The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-10-09
ONCE SLAVES
NOW MASTERS
The Strange Results Of
indian Adoption
|LAA5 HOLDINGS ATTRACT WHITES
They Are the Ones Who Are Being
Robbed Of Their Indian Terri
tory Lands.
Ian; HOLDINGS ATTRACT WHITES

4uuSCOSet, l. l., OCC. I'LL IhO
first place, it is the negroes who are
cling robbed, not Indians. A lot is
heard IL the outside world about the
Creek Indians" and longtime
habit of thought is pretty certain to
picture the high cheekbones, the
swarthy complexion, the straight ac-
outline rose-all incidents of a stOlid
dignity :, raped in a bright-colored
blanket.
Wipe out that picture. Substitute
lot of plantation "darkies" in check
shirts and overails; fill in the swarm
ing 'pickaninnies, the big, fat, mann
mic" in Bingham and sunbonnet, the
dogs, a good many saddle ponies and
a lot of farm wagons, and get used to
the idea that these are the Indians"
of the Greek tribe. There is not
tepee in the reservation, and you
might travel a thousand miles and
not see a square inch Of bead work
or a buckskin garment.
There are $4,000 so-called Creek IN
dams, Of whom fully 10000 are ne
groes, or of negro extraction. There
are about 5000 "full-bloods," but they
are retiring and inconsequential mi
nority. They keep to their cabins in
the hills, and if one comes to town,
he will easily pass for the average
sun-broWned farmer Of the Caucasion
race.
Thirty years ago these negroes were
all slaves-the property of the In
dians. The Greeks, and the other
four tribes, the Cherokees Chock-
taws, Seminoles and Chickasaws,
lived in the south, in Tennessee, Geor
gia and Florida and took on the ways
Of civilization. They farmed, acquired
money and bought black men to do
their work for them. Then came the
day when they were moved west; they
were moved out here-sO far west,
as it appeared to the people of those
days, that they would never be in the
way any more By treaty they re-
ceived these lands and a lot more to
the west, and they took their slaves
with them.
Then came the war, and the fight
ing extended even to the frontier, and
the five civilized tribes were COM
PEELED to cast their fortunes with one
or the other of the combatants. Most
of them were swayed by their early
affiliations, and went to the south.
After the war came reconstruction.
no IN H,,1S 70
forfeited their treaty rights by insur-
rection, and new treaties had to be
negotiated. Slavery was abolished,
and the Indians were compelled to
face the problem of what to do with
their darEies.
Former Slaves Adopted.
Three Of the tribes-the Creeks
Seminoles and Cherokees-decided
to adopt the freedmen as members of
their tribes, giving them equal rights
with themselves The ChocktaWs
and Chickasaws did not give them
citizenship, but presented each former
slave forty acres of land. So in In
dian Territory are a few ex-slaves
who realized the reconstruction
dream Of the race-for the mule was
quite easy to procure.
But in the precreative struggle the
Indian has been no match for the fe-
cund Ethiopian. While the Indian
has barely held his own, the negro
has increased in geometric ration I'M
til now he outnumbers his former
owner four to one And having been
adopted into the tribe, with equal
rights of ownership and inheritance,
the second and third generations of
the black slaves have become heirs
of the tribal lands and moneys which
have been accommodating and increas-
ing in value. To the one tribe OF
Creeks alone the government has just
allotted 10000 acres of land as fer
tile and valuable as any in the United
States. Every man, woman and child,
legitimate or illegitimate, who by re-
cord, tradition or intermarriage, can
claim any sort of membership in the
tribe, gets $50 acres, or its equivalent,
and a proportionate share in the
proceeds arising from the sale of any
part of the tribal domain not allotted.
In tracing the Indian connection, the
Dawes commission has gone to the
extent of recognizing a two-hundred-
and-fftieth part Indian blood.
The Greeks Are Most "Interestinq."
The Greek tribe is mentioned par
ticularly here, as it is this one that
has been first authorized to dispose
of it's lands. The outside world does
not begin to take a real heart int
rest in the Indian until the latter has