The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-11-11
THE CHERoKEEs.
Message Of Chief Harris to the National
Senate and Council.

Senate and Council
TALEQUAH, Nov. 9.-The message OF
Chief Harris to the senate and council is
as follows:
GENTLEMEN-The year ending 1891 will
ever be memorable in the annals OF the
Cherokee nation in the death roll of its
distinguished public men. In addition TO
the long list announced by the late prin-
cipal chief in his annual message 70 you
in November last, the ION has BEEN
called on TO mourn the death of Joe! =.
Mayes, principal chief; Henry Chambers.
assistant principal chief: John I. Adair.
ex-cLief justice. and o. 2. Brewer and
Samuel Bigby, associate Justices OF the
supreme Court, all Of whom passed away
after spending the best years OF their long
and honored lives in faithful service to
their country. OF che younger generation
we have lost by death N. NJ. Thornton.
clerk of Illinois district, who died 10 the
prime of life.
The fifth article OF the treaty of 1885, be-
tween the United States aud the Cherokee
nation, provides that THE United Stats
shall secure to the Cherokee nation the
right by their national councils 10 make
and carry into effect all such laws as they
may deem necessary for the government
and protection OF the persons and property
within their own country, belonging TO
their people. or such persons as may have
connected themselves with them: Pro-
vided. always. they shall not be inconsist-
ent with the Constitution of the United
States" The constitution Of the Cherokee
nation declares that all acknowledged
treaties shall be the supreme law of the
land, thus making the treaty provision OF
equal force with the constitution itself.
The question of the conformity OF our
jury law in the trial OF minor crimi-
nal offenses has been raised in the
courts of the United States. as to the num-
Der OF persons required to constitute jury
within the meaning of the word, as used
in the constitution of the United States;
and there seems to be little or 40 doubt
that the decision Of the United States
court will be adverse to the present jury
law in the trial of such cases. l advise
that pending that decision, and without
delay, you SO amend the present law as TO
make the number of jurors conform TO the
technical definition of the word Jury" AS
used in the constitution of the United
States, and in so doing further suggest
that the present number OF challenges be
retained to the defendant; at least in
all cases now pending in the courts. AS
soon as l learned that the issue was
raised in the United States courts l
directed the solicitors of the several
districts. and suggested to the circuit
and district judges, to continue all cases
then before the courts, until some time AS
the matter might be finally determined, or
action be taken upon the subject by the
national council. l was induced TO adopt
this course in view of the embarrassed
condition of the national treasury and
from the further reason that l had hoped,
up to the adjournment of congress. for the
ratification of the agreement for the sale
of our western lands. In which event an
additional and urgent necessity would
have been created, and wished to avoid
the expense of an additional extra session.
Congress having prolonged its session SO
near to your annual meeting and, being
periodically supported by large MAORI =
of the officers referred to in tidiug over th.
cases now pending, / deemed it unneces-
sary to incur the extra expense. Inow in
vite your early attention to the matter.
To the Indian. the holding of land in
severalty is Il new system, butt is urged
upon him as the one necessary step to his
highest individual prosperity and his
civilization rs race. This is the system
OF the people of the United States, where
it has been practiced for more than a
hundred years. Under this system, their
citizens have entered AS homesteaders or
at Aormal price, hundreds Of millions Of
acres of public land and one might reason
ably expect, among so thrifty and enter
prising people, an earthly paradise,
where every man, at least every farmer,
enjoyed himself under his own wine and
fig tree" Do we find it SOP Far from it,
more than half of the people of the United
States engaged in agricultural pursuits
are landless. and their constant cry
is for moro land for the home
less. The source from which
demand, the extinguishment of the In
dams title. is now exhausted, and the
people of the United States are now enter
ing the threshold of a period when the
aggregation of the lands in the hands Of
the rich, through mortgages, will be
greatly accelerated, and the countless
number of the homeless be enormously
increased. In the light OF recent statis-
tics, this system has proven failure so
far as providing homes for the majority Of
the people of the United States are con-
cerned and it's wisdom is being seriously
questioned by some of the best thinkers OF
the times. The people of the United States
have no year of jubilee to look forward to,
when there will be a redistribution of tho
lands: but when the lands shall be ac-
cumulated in the hands of the rich, when
the rentals shall be increased, until the
laborer can exc out only a miserable exist
ence, and when the grievous burden can
be borne no longer, the system will be
wiped out in revolution.
The Cherokee system breeds no million
aires. no land syndicates, no mortgage
sharks. Land is not degraded to the level
of speculation. Every citizen. however
poor or humble, with little energy, aud
by little physical labor, can have home
OF his own TO shelter wife and children.
He is not ever looking for place to rest
and to exist. 1t is TO be deplored that
some of our people, deluded by their fear
OF y change in our government, or actual
ed by their greed. wish to change our land
tenure and adopt that of lands in severalty.
This experiment Is now on trial among the
Indians to the west of US, III the new terri
tory of Oklahoma, where one Indian is
on qnarter section between
two white men, and he is to be civilized
into brother and citizen by contact. The
result is easily foreseen; his white neishbors
will eventually own his lands, his children
will be outcasts in the country their faith
ers once owned Prudence dictates that
we await the trial of this experiment. and
profit by their experience.
Some complain that we are dispropor
tionately to wealth taxed in our invested
funds, but, to my mind, the wisest provis
ions made by our fathers for their poster
ity was the dedication of the use ouiy Of
the lands and the interest on the invested
funds to each succeeding generation. They
were not set apart for our benefit only, but
have been given 10 us in trust, TO use and
enjoy, and TO transmit uninipaired TO those
who may come after US. The ownership
Of our lands in common is the foundation
upon which our national existence rests;
destroy this common ownership aud the
bond that holds US together as a nation is
destroyed The fee simple title in the
nation. based on an act Of congress, as 1t
is. has proven the bulwark of the national
citidei, aud has successfully withstood the
assaults OF our enemies within aud with
out 1t rests upon the same basis "a does
The private lands of citizens every where in
the United States, and cannot be destroyed
by legislation in congress without doing
violence TO vested rights and unsettliug