Bismarck daily tribune., 1915-10-21
INDIAN MEETING
At M0HONK LAKE
Grant Foreman Of Muskogee,
Full Bloded Indian Is
Principal Speaker

MIOhonk Lake, n. Y, Oct. 20-Out-
lining Sour Future Policy Toward
the Full-blood Indians of Oklahoma, -
Grant Foreman, a Mluskogee lawyer
declared today at the Lake MchonA
conference on the Indian and other
dependent peoples that for the bette.
protection Of the Indians congress
s;lould legislate for them as indivi.
duals instead of legislating for then
in the mass.
He said, in part:
when the restrictions were re
moved from the sale of land owned by
the Indians of the five civilized tribes
of less than three e-quarters Indian
blood, they soon sold their land and
now very few of them have eithe.
land or money to Show for theil
fonmer tribal holdings. OF the more
than 100000 Indians OF these tribes
only afout one-third are NOW restrict
- q 4 D. . : y T
ed so that they cannot sell their lands
These Indians for the most part arc
f,lll4bloods, and they, should .be tht
objects of concern, ,'by congress lYhict
still retains jurisdiction to olegislate
for them, and is responsible for theil
future. G&,1 .,t.,...z, ...,.,z..sa
Z 2tss'The restriction on the sale of thei!
land will be removed by the lapse o.
time in fifteen years, if it is not soon
er removed by congress-; The pelr.
pose Of congress should be, to prepare
these people for the day that they are
thrown on their own resources. Ru'
it is very evident that adequate pre-
paration is not being made.
"Permitted by the laws OF congress
to lease their lands, though they may
not sell them, most of these Indians
have leased their allotments includ.
ing their homes. to white men, an(
have been compelled in many cases te
move off into the hills or woods
These leases are usually made fo,
inadequate consideration and the In
dian not only gets the worst Of the
deal, but defeats the avowed purpose
of congress to establish him on hi:
allotment and teach him now to make
his living from it.
"Many cases of destitution are fcun6
among these Indians who are the own
ers of good tracts of land, either be
cause they have leased it or will moi
work it. tuberculosis is Increasing
and there is no money nor. facilitie:
available to treat the cases. When
these cases are called to the attention
Of the superintendent at Muskogee i
Is necessary to sell part of the 1ndi
ans land under departmental super
vision, and use the proceeds for the
relief Of the Indian. This wastefu'
proceeding would not be necessary II
congress would make adequate provi
sion for t:le treatment of disease and
relief of destitution. r
''The law permitting these Indians
to lease their land except under the
supervision of the department should
be repealed, and they should not he
allowed to lease their 11omesteads al
all. Part Of their surplus should be
sold under departmental supervision
the proceeds or so much as necessary
expended by t:le department in i'm
proving their honesteads, and the un
expended funds held by the depart
tnrent against his future needs. He
should be required to remove on his
homestead and made to understand
that he must make his living from it
Heretofore restrictions were NOV
ed by congress on the sale. Of over
1'0.000;0G0 acres of land upon test
only as to the quantum Of Indian
blood, and the result was disastrous
Congress should adopt policy os
legislating for the individual indiana
instead of legislating for them in the
rass. A ccrnmission or representative
of the Interior department should he
empowered to examine each Of the 53..
600 restricted Indians. classify them
the future policy toward them being
based on tneir individual needs and
qualifications. Only by individual at
tention can distress and disease
among these Decide be relieved, or
can these restricted Indians in anv
adequate measure be prepared for tie
day their restrictions are removed
and they are exposed to the white
CRATER"