The Chemawa American, October 20, 1920, Image 1

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P r i n t e d a t C h e m a w a , O r e g o n , a n d D e v o t e d to t h e I n t e r e s t s o f I n d i a n E d u c a t i o n
Vol. X X III
W ednesday, O ctober 20, 1920
F a c ts A bout O klahom a In d ia n s
By C A T O S E L L S
U. S. C om m issioner of In d ian Affairs
H a rlo w ’s W eekly of the date of A u g u st 13. 1920,
contains a most in terestin g and ex h au stiv e article from
the pen of H on. Cato Sells, C om m issioner of In d ian
Affairs. W e are pleased to publish it, b u t are p re­
facing it as follows w ith an editorial review by th e
F o rt W orth Record of th e article in question:
A very readable and h ig h ly in stru c tiv e a rtic le w ritten by
C om m issioner Cato Sells on th e a d m in istra tio n of In d ia n
Affairs in O klahom a and p u b lish ed in H a rlo w ’s W eekly of
O k lah o m a City is reproduced in th is issue of th e R ecord.
Few people realize th e e x te n t o r co m p reh en siv en ess of th e
financial an d business affairs of th e In d ia n s o f A m erica h an d led
by th e U nited S ta te s g o v e rn m e n t. T h is artic le on O klahom a
In d ia n affairs covers only a very sm all p a rt, bu t is re p re se n ­
ta tiv e of th is, th e g re a te st e state in th e w orld. Cato Sells has
show n re m a rk a b le ability an d w onderful b usiness capacity and
h as earn ed th e e v erlastin g g ra titu d e of A m erica’s In d ia n w ards.
T he Choctaw word “ O k lah o m a” is destined to hold
a prom inent, perm anent and honored place am ong
th e m any Indian term s th at are w ritten into the annals
of every state in the union. Its m eaning is at once
suggestive of the large In d ian population w ithin the
prosperous com m onw ealth of th a t nam e, how c o n sid er­
ably m ore th an double th at of any o th er state, and of
w hich the Five Civilized T ribes are an im p o rtan t local
factor, since th ey em brace m ore th an five-sixths of
th eir race in O klahom a.
P rior to 1830, these tribes, com posed of the C hoctaw ,
Chickasaw’, C herokee, Creek and Sem inole In d ian s,
occupied different sections of th e S o uthern states east
of the M ississippi riv er. T hey
are of the old
Iroquoian and M uskogean fam ilies w’ho in earlier
tim es produced m any v aliant leaders in w’ar, besides
others of notable inventive and literary genius, and
today they fill w’ith credit various im p o rtan t places of
tru s t and furnish men of d istin ctio n in th e highest
councils of the n ation.
T hese Iu d ian s had m ade considerable progress in-
com uiunal activities before accepting, under treaties,
lands w'est of the M ississippi an d , after rem oval, r e ­
established th eir tribal govern m en ts, held an 1 owned
No. 3
in com m on the land w ithin th e ir respective nations,
and controlled their own affairs largely independent
of the federal g overnm ent. But their productive
acres were attractiv e, and th eir practice of leasing
them adm itted large num bers of w hites, m any of
whom w ere desirable settlers, but am ong them were
ad v en tu rers and fo rtu n e -h u n ters who introduced c o n ­
d itio n s beyond th e control of tribal governm ents and
made it necessary for congress to take steps for the
correction of law less tendencies. In 1893, therefore,
the Dawes com m ission wras appointed, having in view
a g rad u al tran sitio n from tribal governm ent and com ­
m unal estates to th e allotm ent of land in severalty,
the developm ent of individual com petency as a basis
for citizen sh ip , and the establishm ent of law and order
as an essential to statehood. T o th is end the securing
of agreem ents w ith the F ive T ribes, th e p reparation
of a com plete roll of th e ir m em bers, the survey and
allo tm en t of their ex ten siv e real property, and the a d ­
ju stm e n t of som e 10,000 contests betw’een claim ants,
becam e an im m ense task covering practically o ne-third
of all the In d ian s in the U nited States.
T h e passage of over two h u n d red law s by congress
re la tin g to these In d ian s is suggestive of the scope of
th eir large interests-and the difficulty of adm inistering
them .
On th e final rolls of these trib es w ere 101,506 per­
sons. of whom 26,774 were classified as full-bloods.
T hey had a little less than 20,000,000 acres of land, of
w hich nearly 16,000,000 acres w ere allo tted to e n ro ll­
ed m em bers, and about 150,000 acres reserved for
tow nsites, schools, churches and o th er purposes. Sales
of tow n lots have been m ade from m ore th a n 300 tow n-
sites for approxim ately $5,000,000.00. T h e sales of
u n allo tted tribal land have occurred en tire ly w ithin
th e last decade and largely w ith in my ad m in istratio n .
T hese have been held each year and are now p ra c ti­
cally com pleted covering over th ree and a-half m illion
acres for considerably m ore than $20,000,000.00. In
ad d itio n , the sale of Choctaw and C hickasaw lands
co n tain in g coal and asphalt deposits has b ro u g h t n e a r­
ly two m illions, and leases and ro yalties for th e m in ­
in g of these deposits about five m illion m ore.
(C o n tin u e d on page 4)