The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-04-03
LOS EASTERN FRIEND
Kicks on Opening Kiowa and
ComanChe Lands.
ALLEGES GROSSEST FRAUD
Government Being a Party to
It--AIIotment Denounced.

Guthrie, o. T., April 1.-The proposed
opening of the Kiowa and Comanche
country is being used as an argument
against expansion. That sentimental
friend Of the Hdnan, the New York
Evening Post has taken up the cudgel
for Poor 10. In a dispatch from Wash
ington that paper says:
Senator Platt Of Connecticut has in
troduced an amendment to the House
bill, ITO ratify and confirm an agree
ment with the corkanche, Kiowa and
Apache tribes of Indians in Oklahoma
Territory, and to open their reservation
for settlement" in which all friends OF
the Indian ought to take a favorable
interest The bill in any form, is an
unfortunate one. The Indians concerned
were settled upon their present reser-
walton with the understanding that they
need not give it up, except by their own
consent The purpose Of this bill is to
open the reservation, after allotting TO
the individual Indian each a share Of the
land
The fact that an Indian who holds
land in severalty becomes thereby a cit
izen Of the United States has been made
a cloak for a goa many outrageous
acts on the part Of the government, on
the theory that the blessing Of Ameri1
any amount of wrong suffered by the
victim. The allotment TO be made under
the pending bill will give to each Indian
160 acres, which looks like a very liberal
allowance to anyone used only to the
farming areas of the east, or even to
settler on the rich prairie lands Of the
northwest As a matter Of fact, howev-
or, there is the best scientific authority
for saying that in the district where
these Indians are. it is hard to make a
living out of so small an acrea ge. This
IS due partly to the character of the
soil and partly to climatic conditions,
notably an insufficient rainfall Still, il
such an apportionment We're satisfactory
to the Indians and made with their vol
untary consent, no one would have much
right to complain. What actually oc-
cured was the negotiation, in 1852. Of
so-calIed agreement or treaty with the
Indians in which, according TO cOmpe-
tent evidence, the white men did the
agreeing" ard the Indians had about
as much share in it as a herd Of dumb
cattle There can be no doubt that in
terested parties practiced bribery in or
der to induce reluctant Indians to sign
the agreement: that the document itself
was not correctly interpreted to, or un-
derstood by, the meambers Of the tribes
cen cerned; and that it was not signed
by the requisite three-fourths of" the
male adults to make it binding upon
them under the terms Of a previous
treaty regulating such formalities.
This is a bad enough indictment in It
self, but a worse count remains. In the
original waving for the mo-
ment all consideration Of misapprehen-
sion as to its contents or corrupt
methods Of procuring its signature-ar-
ticle vi. contains the following provision:
LAS a further and only additional con-
sideration for the cession of territory
and REIMBURSEMENT of title, claim and
interest in and to the lands as afore-
said. the United States agrees to pay
TO the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache
tribes of Indians, in the Indian Terri
tory, the sum of $2,0000e0, as follows:
100000 in cash, to he distributed per
capita among the members Of said tribes
within 120 days attire this agreement
shall be ratified by the congress of the
United States; 100000 to be paid out to
the said Indians under the direction OF
the secretary of the interior in one year
after said first payment. and 100000 in
the same manner in one year from date
of the second payment and the remain
ing $150O,000 to be retained in the
treasury Of the United States, placed to
the credit of said Indians, and while so
retained to draw interest at the rate of
3 per cent. per annum. to be paid to the
said Indians per capita annually"
After the House of Representatives
had passed the bill to ratify this agree
ment it was brought to the attention Of
Senator Platt that the bulk Of article
vi as Incorporated in the bill had been
completely changed. so as not to re-
semble in any way the agreement to