The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-12-06

Washington that | be sent among
them to settle their controversies,
which ! have always done with
pleasure,
NY duties an Indian inspector
may sometimes be unpleasant, but
lit is not a matter of personal feel
ling and however unpleasant it
may seem, the instructions of the
department must he carried out
and l shall do SO.
The Chickasaws and Choctaws
have made an agreement and the
same has been ratified and is now
| law. The Creeks made an agree
ment but when the people voted
on the ratification it was defeated
and the Curtis bill prevails over
them. Unfortunately for the full
bloods they have been mislead by
the mixed bloods by being told
that the Curtis bill was not a law
and would not be enforced. They
have no doubt realized by this
:ime that they have been misled.
Some of you people have been to
Washington and there We're in
formed by the Secretary of the
Interior that the Curtis bill was a
law. / believe he gave some par
ties from your nation document
with his signature attached saying
that the Curtis bill was law and
would be enforced.
You are aware that certain rea-
sons brought about the present
condition Of affairs in this country.
They are numerous and | shall
not attempt to explain them here.
Conditions in this country have
greatly changed since you made
your treaties in 1880; conditions
have changed in all the reserva-
tions. Your delegations to Wash
ington have noticed the changes in
the last twenty years and you
might as well prepare now for the
inevitable. The purpose of the
recent act of congress is for the
better protection of the people Of
this country and to that end con-
gress will continue to labor.
1t is not my desire to influence
you but | want to tell you things
just as they are and explain to you
tha purposes of the government.
The full. .bloods Of the other nations
are anxious to treat but in the
Creek nation they rejected their
agreement. In that nation | found
lots of full-bloods who told me
they had not read the Curtis bill
or the agreement they rejected.
AS | have said before the time
has cone when thelo must be a
change in this country and when
this change is finally made the
full blood will be protected. He
needs it and it is the governments
plan to look after his interests
first. have been told that the
government wanted to rob the real
Indian. Does. an equal division
of land and money among the poor
as well as the rich look like the
government wanted to rob? The
full-blood is entitled to as much
land as any Of the big land hold
ers. Have they got it? No, only
few of them. The full-bloods
have an idea that something is
wrong because the mixed bloods
want to treat. The mixed blood
win suffer, not the full-blood, when
you people make a treaty.
In the Choctaw nation many
coal mines have been operated un-
der leases Of individuals and stock
companies. On the coal the COM
panies paid the Choctaw nation q
revenue at the rate of six cents
per ton and sold it for &c. Some
\ Of these corporations received an
Income of more than $4O0 per
month in many cases. How much
of this did the fullblood receive?
! Not o cent Where and when did
these monopolists get a right to
all this mineral. They never got
it and it belongs as much to the
poor fullblood as it does to any
one.
Over in the Creek nation the
cattlemen get possession Of large
tracts Of lands from the monopo.
lists. They pay the citizens u