The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1900-01-08
Dawes Commission.

man Dawes, Colonel McKennon, ana
Tams Blxhy, OF the Dawes commission
arrived in Washington last night, rhe
commission had a conference with Sea-
retary Hitchcock on the subject OF the
commissions work In the lpdlan Ter
ritory
The conference was called by the
secretary. He was anxious to hear the
views OF the commission on several
the important problems growing out OF
the allotment OF the lands In the In
dian territory, and receive ms recon-
meudatons as TO the amount which
will be necessary TO carry on the work
during the comiag year
Chairman Dawes was seen this ev-
ening and asked what the conferences
with the secretary developed lie
said:
In general way he was desirous Of
being informed OF what the commission
was doing. The work OF the commits
sion is progressing satisfactorily. There
are many difficult problems 20 work
out
"One of these has been referred 60 in
The press dispatches recently 1t IS the
problem OF devsng some way In which
the Indian can derive revenue from such
part of his allotment as is not adapted
TO agriculture. but affords good grazing
land. Heretofore the grazing lands
have been leased by ave Indians Ia lhe
cattlemen. Grazing lands can Qnly be
made 90 yield a good rcvente when
leased In laarge sections Each Indian
receives an allotment Of but 100 acres,
and for the cattlemep TO get sunlcien,
amount of grazing land for his pur-
/ poses it would bee necessary Co perfect
/ leases with a large number Of Indians.
There Is number OF difficulties ib
! the way Of this. In the first place, il
/ Is not desirable that any Indian should
lease the whole of his allotment 70
make landlord OF an Indian Is not put
! ting him in the line OF progress There
are some white Indians, as they are
called, who would be perfectly willing
20 lease out all Of their anotments, loll
around and draw the rent ON the othc
hand the full bloods are suspicious ana
90 not want TO lease any Of their aljoI-
ments They do not understand the
new system under which they are ask
ed to live and they cling 10 their land
as their safeguard. II they are unable
20 work all OF their allotment. or IL
part Of 1t is only good for grazing pur-
poses, they viii profit by SHAT part only
| which they work.
1T is desirable that we should fnA
some happy medium between having an
J, Indian lease out all of his land and
. becoming a lazy landlord, and have
large part OF the land yield him no rev.
enue, either because he Is not able TO
work Il or because Il Is only NJ for
grazing Just how we are to get around
the difficulty ! don't know. That was
a.. A.tN.f al,
sidered at the conference
Another thing which was brought
up was ahe necessity for having uni
form land laws for the territory. In as
much as ever step that is being taken
in the territory as for its object the
bringing OF these people to state
where they can be asslmilated with the
people OF the states, II ls essential that
there should be a uniform titr 10
lands.
ultimately all the tribes of tn ter-
ritory VIII have TO be brought under
one government AS it ia no wthe
Choctaws and the Chickasaws. under
their agreement have "a title in fee 70
their lands, whilo tie Cherokees and
Creek who are operating under the
Curtis law can only get a title 20 tho
surface Of taeir allo'nerts. This DIFF
ference In the -laracter In the land t.
ties granted would cause confusion In
the United States courts, which must
administer for all Of the tribes and ia
one OF the things which will have to
be recthed.
The townsite provision of the Curt's
iaw is giving satisfaction. There are no
serious complaints. There are several
little details IN which the law might be
changed 20 advantage, bur IL does very
we'll. The granting OF titles 10
property 10 causing an Improvement
IN the communities which is already
noticeable There Is nothing which
makes for civilization as the doctrine
OF meum tuum. except the Christian re.
lation. when a man knows that the
property on which ne rs iocated IS his.
he takes better care OF Il, ard he also
rapidly develops a community interest,
which tends towards the general pros
perity
"rhe people OF the Indian territory
cannot be forced They must be led
The commission has accomplished good
results and the promise rs taht IN time
We viii be able 20 bring order out OF
chaos IN the Indian territory and lead
the members OF the FIVE civilized tribes
up u our higher civilization withAreal
befeilt 20 them and honor 10 ourselves
Department OF the Interior, United
States Indian Seryice Chpvenna end