Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-03-07
INDIAN TERRITORY.

INDIAN TERRITORY.
An Interesting Sketch of the American
Indian Of Today.
Not so very long ago Indian
Territory was good place to 20 to
hunt buffalo and get scalped by the
Indians. But the dim and winding
Indian trail has broadened with the
years into highway of civilization
and the Indian finds himself absolutely
stranded on the shores of civilization
where he must live under new condi-
tions and be governed by new sur
roundings. o. the Indian Territory
comparatively little is known by the
outsider. That such territory exists,
that it is the abiding place OF the
remnant of five moro powerful tribes
|of North American Indians-the
ChOctaws. Chickasaws, Greeks,
Cherokees and Seminoles, and several
lesser tribes-is a matter Of common
knowledge; but with present day con-
ditons in the Territory, few are
familiar. Ten years ago the Territory
was not the civilized country it is to-
day. The white man who went there
to live looked for a life of rough work
and danger, but the very fact that
the ''nester" from the north faced the
uncertainty Of those days to enjoy
the certainty of the wheat harvest, is
its greatest testimonial. Perhaps the
| most remarkable characteristic of
Indian Territory is that it is one of
the few corners in this country or in
the world where the wheat and cotton
belts merge or intersect and the two
staples thrive side by side. The annual
income from live stock ia $12. 600, ono,
cotton 81, 200, ,OcO, with six million
bushels of oats and four million
bushels of wheat. What the future Of
the Territory will develop in the way
of oil fields is a secret religiously
kept from the public.
Socially Indian Territory is q sur
prise. The mind of the average
American harks back to the mere
me1tion Of the Indian land to the days
where blankets and moccasins were
much in evidence and implements Of
war much in demand. The land has
been appraised and allotted to the
Indians There are three classes sof
siisihs6 6sallottses. the sisixen .of Indian
blood, whether full blooded or not,
the intermarried white citizen. and
the freedman. A freedman is an
ex-slave or the descendant Of an ex-
slave formerly owned by an Indian.
Every citizen or freedman Of these five
nations, regardless of age or sex, is
entitled to an allotment. For instance,
q citizenswith wife and three child
rem may choose five allotments.
Eaca citizens allotment is equivalent
to 800 acres of average allotable land.
Not all Indians are paupers. There
is now in the treasury at Washington
to the credit of the Indian tribes over
S33, 900, 600 drawing interest at the
rate of four and five per cent.
The total expenditures of the govern
ment ON account of the Indian service.
from 1889 to 1900, amounts to over
1868, 600, 600. More money has been
paid to extinguish Indian titles than
to distinguish the titles Of foreign
nations, and the cost Of Indian wars
has been equal to the cost of foreign
wars. The Indians composing the
five civilized tribes OF the Indian
nation are the richest people as a
whole on the face of the earth. They
are worth %. 900 per capita. Before
the war they owned slaves, and the
work of cultivating their farms fell to
the negro, but after the war treaty
was entered into under which the
Indians agreed to adopt the slaves,
and the negroes became members Of
the tribe with which they had been
aiiiliated. In the Greek nation the
Indians and the Negroes have freely
intermarried. 50 that Of the "a,
Indian citizens IN the territory, about
Y0, 600 are freedmen. or the children
of freedmen. There is not one blanket
Indian in the territory, and not one
Indian who lives in tepee, but there
are hundreds of little cities and
villages scattered through the territory
with substantial schools and churches
built of brick and stone. II white
man selects Chickasaw maiden for
his wife. and wishes to become a
citizen of that nation, he may do so
upon the payment Of $1,000. This is
probably tho highest marriage license
fee charged in the world.
The Indian population of the United
States is about 267, 300. The question
OF whether the Indian tribes are dying
out is very misleading. The generally
accepted theory, popularity held, is
that by contact with the white man,
tab inU IN n mart NJ his civil zAkion