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

| full bloods ana a majority of the
halfbreeds would have been hire
lings or paupers now instead OF
having comfortable homes that il
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 lapd 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 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 ssys
"all men were created equal. y
What is meant by this is tha. all
men are created with equal rights.
God created the world for every
man, not for few capitalists. AL
low few quotations here from
distinguished men
Horace Greedy He v ho has nc
clear, inherent right to- live some
where has 90 right to live at all
Black Hawk Tho Great Spirit
has told me that land is not to be
made property,like otherproperty
The earth is our mother.
j. Stuart Mill No man made
the land. Itis the original inher.
itance of the whole species.
Rev. DR.. Nutly, Bishop OF
Meath The land Of every country
is the complon property Of the peo-
pie of that country, because its
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:
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
Qonahty, our right of selfgovern.
ment and we would no longer be
known as the Cherokees, but would
have a 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
lottlDg if we let the title remain
vested in the Cherokee nation.
The first thing necessary to do
this and to break up the present
existing monopoly OF land is to
have the c0untry sectionlzed; we
can have this done ourselves and
not call on the United States. I'm
Til this is done every attempt at
limiting or restricting the amount
citizen shall hold will be perfectly
futile. We ought to have had it
sectionized twenty years ago as the
Chickasaws did theirs.
Let us sectionize, grade the land
into first, second and third class;
give every citizen a first grade so
acres, a second 40 and third so
This will be 200 acres per head.
There are 204 acres per head count
ing a population of 25,000. Then
allow no man to sell, but let The oc-
cupancy of it pass down to the
posterlty of the family receiving it.
Then "A few capitalists will mover
get possession Of it and every
Cherokee hereafter will be born
the owner of piece of land for a
home. He may be poor otherwise
but is rich in having place to call
home, even ifhis house is only the
canopy of an oak tree.
A few of our citizens who have
large farms claim the nation cannot
compel them to give these up. This
is the supremest folly Let's see.
The land belongs to every citizen
alike. No one will deny this.
Then if you have fenced up some OF
my land and want it do you not
propose to give it up ? especially
when you have had the free ~ OF
it five, ten or twenty years ? OF
course you ought to have the right
with years notice to sell to any
citizen or remove the improve
ments on what you may hold over
your share, but you must surren-
der the occupancy.
JAMES w. DUNCAN.
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A SAD accident occurred on the
farm OF Mr.. Geo. Clark, who lives