Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-02
ROBBING THE INDIANS.
Whites Have Made Business Of 1t
From the Beqinninq.

from tnc oc9iiiiihS'
When Senator Gore of Oklahoma
made the charges which brought in
the name of Vice President Sherman
he opened the story of the greatest
muddle i'm all the muddled history of
the white mans career of colonization.
| When Helen Hunt, who fought for
| the Indian as no one else ever fought,
published her Century of DishonOr'
the public conscience was stirred, and
an effort was made to do the right
/ thing by the man who, after all, was
here first-to give him land and let
him live on it. In short, we stopped
being bad and began to be stupid.
For no sooner had the Indian been
solemnly given the land, almost with
tears of shamed apology, than we let
it be taken away again, right and left,
hit or miss We forgot all about him
as soon as he was duly ward of the
nation. We had said he was protect
ed, and under the magnificent aegls
of this declaration he was, of course,
| forever safe.
High Commissions Cause Row.
Then began the sort of thing that
eliminated when the McMurray firm
announced that it would sell the Choc-
taw and Chickasaw lands for them,
charging only 10 per cent of the price
paid. The syndicate that wanted to
buy was willing to pay $30,0O0,OO0 for
the rich coal and asphalt lands that
are said by some to be worth from
SO 900 900 to $4,000 900 more and for
putting through this deal-so desira-
BILE, they explained, from the Indian
point of view-the McMurray firm
| wanted only the fee of $3,000,000. Sem
ator Gore objected, and hence the trou-
BILE. But there have been deals like
that a-plenty and no Senator Gore to
protest.
This same McMurray has had sue
cessful financial relations with the In
dams in the past. He was, with four
others, indicted for obtaining an enor-
nous fee from the Five Nations in
| connection with the registration law
some years ago. 1t is a long story,
| but one worth telling.
| When the Five Nations were moved
westward no to make room for a civ
| iliZation that had no particular use for
| them they were paid for their lands
and were given over 100000 acres
| in what is now Oklahoma. Here they
were to live as they wanted to live
and hunt or farm, just as they liked,
unmolested by the white man.
AS we grew and waXed fat we eX-
tended anxious eyes toward Oklahoma.
The Indians land was, unfortunately
for them, very good land. No sooner
did we grasp this fact than we felt
we must take up the white mans bur-
den.
Indians Tribunals Abolished.
The red man had a certain govern
ment of his own, sort of communal
government, not undemocratic. He
thought it pretty good. Anyway it
suited him. But it stood in the way
of progress" and so it had to go, let
ting in the aforesaid progress with a
flourish of lying, perjury, graft and
other concomitants of civilization quite
amazing to behold.
1t was done in this fashion: Begin
ming in 1887. certain severalty acts
were passed comforting citizenship on
any Indian who would give up tribal
life and take up land individually. In
1891 this offer was extended to the
Five Nations in oklahoma, and in 1898
the famous Dawes commission, headed
by Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massa-
chusetts, was appointed for the pur-
pose of eXtinguishing the tribal titles
to lands and allotting the same in
severalty to members of the tribes.
1t is not to be supposed that the In
dams had anything to do with this ar
rangement. The white man took. along
with his other burdens, that of decid
ing that the Indian should sell his
land.
come into the market almost immedi-
ately and some within five years or so
and some in twenty or more years.
but practically all was to be sold in
course of time. over two-thirds of it
has been disposed of now.
And the money? Well, the Indians
are more likely to become charges on
the state than to buy automobiles.
There were only 100000 or so of them,
and over 100000 acres of land have
been sold, but the Indian didn't get
the money.
One woman sold land worth in as
phalt beds from 100000 to 10000. She
was paid $l,100, but not all in cash
oh, no! For 50 large a price as that
the purchaser explained that she must
take part in the form of notes.
Blind Woman Cheated.
Another woman was blind and very,
very old. Two white men explained
To her that she was entitled to a
pension by virtue of her late husbands
service during the civil war. They
presented a paper for her To sign, as
Suring her that she would get her pen
sion on its receipt in Washington She
made her mark, her fingers guided by
the men. The paper turned out to he
warranty deed for her farm. Both
these cases were fought in court af-
terward.
The Dawes Severalty act, arranging
for the sale of the Indian lands, con-
templated the prompt sale of some of
the property, but considered that a
good deal Of it would he held for
twenty or thirty years. The act was
a piece of interference with the rights
and desires of the Indians under any
circumstances, but this provision was
redceming point, and for nearly
twenty years the sales proceeded with
this limitation.
But ii seemed to bad to leave the
lands in the hands of the Improgrcs-