Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-19
CHEROKEE UNIVERSITY,

tHkkOkEE CNIVkRslTN
reelection charges that it is due to his inefi-
cheney and bad government that there has not
been enough money to pay the teachers. and
the friends Of the chief show quite as plainly
that the deficit rises from other causes In the
meantime the big seminary lies idle and the
university has no scholars. l went through the
seminary this afternoon. II has as fine accom-
modations as any college in Ohio. and II is run
on the Mount Holyoke plan. the girls keeping
their own rooms in order and doing part OF the
homework of the institution.
THE INDIANS AND THE GOVERNMENT.
I. is claimed that the government has not
treated the Cherokees fairly, and in the sale Of
the Cherokee strip Uncle Sam ought to give
them what 1t is worth. Chief Bushyhead tells
me that when he was at the head Of the gov
eminent he was offered SO un aero CT more
than sls. 900 0O0 for it. but suppose tina. the
government will try and get it for LIS an
acre. II has been 80 arranged now that the In
dams get no revenue from il, and il Uncle Sam
holds on long enough they. will probably come
to his terms. In 1866 tine United States made
treaty with the Choctaws and Chickasaws and
thereby got large tract of land, for which
they agreed to pay the Indians 81. q ! 900. The
Indians never got the money and the whites
have the land At the same time there
WAS a treaty made with the Creek Indians
which hung fire for years. and the five civil
lied tribes, il they had their dues, would re-
ceive millions of dollars from the United States
treasury. As IL Is they got certain amount
yearly. The Cherokecs nave received Sl45.0c0
year. This is divided up per capita and the
man who has dozen children gets ten portions
more than the man who has two. 1 Travelled 70
1ahiequah with n little boy and his Cherokee
mother. and the woman told me she was going
to the capital Of the nation to get her govern
ment money. The Creeks get about s1s0. 900
per anuum, and they pay $4,000 Of this for
keeping up their schools They are now put
ting up three colleges and they have very
good educational system.
had long talk with the United States gov
eminent agent OF the territory who pays all
this money and lives among the Creeks at
Muskogee. He was just going out TO make a
payment to the Delaware Indians. and he said
that he had another payment of S525 to make
to each OF them during the year. He spoke in
high terms of the condition OF the civilized
tribes, and he told me that the Sem:noles had
lust completed a school building which is
heated by steam and lighted by electric lights,
and which cost Sl4S,cO0. These Indians get
500 600 year from the government. The
0sagss are the richest of all the Indians They
are Just west Of the Cherokecs, and they receive
s2J0. 900 q year from Washington. Each man,
woman and child in tho tribe gets somewhere
between ESQ and S2oO year. and these peo-
pie are comparatively the richest people In the
world. The government owes them more than
sI,OO0, 600 and there are only about ], 800 of
them living. Besides this they have reserva-
non which gives theln about 1000 acres OF land
apiece, and u they worked they might become
Cresuses- They do not labor, however, and
they are said 70 be fast dying out
wHrrE RuFriASs Vs. CIVILIZED INDIANS
By all odds the worst men in the Indian terri
tory are the white men. There's are ten drunken
cowboys. horse thieves and iailDirds to every
one decent man among them, and this little
town Of Tahlequah. with Its Indian population,
has infinitely better order than the towns along
| the railroad where the whites havo boon per-
mittsd TO do business. The hotel hers is good