Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1896-08-13
CHIEFS MESSAGE TO COUNCIL.
A Rather Gloomy Outlook Taken by the
Executive.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, /
CHEROKEE NATION

| SOuuCilOlo Dccll COuN NtDtu 10 COIl
slider such subjects as are now
brought to our attention. The
purpose for which you are con
vened and upon which you are tc
take legislative action are, in
themselves, not of a serious ma.
ture; but the fact need not be dis.
guised that unpleasant conse.
quences lie beyond to which we
cannot willingly subscribe.
The right heretofore conceded to
and exercised by our nation to de-
termine, without interference and
without appeal to any other au-
thority, to say who are citizens
and who are not, is not entirely
taken from us, but is so modified
that any action We may take in
the settlement of citizenship ques-
tions are to be reversed by an au-
thority higher than ours. 1t ap-
pears, therefore, that this nation
stands in the attitude of an inferi-
or court in the determination of
claims for Cherokee citizenship
and the common property of the
nation. The fact cannot be dis
guised that the revision of claims,
after this nation has passed upon
them, amounts TO original juris-
diction, and what our authorities
may do in the premises amounts
to nothing more than gratuitous
action on their part in all adverse
judgments, as conclusions must
naturally be the same either way.
To what remote generation of
descendants, from some particular
Cherokee ancestor, will Chero-
kee citizenship be accorded
by the honorable commission?
There may or may not be a linn
itation. There is certainly
chance, considering the fact that it
is a halt century since the Chero-
KEGS were removed west, and over
a century and a half since the
whites came among them and took
wives, that the rights of native
Cherokee" may be awarded to
some one of little less than Adamic
ancestry.
The character of testimony which
is TO be used as being sufficient in
law to determine questions of own
ership to thousands of acres of In
dian lands, is positively something
we cannot accept. The rules of
judicature or the power of distrib-
uting justice by legal or equitable
means, or by methods which will
secure equal justice to all con-
cerned, are not considered in this
instance. Affidavits. taken at their
best, and under circumstances
when the least motive may exist
for misrepresentation, are seldom
accepted as being sufficient in law
to determine important cases, with
out something more reliable to
confirm such statements.
There is something very observ-
able in the character of majority
of claimants and the witnesses they
employ to sustain their preten-
slons. That they are generally of
the uneducated and poor class of
people, it is very evident. The
prospect of securing homes in the
Indian Territory by the very easy
and accommodating meals of "his
x mark, " or cher X mark" +" is cer-
tainly great windfall for people
in their circumstances.
To such testimony we cannot /!
consent, and if forced upon us,
which seems to be the intention,
let it be under protest. This course |
may prove of little avail, but it |
will prove to those who are, or
may become our sympathizers, how
we have been imposed upon and |
our property rights disregarded.
One of the principal reasons for
calling you together is to effect a
correct census of the Cherokee peo-
pie. The only census considered
correct and reliable is that of 1880,
it having been revised and authen-
Iicated by an act of the council.
This has become necessary again
IN view of the final settlement of
all claims for citizen rights in this
nation. by the United States CON-
appointed for that and
other purposes. Such enumera-
ion of our people will prove as a
guide to the commission in the de-
of questions of citizen
ship by reason of family relation
ihip to those who are acknowledged
citizens of the country.
How and in what manner this
should be done is a question of
ime or convenience, or of expense.
)ne way, to which l invite your
attention, is according to your act
If May 18th, 1894, providing for
he authorization of the pay rolls
# 1898, which, as you know, is of
jherokees by Cherokee blood. So
ar it may answer the desired pur-
,ose, but there is a class of our
white-who should ap-
year on such a roll and who do not
N the one proposed to be authen-
icated. To be consistent with
acts, you could not declare all to
'e citizens of this nation whose
ames appear on this roll, except
pom memorials of the parties
themselves for "re-admission. 1t
'ould be a gratuitous act on your
art TO make citizens of those who
re citizens elsewhere and do not
Iant to be of this nation. That
here are hundreds of such cases it
nay not be denied, who should not
ave appeared thereon.
Another plan is to go directly to
be people and take a census of
hem, to be revised and accepted ,
y yourselves, as being a correct
st of Cherokee citizens. This
ecessarily should be done within
specified or limited time. so as to
leet requirements.
This census may not extend to
no Dalawaras Sbo-naas and