S U P P L E M E N T TO T H E CH EM A W A
Office of In d ian Affairs
W ash in g to n , D. C ., M arch 31, 1920.
M r s . F . W . H am a n ,
President San Diego W om en’s Civic C enter,
San Diego, C alifornia.
M y D ear M r s . I I a m a n :
f have received a copy of th e resolutions adopted
o n Ja n u ary 9, 1920, by the W o m en ’s Civic C enter of
San Diego. C alifornia, relative to th e sta tu s of 'th e
A m erican In d ian , and, from inaccurate statem ents
therein , I cannot feel th at yo u r organization gave
the m atter careful consideration.
C onfusion as to th e legal statu s of the Indian rests
largely with those who have not studied the subject.
T h e general allotm ent act of 1887, providing for the
allotm ent of lands in severalty, with the am ending p ro
visions of the B urke act of 1906, made the issuance
of a fee-sim ple p aten t the prim ary legal req u irem en t
for citizenship of In d ian s, b u t also provided for the
citizenship of any In d ian by his v o lu n tary separation
from tribal relatio n s and th e adoption of the habits of
civilized life. T h e later act of Ju n e 25, 1910, also p ro
vides for the allotm ent of lands to In d ian s from the
public dom ain w ith the issuance of a fee p atent as p ro
vided for in the case of reservation allotm ents.
U nder my ad m in istratio n th e Indian Bureau has
made special effort to ex ten d citizenship to the In d ian s
and prepare them for its d u ties and responsibilities.
In the declaration of policy issued A pril 17, 1917, I
announced th a t every In d ian as soon as found to be
com petent to tran sact his own business affairs would be
given full control of his property and have all his land
and m oney tu rn ed over to him , after w hich he would
no longer be a ward of the G overnm ent. In fu rth e r
ance of th is m ovem ent, on M arch 7, 1919, I instructed
the S u p erin ten d en ts of th e various reservations as fol
lows:
"Y o u are requested to subm it to th is Office, at th e earliest
practicable d ate, a list of all In d ia n s of o n e-h alf or less I n
dian blood, w ho are able-bodied and m en tally c o m p eten t, 21
years of age or over, to g e th e r w ith a d escrip tio n of th e lan d
a llo tte d to said In d ia n s an d th e n u m b er of th e a llo tm en t.
It is in te n d e d to issue p a te n ts in fee-sim le to such In d ia n s .’’
U nder th is broadened policy In d ian s, both m ixed
and full bloods, are being released from G overnm ent
supervision as rapidly as th eir condition w arran ts.
W henever an Indian is found to be as com petent as
the average w hite m an to transact the usual vocations
of life, he is given a p atent in fee, full control ot his
lands and m oneys, and made a citizen of the U nited
S tates. A bout 225,000 allotm ents of land have been
made to In d ian s and d u rin g the last three years 10,956
fee-sim ple p aten ts have been issued, or 1,062 m ore
th an in the ten years preceding.
I have, how ever, gone fu rth er and taken th e position
A M E R IC A N , JU N E 9, 1920
th a t the citizenship of Ind ian s should not be based
upon th eir ow nership of lands, tribal or in severalty, in
tru st or in fee, but upon th e fact th a t they are real
A m ericans, and favorable report has been m ade on a
bill introduced in C ongress having for its purpose the
co n ferrin g of citizenship on all In d ian s but retain in g
control of the estates of incom petents.
I am fully convinced of the wisdom of this restric
tion and th at com petency m ust precede the control
of p ro p erty, otherw ise g reat injustice would follow to
thousands of Indians. In this connection I said in
my last annual report:
" O f th e larg e n u m b er of In d ia n s still u n d e r th e supervision
of th is B ureau it should be u n d ersto o d th a t m ore th an 75,000 are
situ a ted p ractically th e sam e as th e reserv atio n N avajo, H ual-
apai, Ilo p i and A pache, w hose p ro p erty cannot now, nor for
m any years to com e, be wisely allo tte d . T h ere are th o u san d s
of full-bloods and n ear full-bloods w hose lau d ed in te re sts and
w hose personal possessions am i pro sp ects are su g g estiv e of a
capacity for in d e p en d e n t self-su p p o rt, but who are not q u a li
fied to w ith stan d th e co m p etitiv e te sts th a t w ould follow a w ith
draw al of federal g u id an ce. To ab an d o n th e se at th e point in
th e ir p ro g ress w here elem en tary re q u irem en ts are sh ap in g in to
self-relian ce an d a co m p reh en sio n of practical m eth o d s, w ould
be to leave th e m a prey to every k in d of u n scru p u lo u s trick e ry
th a t m asks itse lf in th e co n v en tio n s of civilization.
" I shall not be o u td o n e by an y o n e w ho w ould h asten In d ian
p ro g ress by th e ex ten sio n of release an d o b ligation to th o se
w ho are read y for th is statu s, n o r shall I be sw erved from
w hat I believe to be a course of just aid and protection to th e
less fo rtu n ate and less p ro g ressiv e I n d ia n .’’
It is not necessary in establishing the p atrio tic and
heroic part of the In d ian s in the w orld w ar to m ake
such u n w arran tab le statem ents as th at they purchased
o ver sixty m illion dollars w orth of L iberty Bonds. I
feel th at th eir actual investm ent of $25,000,000 in this
way is a m agnificent show ing. No one questions the
w ar-tim e evidence of th e I n d ia n ’s A m ericanism or
that it carries great w eight in th e plea for his citizen
ship, and you are advised th at a bill approved by this
bureau, w hich became a law in O ctober, 1919, pro
vides th at In d ian s who served in the m ilitary or naval
establishm ent of the U nited S tates d u rin g th e war
against G erm any and who have been honorably d is
charged may be g ran ted full citizenship by co u rts of
com petetent jurisdiction.
Few th in g s have been m ore obstru ctiv e to Indian
w elfare than the professional ag ita to r who claim s the
abolishm ent of governm ental supervision as th e sal-,
vation of the In d ian . T h ere won Id be no wisdom in
th e w ithdraw al of federal supervision over all Ind ian s
at this tim e. T he result would be th a t a large n u m
ber of old or incom petent In d ian s would soon be
fleeced of th e ir property and throw n upon the states
as p au p ers and m endicants and public protest against
neglected conditions w ould surely and shortly follow.
S uch procedure would be unw ise, unjust and in d e
fensible.
( O ver)