the date of the agents appointment in
1887. The same with regard to the date
named, whether located Oh school Sec
ton or not, and desired to remain, they
were allowed to do so. By the provisions
of the bill, the Indians were given 100
acres of first class land for farming pur-
poses, or 500 acres of grazing land, to the
head of each family, eighty acres to each
member over IS years of age, forty acres if
under, all TO be of their own choosing; and
III every instance If the member desired to
take grazing land the number of acres was
doubled, or if he desired to take half farm
ing and the remainder grazing, it was al
lowed The Shawnees are divided into two
bands, which amount to about the same
thing as the political organizations.
OF these the two principal are
White Turkeys band of 1876 members,
White Turkeys band is the progressive
element of the nation. He is man of
much ability and influence, and has been
unsparing in his efforts for the advance
ment and betterment of the condition of
his tribe. Big Jim and his followers are
the bad indians; the most of whom are
nonprogressive, lazy and worthless, both
by principle and inclination, and continu.
ally hang back and retard every movement
toward civilization. In these the agent
found the worst element to combat in his
work of allotment They were opposed to
1t in the start, were last to receive their al
lotments, and even then the agent had to
select it and set it aside for them, they
positively refusing to recognize him, or TO
choose or receive their lands. An illuStra-
ton of these petty chiefs occurred in 1886.
At that time Major Moses Neal, of Okla
hom8, was agent for the tribes. Big Jim
and his followers migrated from their res
ervation and came over into the kickapoo
country and announced their intention of
making it their permanent home. To
this the Kickapoos objected, and entered
protest to the agent. Major Neal notified
Big Jim that he was intruding where
he had no rights, and ordered him to re-
turn to his people. He tried to obtain an
interview and good-naturedly complied
with many fool sh formalities to obtain
admittance to the royal presence. Chief
Big Jim asked the agent who had sent
him, and was told the commissioner of In
dian affairs. He then wanted to know
who instructed the commissioner of In
dian affairs, and was informed that he was
acting under the direction of the secretary
of the interior. He then wanted to know
if there were any white men higher than
the secretary of the interior, and when
told that the president Of the United States
was higher than all the white men, sum-
med up his investigation as follows: You,
little white man, come TO order me, big
chief, and you say there are three white
men above you who give you orders. When
president, big white man, comes from
Washington then me talk. You little
chief; that letter, Big Jim big chief.
By virtue of troop of cavalry, how
ever, Chief Big Jim was persuaded to re-
turn to his own hunting ground soon
after.