Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1893-11-09

q month for the board of theil
children in certificates discounted
as they are. Our system OF educa.
tion is sufficiently free and liberal
without the inducement of board
cheaper than at home or less
than its actual cost to the
school fund. Low as is the
pay, we have full corps OF prim.
AIRY teachers; il is hardship that
the lack of funds in the treasury
compels them to discount their
warrants five per cent. to get the
cash. The school annuity is about
s45, 600, and to this may be added
so, 115.42 paid by the X. & A. V.
railroad, as annual tax on 141
miles OF road in the nation. Put
ting these items together and
charging board at its cost, the
aggregate will almost, if not quite,
meet the requirements. The esti.
mated cash cost of board is 1927
per month at the male seminary
and 81 SO at the female; average
s7.53.
Taking the average attendance
at the seminaries and the eolored
high school to be $50 per month,
we have the actual cost of board
Tor 8 months, which is nearly s17,-
600. The school annuity being
S47, ,1l5.45, and the board of
students at the figures given, we
have a total of s64, ,057 .45 for
school purpose.
Public domain; this means our
country. 1t means our govern
ment 1t means national existence.
1t means everything to us-life,
self-control and prosperity. With
out q country, we are simply a
people. Without lands, we have
no government. Without homes,
we are paupers and vagabonds.
How jealous should we then be. of
our common property and how well
we should guard it. a few years
hence there will not be left ves-
tage of Indian surplus lands, yet
there will be homeless and desti.
tute thousands looking with envl-
Gus eyes upon the remaining acres
of our race.
We are gradually growing out of
the habits of our ancestors and be-
coming imbued with the ideas Of
an advanced civilization. Schools
and education are doing their le-
gitimate work. and higher social
relations are producing the expen.
sive refnements and inspiring
habits of industry and the accu-
mutation of property for their
qualification Individual rights
are gradually superceding, in the
minds of the people, the tradi-
tional ideas of the common.
The people of no nation are
ever in step with the general adj
vancement. Some are bound to be
behind and some before. This
fact makes difficult the adjustment
of our affairs to the several condi-
tions of the speedy and slow. Re-
straint in the one case may be i'm
possible, and forced advancement
in the other is equally so. No one
citizen has any superior rights in
the common property over another,
or entitled to greater benefits
therefrom. An accommodation,
therefore, somewhere between
these two conditions-the less and
the more advanced Of our people
should be so arranged that general
satisfaction may be secured. This
cannot be done by a denial of what
may be considered the rightful and
necessary aids toIindustry and en-
terprise. Friction between the two
classes is to be avoided, if possible,
being dangerous to self-govern-
ment.
The improvements of intrud ers,
of which there are over seven
hundred in the nation, will be for
some sort of disposal, possibly,
in the near future, or as soon as
the intruders, now in possession
of them, shall be removed from
the country at the order Of the
United States, as provided in the
agreement for the cession Of the
lands of the outlet. A sele of
these Improvements to our citizens,
under certain restrictions to be
fixed by law, will become neces-
sary in order to reimburse the
nation for the valuation of such
i'm provement as were made prior
to August IL, 1886, at the price
fixed by board of appraisers.
Monopoly Of lands is already a
grievous complaint among our
native citizens and, as a matter of
duty on our part, some preventa-
tive measure should be adopted
against the possibility of such a
thing to be done in the purchase
of these improvements. Any act
OF yours in regard to this matter
should combine two purposes, one
to prevent monopoly and the other
to devise some means for the
beneli. of those who are without
homes and are unable to find them
upon the public domain.
The present law, restricting the
employment Of on-citizens 10 two
improvements, may indicate the
policy to be adopted in the sale Of
these improvements to our citi-
zens How effective it has proved
TO be, in connection with the
Issuance of permits and in con-
trolling the monopoly Of lands,
am not prepared to say, but | am
satisfied that it has not been
enforced. | am further satisfied
that the law, if carefully carried
out, would do much towards put
ting down the monopoly Of lands.