Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1892-03-31
WHY THEY COMPLAIN
Interest of the Masses Secondary
to Those of the Few.
AROUND vlNIrA. Mch. p, 1892.

you SUI hu olu hltlNu tht louutl
il smells. So ii seems to be with
this 9th article; the more you turn
it over and the more il is scrut-
inized the more rottenness can be
seen in it. 1t has grown now until
the list of supposed beneticlarles
number about three hundred;
about two hundred and thirty of
them are hooduod IN order TO keep
them quiet until the last when they
find will themselves necessarily lefl
Out in the cold with their visionary
claims. Men who never were
west Of the Arkansas river are
claiming to have farms and inn
provemenls there Every one who
has been there knows about the
improvements on the Strip. 1t is
unnecessary for these fellows to
blow their norns; II the Cherokee
commission has put feather IN
their cap the reading aud thinking
portion of our people will see it,
and the kick made by the "lttle
Ninita crowd as referred to in a
late issue of the Telephone will
amount to nothing. But oh, how
the immortal (O seventy would like
for a vision of their scheme to be
confined to few around Vmita
Well do they know the eyes of
the whole people are being opened
to their acts, and the leaders of
the scheme are all branded, they
have been watched since long before
council met two years ago. Is 1t
strange TO see the men who bitter
ly opposed a sale at all two years
ago, claimoring now for the rati6ca-
ton of the negotiation at less than
one-h half the price they estimated it
at then. Not at all strange, when
we remember at that time the re-
suit of the last August election was
pending. No one knew what
party would have the handling of
this important business and the
distribution of the vast amount of
money that would aeeue from it,
But how different last council; il /
was well known then who would |
handle the reins for the next four
years; 1t was known then whose +
bogus and old rejected claims I
could be paid, and who had the /
creation of new Offices and the aP-
pointment of men to fill them, and /
who could claim the honor of so
handling the administration as to (
pay all the public debt and put our .
paper at par A good electioneeriug
scheme for those in power Just .
such a one as the National party
had when Bushyhead was chief
fhe money was in the treasury
from the sale Of the Cherokee lands
in Kansas; he deserved no credit,
unless it was for paying our debt
from the sale OF land at 49 cents
per acre that was worth at least
three dollars and is to-day worth
ten. Any man can settle a debt
when he has an overtlOwing treas
ury to draw on. Again, ii reminds
US of the famous lease of those
lands few years ago to the cattle
barons. Is it strange that men
stood in our council halls and eX
hausted themselves cOntending for
the last dollar2 Not SO much so
could you see the vell lifted Is IL
strange that the Nationals are to-
day, So many Of them, blinded
TO the interests Of the people in
this maiter2 Not SO strange when
you realize that ABOUT seventy of
their leaders and best lashers form
IA part ol the immortal seventy, in
cluding Royal Bob, " who so Law
lshly spent his opinion through
the columns OF the Telephone last
week We venture to say that
four-tifth of the Cherokee peo-
pie to-day would oppose the whole
transaction from beginning to end J
could they be free from the inhu
ences that has always prejudiced
them against their own interests.
The tullblood Indians and the
less informed portion Of our peo- ,
pie are o.day awaiting to hear the ,
announcement of payment Go {
the proceeds OF the sale
Of those lands, while others don ,
any payment at all, or ,
at least for a few years, and then I
but a small amount of it. Their {
are after every old /
bogus claim is settled, every ap- ]
preparation that can be showed {
through the council, and every de- S
iunot fund replenished to over. j
flowing, and every outstanding q
warrant redeemed-then to make {
an appropriation of the remaining I
fund just before another campaign 5
opens authorizing the payment of il /
lut some six months ahead to give {
he merchant and schemer time to {
yobble the most of it before pay q
ment. Would this not be strange !
Not at all, when coun- [
I'll is filled with a lot of men who !
we're elected on a ticket bearing {
heir names, headed in black and I
white with Tia ese words, I'VE favor a
4 sale of the Strip aud paying cut c
he money to the people" Did C
they make one effort for the pso- O
pie in approving the negotiations? a
II they favored paying out this d
money to the people why was there i
lot law passed for paying this 1
money out to the people while they c
we're confirming the negotiations, I
he same as there was a few years a
lgo in the grass money! Council 5
passed law requiring it to be p
paid out to the people when it ac- Z
to three hundred thous- o
md dollars. Had they attempted ?
o, it would have been IN the shape r
If a blood bill, discriminating p
.gAinst a part OF our people. which u