Letter to the President from the Secretary of the Interior
This item includes a letter in which a printed booklet transmits the report of Colonel Charles Bonaparte and Clinton Woodruff regarding public service in Indian Territory.
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OCR Page 1 of 2626
ABUSES AND IRREGULARITIES, INDIAN TERRITORY.
ABUSES AND IRREGULARITIES. INDIAN TERRITORY.
27
Indian Territory, which is now in process of allotment in severalty,
became absolutely and for all purposes except that of alienation the
allotment in severalty and the dissolution of the tribal relations have
property of the respective tribes.
been ratified by all the Indian nations, and although it may be that
It seems clear that in dealing with these lands the Government was,
a majority of the legal members of these tribes were in favor of the
and is still, bound in honor and conscience to consider, first of all and
change, the wishes of the true Indians were altogether different. In
beyond all, the interest of the Indians; that it had, and has now, no
the language of the Indian witness already quoted-
right to subordinate this interest to any other end, however desirable
If we had our own way we would be living with lands in common, and we would
in itself; and that the welfare of white settlers, however numerous or
have these prairies all open, and our little bunches of cattle, and would have bands
deserving, the development of the resources of the country, and other
of deer that would jump up from the heads of every hollow, and flocks of turkeys
running up every hillside, and every stream would be full of sunperch. Those
public benefits can be properly regarded in disposing of them only if,
things were what we were used to in our early life; that is what we would have,
and insofar as, the safety and happiness of the rightful owners of
and, I think, most of the people would have, and not so much corn and wheat grow-
these lands will be thereby advanced.
ing, and things of that kind; but we have come up against it; this civilization came
These principles of justice and fair dealing were fully recognized
up against us and we had no place to go.
in the several acts of Congress under which the work of allotment is
We fully agree with the witness that this fact strengthens their
in progress, but the results attained are in some respects startling and
claim on the Government for protection against the evils attendant on
deplorable. More than four-fifths of the inhabitants of the Territory
a policy thus imposed upon them; for, in his words: "This change is
have no connection whatever with any of the tribes recently owning
not of our creating, it is the Government's; if we err, it is the Gov-
the soil; they are white men, with a small percentage of negroes,
ernment's duty to guide us." In view of these facts it is not surpris-
attracted from various States of the Union by hopes of cheap land or of
ing that profound discouragement and a feeling akin to despair should
remunerative employment, and for whom the rights of the Indian are
be widely prevalent among the genuine Indians. Comparatively few
merely an impediment to the development of the country. At least
complaints are heard from this part of the population; usually they
three-fourths of the remainderare Indians in little more than name, with
grieve and pine in silence; but we believe there is grave danger lest,
from 75 to 99 per cent of white blood, and, in great majority, altogether
within the space of a generation, all that will remain of the Indians
indistinguishable in appearance, language, and manners from white
to whom the United States solemnly guaranteed the perpetual enjoy-
people, or else negroes, former slaves, or descendants of former slaves
ment of their lands, as well as protection "from domestic strife, from
of the Indians, freed by the results of the civil war, with, in some
hostile invasion, and from aggression by other Indians and white per-
cases, a certain admixture of Indian blood, but, in the main, identical,
sons in opposition to their jurisdiction and laws," may be a few thou-
physically, mentally, and morally, with the colored population of our
sand hopeless and degraded paupers and vagrants, objects of contempt-
Southern States.
uous charity in the country thus assured to their ancestors 'forever.
The few remaining inhabitants, scarcely one-twentieth of the whole-
While this danger constitutes the most lamentable and alarming
the real Indians who have remained Indians-are rapidly decreasing in
feature of the existing situation in the Territory, it must be added
numbers, dying, not, in most cases, from disease or vice, but, in the
that the profound discontent existing among its white population is a
striking and pathetic words of one of them who testified before us,
source of very reasonable regret. The settlers are energetic Ameri-
"for want of hope;" or, in other words, because their present envi-
cans, accustomed to self-government in the communities from which
ronment is so unsympathetic, and the impossibility for them to hold
they have removed, and they are vexed and impatient to find them-
their own in the competition to which they are already exposed, and
selves without voice in either making or administering the laws which
which will grow more severe every day hereafter, is so manifest that
govern them in their new home. This fact we believe is the main
the future holds out to them no prospect which makes life worth liv-
cause of the credulous and uncharitable character of public opinion in
ing. One of the witnesses examined before us, a man of life-long
the Territory. We were painfully impressed by the very general
experience with Indians, and, as it seemed to us, exceptionally impar-
want of confidence in public officials and the readiness with which
tial and guarded in his statements, described the average full-blood
rumors to their detriment were believed and repeated.
Indian as about the equal, intellectually and morally, of a white child
In its report to Congress of November 18, 1895, the former Com-
of 10; and the facts disclosed by our inquiry lead us to believe that
mission to the Five Civilized Tribes said:
this description contains an exceptionally large measure of truth.
It can not be possible that in any portion of this country, government, no matter
We are convinced further that, although the acts providing for
what its origin, can remain peaceable for any length of time in the hands of one-fifth
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