The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-05-19

/ ChiCkasdWs bought a portion of the
land. and 1t is claimed by the plain.
THIS tnat they obtained the same title
Then subsequently they had a con
venti,n in 1855. Of both Of those ma
tions. with the government, but under
the provisions Of that treaty. there
Is no intimati.n or indication that
there was any individual titlo in the in.
dividual members Of the tribe. there T.
nothing in that treaty that discloses
any such purpose or seems TO rocog
nizc tnat any such existed.
Then We come down To 1866. and IN
| the meantime slavery had been abJl-
ishcd. and the government of the
| United States thought these slaves. or
eX-slayes should be taken care OF. anC
proposed that they should receive
some lands. and that the slaves an
/ their descendants should receive some
lands, and such provision was made,
that they should receive 1 believe for
~ acres. Then we come along dow
to the subsequent treaties and the
government discovered that the ad-
ministratiun Of affairs ny the Indian
governments has been very faulty ana
defective. that they were not properly
taking care of and administering the
trust that was confided to them; they
are treated by the government as
In
the tribe. While they are a dependent
nation, a dependent people, yet the
government In all its proceedings,
has treated them as trustees. has
treated the tribal governments as
trustees for the members of the
tribes And when the government. on
the report of the Dawes commission,
found they were not properly eXecut
ing the trust for TIE benefit of tne
members. determined 10 take posses.
sion of II, and did 50. ny an agreemeni
It should be done. That agreement,
believe, Is contained in the treaty OF
1898, and that provided that they
should determine who were the mem
bcrs of the tribe and they should al.
lot the land to the individual mem.
tcrs of the tribe. That was part o.
t'c LEGISLATION by Congress, ana they
pI ceedcd 10 do so. md not or'y found
who were the members of :he tIihe.
tut found who these slaves were ana
tfcir descendants. Now the govern
ment proceeds by its machinery. for
the purpose Of ascertaining that, ana
presume no one will question Tut
what, IN the administration nt those
Offices they were acting IN pCli'i
cal canacity. | think It has been de-
cida1 ever and ovHr again that they
were simply pursuing a political mat
ter in which the courts could not In.
terfere at all Congress had regulated
all this. and they proceeded to deter.
mine who these members were.
uw the plaintiffs come in and say,
Here, we have been put upon the roll
as slaves, or descendants of slaves.
and We are only entitled to forty acres
of land. We are of Indian blood And
they make the discovery-Mr. Walker
says tnat MIR, Lee is the discoverer-
discover that I'm 1880 there was
treaty made which gave them indi-
vidual rights to the property, and tnn
action OF the government, or tribes
themselves endeavoring TO give II to
the government, I'D not bind them
they are not bound by II. at least so
far as when we come TO the distribu
tion and division of the property. and
therefore they come in here. couple
vf thousand of them | believe there
in this bill. and want this court T.
revise the action of Congress- through
their administration. in detormining
who these Chickasaws We're, as | un-
derstand II. They want this court to
ro into the investigation and say that
Congress, in the administration Of
this Indian estate. has made n mis-
take, and that they are entitled
what do they ask MS TO do9 They saw
here is great big trust fund which
belongs to all Of these members of ,hc
tribe. We are descendants. and we
want you to declare that we are ten.
ants in common with the other mem.
hcrs that have been found by the
government commission. That is what
YOU ask the court e. do. to declare
that We are entitled in common with
them. They do not seek to have this
court declare that we are entitled In
court declare than any particular one
of them has suffered any particle a.
damaged or suffered any loss OF pron
orty whatever, except they want to he
recognized, by a Judgment - this
court. that they claim to have rirh'
under 0nd bv virtue Of being descend.
.. ~.