The Sentinel=record., 1914-07-30
PASSING OF THE CHEROKEE NATION
TRIBAL ENTITY Or THE ONCE FAMOUS INDIAN NATION HAS
 BEEN DISSOLVED.
Cherokees Have Figured in Some of the Important Chapters of Amerl- can History.

wv IL. 1sg Ohly hN passing of the red man and his slow but steady absorption into the body of American citizenship was made evident by the recent order of the Indian office dissolving the Cherokee nation as a tribal entity on July 1 last and placing, the members of the largest of the Five Civilized Tribes on the same footing as white resi- dents of Oklahoma.
 The Cherokees have figured in some of the notable stages of Ameri- can history. Ethnologicaliy they are said to be branch of the lroduois family, although never allied politi- cally with the Iroquois nation. Orig inally they occupied the Appomatox basin of Virginia but were gradually driven south into Georgia and the Carolinas, with branches in Ken lucky and Tennessee. Here they de- veloped the powerful confederacy which made treaties with the United States. and resisted the efforts of the states to dispossess them. This raised one of the first issues over tES states being bound by federal trea- ties. When the United States sti- preme court sustained the Cherokee treaties, Andrew Jackson, then presI dent made his famous remark: Well. John Marshall has made his decision. now let him enforce it." The Cherokees made rapid progress in education and civilization, aban' doning the chase for agriculture, and finally developing an alphabet and language of their own. This was the production of one of their mixed blood members, Sequoya, or George Guss, who invented syllabary of 7S signs forming the basis of the Chero- kee language, since known as Se- quoya About this time newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was started at New Echota, in Georgia, the capital of the nation. The office was log house and the paper was printed in English and Cherokee. Publication was suspended after six years by the Georgia authorities.
 At the height of the Cherokees' prosperity gold was discovered within the territory and agitation for the re- moval of the Indians soon began. After a hopeless struggle lasting for years, under their great chief, John Ross, the Cherokees, on December 29, 1895, signed a treaty by which they agreed to sell their remaining terri tory and move out beyond the Missis- sippi to a country there to be set aside for them, In Indian Territory.
 Objection to the migration devel- oped among many of the Cherokees, and General Winfield Scott was finally sent to forcibly remove the 1000 Indians to their new home ir the west. They suffered terrible hardships on the long journey by foot, and it is said nearly one-fourth of the number perished. Arriving in their new home they formed na- tional government, with the capital at Tahlequah
 The task of converting the Chero- kees from tribal community into body of individual land owners began in 1902, when they signed an agree ment with the United States by which the government undertook to make complete rolls of all the tribes men and divide the land and money among them. The Curtis act, passed by congress in 1898, provided for the valuation and allotment of the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes. In 1906 the legislative and judicial depart ments of the Cherokee nation passed out of existence, but the executive branch was kept up under Principa, Chief w. C. Rogers. Tn 1907. when the state of Oklahoma was formed. all members of the tribe became cit. izens.
 The task of dissolving the Chero- kees. which might, in general way. be compared with that of winding up the affairs of an immense estate. had, by July l last, progressed to such a degree that it only remained for the United. States to execute few deeds to small tracts of land. All community property has been converted into cash and each Chero- kee has received his allotment. Com missioner of Indian Affairs Cato Sells, in the near future will distrib- ute the remaining cash on hand. s600,000. or about s15 per capita. to the I,7S9 members of the tribe. The principal chief, w. c. Rogers, has been invited to send in his resigna- tion.