The Calumet news., 1914-07-30
INDIAN
ON SAME PLANE
AS WHITE man
Che-okees on Equal Footing With
Nations Dissolution

washlnston. July SO.-The passing
of the Red Man and his slow but
STEADY absorption into the body of Am
cr.cau citizenship was made evident
10y the recent order of the Indian office
dlssolying the Cherokee nation as a
tribaI entity on july I last and placing
the members OF the larscst of the Five
| civilized Tribes on the same footing as
white residents Of oklahoma.
The Chrrokecs have figured I'm some
of the notable STAGES of American his
tory. EthnologIcally, they are said to
bc a branch of the Iroquois family,
although never allied politically with
the lroQuis nation Originally, they
occupied the AppamatoX basin of Nir-
glnia, but were gradually driven south
into Georgia and the Carolinas, with
branches in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Here they developed the powerful con-
federacy which made treaties with the
United States. and resisted the efforts
OF the states to disposscss them. This
raised one of the first issues over the
states being bound by federal treaties
When the United States Supreme
court sustained the Cherokee treaties,
Andrew Jackson, then president, made
his famous remark: Well John Mar
shall has made his decision, now let
him enforce H."
Make Rapid Progress.
The Cherokees made rapid progress
in education and civilization, abandon
ing the chase for agriculture and fl
nally developing an alphabet and Ian
guage of their own. This was the pro-
duction Of one of their miXed-blood
members, Sequoya, or George Guss,
who invented a syllabary of IS signs
forming the basis Of the Cherokee Ian
guape, since known as Sequoya About
this time a newspaper, the Cherokee
Phoenix, was started at New Echota,
in Georgia, the capital Of the nation.
The office was "A log house and the
paper was printed in English and Che
rokec. Publication was suspended
after six years by the Georgia authori-
ties
At the height Of the Cherokecs
prosperity gold was discovered within
the territory and agitation for the re-
moval Of the Indians soon began. Aft
er a hopeless struggle lasting for years,
under their great chief, John Ross. the
Cherokees, on December 80, 1885, sign
ed treaty by which they agreed to
sell their remaining territory and move
there to be set aside for them, in Indian
Territory.
Forcbly Removed to New Home.
Objection to the migration developed
among many Of the Chcrokees, and
General Winfield Scott was finally sent
to forcibly remove the 1900 Indians
To their new home I'm 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 form
ed a national government, with the
capital at Tahlequah.
The task of converting the Cherokees
from a tribal community into a body
OF individual land owners began in
1902. when they signed an agreement
with the United States by which the
government undertook to make COM
plete rolls of all the tribesmen and di-
vide 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 Civil
lized Tribes. In 1906 the legislative
and judicial departments Of the Chero-
kec nation passed out Of existence, but
the executive branch was kept up un-
der Principal Chief w. G.. Rogers. In
1907, when the state OF Oklahoma was
formed all members of the tribe be-
came citizens.
To Receive SIS per Capita.
The task Of dissolving the Cherokees,
which might in a general way, be
compared with that Of winding up the
affairs Of an immense estate, had, by
July / last, progressed To such a de-
gree that it only remained for the
United States to execute a few deeds
10 SHlill lIsiCtS oI ldHu. MI COHlInunl-
~ property has been converted into
cash and each Cherokee has received
his allotment Commissioner of In
dian Affairs cato Sells, in the near
future will distribute the remaining
cash on hand, 100000. or about SIS per
capita, to the 41,7S9 members OF the
tribe. The principal chief. w. G. Rog-
ers has been invited send i'm his re-
signation.
Agreement similar to that with the
Cherokees were made with the Chicka-
saws. Choctaws, Creeks and Seminoles,
and the work of winding up their af-
fairs Is now in progress. At its COM
pletiOn these four tribes also will be
dissolved. The Creek and Seminole
nations will be the next To cease to cx-
list as tribal entities. possibly within a
year. Thus a considerable part OF the
remnant OF American Indians is grad j.
ually merging into the body of Ameri-
can citizenship.
NOT FROM DUPONT GARAGE.
Attention has been called to a mis-