Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1896-01-30
MONOPOLY.

very peculiar KIND OF reasoning ar
rives at the conclusion that there
is no monopoly of land existing in
the Cherokee nation. The Advo-
cate finally lays down this propo-
sition which it assumes to be self
evident. "Tnese lands are the in
defeasible property of the Chero-
kee nation and cannot be controll-
ed or owned by any individual
against the people as a whole. At
any moment, and without warning,
those lands now held by individ-
uals may be reclaimed by the peo-
ple."
Now lets see whether this be
true or not. First, according to a
statement made by our delegation
in Washington, to congress, (ard
it has the virtue Of being official,
as the signature of the principal
chief together with those of the
delegates is attached) there is not
exceeding forty acres Of tillable
land to the head in this nation.
There is one man in Cooweescoo-
wee district who has under fence
and in cultivation, in the neigh
borhood of 5000 acres, of this
common property" that the Ad-
vocate says cannot be controlled
by any individual against the peo-
pie who are the joint owners
There are not less than so men in
the above named district alone,
who control 1000 acres and up
wards of this common property"
Secondly, the Advocate says,
"at any moment, and without
warning, those lands now held by
individuals may be reclaimed by
the people,
If this be correct why is it that
the burden of every chiefs message
for the last eight years has been to
direct the attention of the national
council to the fact that monopoly
of the public domain does exist
and should have immediate atten-
ton. In 1892, Chief Harris in his
message to council said, 81 earn
estly invite your attention to the
extensive evil that is growing into
a monopoly of the public domain"
And Mr. Harris touched upon the
subject of monopoly in a similar
manner in all his messages and
urged upon council to afford some
speedy remedy for this growing
evil. And again Chief Mayes, in
his very able message to the ma
tional council last November said:
81 am rnofficially advised that in
some favorite localities few citi-
zens are holding to the exclusion
of the younger and poorer of our
people large areas of land for
speculative purposes" Then fol-
lows an appeal to the council to
enact into law some remedy TO
control and restore to the people
their rights in the common herit-
age. One of the principal reasons
for the convening of council in
extraordinary session last fall was
that some kind of measure might
be enacted to check the great and
growing evil of monopoly of the
public domain and to give the del
egation a chance TO 60 before the
congress of the United States and
state that they had controlled
by law tho thing that the Dawes
commission had harped so much
about.
And in addition to all this Pc
tition signed by more than 1000
Cherokee citizen was presented TO
council last fall. The petition was
signed by many members of both
houses and b. prominent people
throughout the country. Follow
ing is the petition in full:
To the honorable council of the Cherokee
nation:
We, the undersigned citizens, Deg
leave to call your attention to the
doplorable and unsatisfactory con-
dition of our public domain, with |
which you are familiar, and ask !
that you enact such law or laws as
will correct this condition. A por-
ton of our citizens, through the |
connivance and financial assistance |
of non-citizens have managed to |
monopolizs our entire public do
main, under various pretenses of
law. Thousands Of our citizens are
today without homes and there
is no land left upon which they |
can make homes. Our entire
country is wired in and anyone de-
string to travel across the country
a few miles are necessarily forced
10 60, in many instances, ten miles
around in order to reach a place
only three or four miles away. In
most places in the nation the non
citizens on land claims outnumber
the citizens. West OF Grand river,
in Coweescoowee and Delaware
districts. it is the exception to the
rule to find citizen on a claim,
the non-cilizens will outnumber
them ole hundred to one. There
is nothing thought of one man !