Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1892-10-20

PER CAPITA FOLLY.
Mr.. MCCARTHY Suggests what to
do with the Strip Money.
wOnorsrrn AcADrnr. vIxIrA. III

EDITOR CHIEFTAIN:--l want the
the floor long enough to say that
resolution second of the Vinita
mass-meeting of Cherokee citizens
of Oct. 9th may be suggestion Of
good policy but | believe | can
suggest better. The Cherokee ma
tion might possibly do worse than
pay out the Strip money per cap
ita to those legally entitled to re-
ceive the same, but they can do
infinitely better, and think it be-
hooves them to do it for several
weighty reasons. What can they
do? Sometime before 1920 the
general government made distri-
button of its surplus funds among
the states; the disposal of that
money is an instructive chapter in
the history of our people; one of
the plainest lessons taught by these
largesses of money is that they
foster shiftleness and improvidence
in any people; when that payment
comes there will be on the ground
creditor claimant for two dollars
to every one paid out. venture
to say that the mere printing and
circulation of that resolution has
caused already the raising of thous-
ands of dollars of credit in the stores
of the nation; getting into debt is
passion with all but select few of
the human race and every pro-
posal like that in the second reso-
luton of Oct. 9th causes thousands
of men and women to plunge deep
er into the gulf OF debt, and sad to
say, mortgage themselves to the
petty extortioners and usurers from
which no people is free, but who
luxuriate and fatten especially
upon the poor who have money in
their hands but lack the skill to
use it.
When we consider how large a
proportion Of what escapes the
waiting creditor falls into the
hands of the gambler or the fakir
who sellsmay be a china dog or
two to sit on the mantel and col
ect hy-specks, we feel that the in
tent of the per capita payment has
somehow failed Of its aim and |
that vastly more harm than good |
has been done.
| referred to the distribution of |
moneys by the general govern
ment before 1920; the people of
my old Nutmeg state invested the
money which came to it to be for
ever a permanent fund for the sup
port of the common schools for the
common people of the state. |
want to tell you, my southern and
western friends, that this fact lies
pretty close to the secret of the
great power of the north-its in
tellectual leadership, its financial
masterfulness and its unshakable
leadership in all that constitutes
enlightened christian common
wealths. The north educates
the common people; the south
educates only those children whose
parents can afford to send them
away from home; the north edu-
Gates everyone, Jew and Gentle,
bond and free. |, the son of an
Irish. immigrant, was the school
mate OF two boys who were the
sons of, and are now in their own
right, Observation-Disclosures
children in the common day school
of my town with any number of
Mickeys and Patsys and children of
every race and every color. The
great puzzle to meis that the north,
which is so anti.democratic in its
ideas. is so truly democratic in its
instincts as to perceive that the
the state needs the service Of train
ed intelligence, and that it is as
likely to find it in the laborer's
hut as in the mansion of the mil
lionaire; those cold-blooded north
erners see that the state needs
the service of trained intelligence,
and that, for the purposes Of good
government, we have had too little
instead of too much; and in the
light of this truth, the dividing up
and throwing away of vast fund
having in it the power of untold
good TO thousands of generations
of our children (our children, and to
whom shall we be faithful if we are
false to our children) is a folly
worse than a crime.
have another reason entitled |
to less weight but it will receive
more; | believe | am known as a
friend Of Cherokee autonomy; /
there is a struggle awaiting the |
friends Of that autonomy; and 1
the fierce light which beats on
kings will sink into insignificant
paleness beside the scrutiny
which a hostile press and bitter
and relentless faction residing
within the territory shall exercise |
over all Of your acts and policies.
It will be Of little use for me, or
anyone, or everyone to plead for
the preservation OF the Cherokee |
government if the Cherokee peo-
pie furnish such a signal proof of /
their incapacity for self-govern-
ment as TO repeat this per capita |
folly while the Cherokee school !
system, is in its present state Of
What2 / forbear TO describe it or
characterize it; your enemies will |
not be so considerate.
Worcester Academy has as much |
to gain BY the Strip sale as most