Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1892-08-25

halfbreeds would have been hire.
lings or paupers now instead OF
having comfortable homes; that is
if by "allotment" is meant land
in.severalty with the right TO sell
to whom you please. A majority
of us would have been hirelings to
the very men to- whom we are
renting land to-day.
After studying the system of land
holding in England, with all her
landlords and paupers, and of
what the United States with all her
mortgages, millionaire and poor is
gradually drifting into, | am of
firm conviction that the title of
land ought to be vested in the gov
ernment and not in the individual.
Or, if in the individual, he
he ought not to be allowed to trans
fer the title except it be in ex.
change for other land of equal
valuation. | believe that the Irish.
Scotch, English, and German peas
antry among our fathers, seeing
its evils in the old country, had
much to do with the shaping of our
present system of land holding.
They saw the two extremes in
England, viz, landlordism and
pauperism. and foresaw that in the
United States, as it is doing, the
lands would gradually pass into
the hands of few capitalists and
the masses would be left without
homes and at the mercy of those
to whom they were hired and who
owned the land.
Again, every man born into the
world naturally has a right to some
land on which to stand and on
which to make a living, and it is
the duty Of the government under
which be is born to see that he
gets it and to protect him in the full
use Of it while he lives. The Dec
laration Of independence says
"all men were created equal. "
What is meant by this is that all
men are created with equal rights.
God created the world for every
man, not for a few capitalists. Al
low few quotations here from
distinguished men:
Horace Greedy He who has nc
clear, inherent right to live some.
where has 90 right 10 live at all.
Black Hawk: The Great Spirit
has told me that land is not to be
made property, like other property
The earth is our mother.
j. Stuart Mill: No man made
the land. Itis the original inher.
ilancs of the whole species.
Rev. DR.. Nutly, Bishop o.
Meath The land of every country
is the common property of the peo-
Pile of that country, because it:
real owner, the Creator who made
it, has transferred it as voluntary
gift to them.
Article |. Sec. 2. of the Consti-
tuition of the Cherokee nation says
1.-The lands of the Cherokee nation
shall remain common property.
We can and must make an equal
division of the land in order to
break up the monopoly that now
exists, but let the title remain vest.
ed in the Cherokee nation and not
give individual titles with the right
to sell to any and everybody. This
would Immediately destroy our ma
tionality, our right of selfgovern.
ment and we would no longer b,
known as the Cherokees, but would
have foreign population among
us to dictate laws by which We
were to be governed, and ourselves
be sunk into oblivion. Unless
change my views | shall never con
sent TO allot and give individual
titles with the right to sell to non
citizens. But, | am in favor of al
lotting if we let the title remain
vested in the Cherokee nation.
The first thing necessary to d,
this and to break up the presen
existing monopoly of land is Il
have the country sectionized; vi
can have this done ourselves an,
not call on the United States. Un
ill this is done every attempt a
limiting or restricting the amount
citizen shall hold will be perfectl
futile. We ought to have had i
sectionized twenty years ago as tn
Chickasaws did theirs.
Let us sectionize, grade the LAM
into first, second and third class
give every citizen a first grade s
acres, a second 40 and a third 50
This will be 200 acres per head
There are 204 acres per head count
ing a population of 25,0O0. The
allow no man to sell, but let the oc
cupancy Of it pass down to tn
posterity of the family receiving it
Then few capitalists will nevel
get possession of it and ever,
Cherokee hereafter will be borl
the owner of piece of land for
home. He may be poor otherwis
but is rich in having a place to cal
home, even ifhis house is only tn
canopy Of an oak tree.
A few Of our citizens who havl
large farms claim the nation canno
compel them to give these up. Thu
is the supremest folly. Let's see
The land belongs TO every citizel
alike. No one will deny this
Then il you have fenced up some o
my land and ! want it do you no
propose to give it up A? especial!
when you have had the free use 0
il five, ten or twenty years ? o
course you ought to have the righ
with a years notice to sell to an,
citizen or remove the improve
ments on what you may hold owe
your share, but you must surren
der the occupancy.
! NJ