Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-20

blood: $500 were freedmen descendants
of former slaves1: 400 were white men
married to Choctaw women. and 200 are
descendants OF members of the tribe who
were left In Mississippi at the time Of
the migration. Only that number out of
24,634 were able to make good their
claims, but in order that no Injustice
might be done. Congress appropriated a
fund Of $4,000 to assist poor people in
securing Identification and to pay the ex-
penses of those who were identified and
wished to remove to the territory and
occupy their allotments. In 1903 the In
dian bureau removed go families from
Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and
located them near Fort Towson, on the
Texas border of the Choctaw reservation,
where they were supplied with seeds and
implements and furnished with subsist-
ence until their crops were ready for
harvest.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws have a
Joint reservation. comprising eleven mil
lion acres Of land, of which five million
acres have already been allotted to the
Choctaws, the average allotment being
$50 acres and the average value of the
allotted according to value and not area,
there. Is great deal Of difference in the
size of the allottments. Some are only
100 acres while others run as high as
1880 to a single person, being chiefly
grazing lands. The Choctaw capital is
Tushkahomma. and their chief is Green
town of about 500 people. He has OBJ
structed the work OF the commission
more than any Of the other chiefs, and
is now distributing deeds for their allot-
ments to the members of his tribe con-
trary to the orders of Secretary Hitch
cock. He defies the commission and the
officers of the Indian bureau whenever he
prefers to have his own way. He has had
absolute control Of the affairs of his ma
ton for many years, and this dissolu-
ton of tribal relations deprives him of
his influence and authority, which, Of
course. is not agreeable.
All Choctaws must keep homesteads of
forty acres in perpetuity. but unlike the
Seminoles, can dispose Of them at any
time with the permission of the Interior
Department. All freedmen and squaw-
men receiving al1otments in the ChOctaw
restrictions, and a great many Of them
nave already done SO. Full-blooded Choc-
taws. and ChfckasaWs also, can sell one
fourth OF the land allotted to them in
twelve months after the date of their
deed; another fourth at the end of three
years. and after five years they can sell
everything but their homesteads Of forty
acres.
The Chickasaws.
The Chickasaws have a governor and a
legislature at the capital. Tishomfnyo
which. under the treaty. will exercise au-
thority until March 4, 1906. Their govern
or Is Douglas H. johnson, a highly edu-
Gated college man Of great wealth, who
lives at Emet, and has had control of one
or the largest ranches In America. But
Under the present distribution of the COM
mon estate he gets title to no more than
the humblest member or the youngest baby
OF his tribe.
There are 1920 Chickasaws not including
GOO babies which have been born in time
to get their share. or these. only 1.520 are
full bloods: $500 are mixed bloods; 4,7oO
are freedmen, and 600 are squaw-men The
Chickasaws came from Tennessee and had
many more slaves than the other tribes.
The Creeks.
The 1918 Creeks who have been recog-
nized as entitled to allotments will each re-
ceive $1.04O worth of land. the area vary
ing. according to the value, from 30 cents
to $3.50 per acre. The tribe consists of
COCO full bioods, $3.50 mixed bloods and
$500 freedmen. with $500 infants produced
within the last year, which Is an average
OF one to every six members of the tribe,
and suggests that perhaps the Creek ladies
have been borrowing babies to show to the
commission The entire reservation con-
sists of 3,70S.774 acres, of which all but
$4,000 have been allotted: 2s,9s2 acres
have been reserved for public purposes.
There have been no reservations for
schools, churches and public buildings. IN
der the act Of Congress the surplus land
will be sold at auction for the benefit of
tho tribe, and the proceeds divided pro
rata In cash.
The Creeks are the only people that have
always treated the descendants OF their
slaves on an equal basis. and. indeed, the
negro members of the tribe have always
exercised a powerful influence in its af-
fairs. No squaw-men are recognized how
ever. Under the law every fuil-blood and
mixed-blood Creek must keep a homestead
of forty-eight acres for twenty-one years
He can sell the remainder of his allot-
ment after five years, or before with the
permission of the Secretary of the Interior
The property of minors Is controlled by
the courts and may not even be leased by
their parents or guardians without PER
mission. The freedmen can sell their az
Iotments at any time without restriction or
superyision Of any kind, and are already
disposing of their land very rapidly to set
tiers from the northern states, and getting
good prices for 1t.
ton. lives here at Muskogee. and Is one
OF the richest men in the territory. he
has handled the affairs Of his people with
great ability for many years, and when
ire territory is admitted to statehood is
expected to take a prominent part In