The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-05-24
DECISION OF COURT
IN TOO LATE CASE
Supreme Court Of the United States
No. s96.-October Term, 1911
Levi B. Gritts al. Appellants,

Walter i. Fisher. Secretary Of the IN
terror, and Franklin Mac Veagh
Secretary fthe Treasury
Appeal from the Court Of Appeals
of the District of Columbia.
(May 10, 1922
Mr.. Justice Van Deyanter delivered
the opinion of the Court
The question presented for decision
in this case is. whether children born
In enrolled members 0 fthe Cherokee
tribe Of Indians after September ]
1902. and living on March 4, 1906, are
entitled to enrolment as members ol
the tribe an dto participate nthe al
lotment and distribution of its lands
and funds now being made under the
legislatino Of Congress. The Secretary
fthe Interior an dthe Secretary OF
the Treasury, who are respectively
CHARGED with important duties in that
connection, have taken the position,
an dare proceeding upon the theory,
that under the acts of April 26, 1906
and June 81, 1906, mira, the right Of
the controversy is with the children;
an dthe purpos eof this suit is to test
the accuracy of that position, and, II
ii be held untenable, to enjoin these Of
ficers from giving effect to it. The suit
was begun in the Supreme Court of the
District of Columbia in 1911, and the
plaintiffs are three Indian members
fthe tribe, duly enrolled as such as
of September 1. 1902, under the act
of July /, 1902, infra, who sue on be
half of themselves and all others SINH
Iarly situated. A demurrer to the bill
was sustained an da decree OF dismis-
sal entered, which was affirmed by the
Court of Appeals-App. D. c.; 80
Wash. Law Rep 754. An appeal
brought the case here.
During the last twenty years Con-
gress ha senacted a series of laws
looking to the allotment ana distribu-
tion O fthe lands and funds of the Five
Civilized Tribes. of which the Chero-
kee Tribe some. among their respect
i've members. an dto the dissolution of
the tribal governments. An extended
statement o fthese laws, so far as they
concer nthe Cherokees, as also of the
title by which their lands and funds
have been held and of the relations of
the tribe and its members to the Unit
ed States, VIII be found in Stephens V.
Cherokee Nation ia u. S. AS; Chero-
kee Nation V. Hitchcock. 1877 y. S. 294;
Cherokee Intermarriage Cases, 2O3 u.
S. &c; Lowe V. Fisher 223 U. S. 95, and
Hickman V. United States.-U. s..
Anterior to this legislation the lands
and funds belonging to the tribe as
community, and not to the members
severally or as tenants in common
The right of each individual to parti-
cipate in til eenjoyment of such prop
erty depends upon tribal membership,
and whe nthat was terminated by
death or otherwise the right was at an
end 1t was not alienable or descendible
And when children were born into the
tribe they became thereby members
and entitled to all the rights incident
to that relation. Under treaties with
the United States the tribe maintained
a government of its own, with legis-
lative an dother powers, but this was
a temporary expedient and in time
proved inefficient and unsatisfactory
As nthe instance or other tribal In
dians, the member sof this tribe We're
wards OF the United States. which
was fully empowered, whenever it
seemed wise to do SO, to assume full
control over them and their affairs,
to determine who were such members,
to allot and distribute the tribal lands
and fund samong them, and to termin-
ate the tribal government This Con
gress undertook to do. The undertak.
ing was a large one and difficulties
were encountered. The first legisla.
tion was largely preliminary and ex'
perimental and need not be specially
noticed, because no material change
in the situation resulted therefrom.
The act of July j, 1902. 80 Stat. TIC
c. 1875, which related only to the
Cherokees an dis spoken of as the
Cherokee Agreement, was quite com
prehensive and is the one upon which
the plaintiffs here rely. 1t made pro
vision for aseertaining who were mem
bers and permanently enrolling them
(25-3Ol, for reserving certain of the
tribal lands for public purposes (24,)
70 rappraisin 9Th eother lands 60, 10,l
and for alloting in severalty to each
enrolled member land equal in value
to 110 acres of the average allottable
lands (11.l 1t 1t declared tina tthe en-
rollment should be made "as of Sept.
ember /, 1902" and should include call
,,aroonc fhan iiv;n os and anftflad tn an.