Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1886 — THE RED MEN. [ARTICLE]

THE RED MEN.

Conclusions of Mr. Holman’s Special Committee to Investigate Indian Affairs. Washington special. Special attention having been drawn to the Indian problem by the treatment of thesubject in Secretary Lamar’s annual report, it has become a topic of frequent conversation among national legislators, and indications are that Congress will adopt new and earnest measures for settlement of the question. Mr. Holman, of Indiana, will soon submit to Congress a report of the observations of the commission of which he is Chairman, and he says that he will recommend that the reservation system be abandoned, with a few exceptions where it is impracticable now, and that a commission be appointed by the President to apportion the lands in severalty among the members of tribes that are sufficiently advanced in civilization to justify the belief that the plan would be successful. Senator Van Wyck has taken hold of the question as he finds it in the Indian Territory, and proppses that the National Government shall assume direct authority, thereby organizing the Territory with a fulls corps of civil officers, but he does not propose to interfere with the tribal courts and local Indian authorities. Mr. Townshend, of Illinois, has also made a move in the same direction, but. would accomplish the object by different means. He says he regards the Indian problem as one of the most important questions pressing for intelligent Congressional action. All the previous plans adopted by the Government have failed to produce the desired results, but it has been demonstrated that if proper methods are adopted the Indians can be civilized and made selfsupporting. He says if they are taught, how to labor and the value of property they will not desire to go on the war-path, and may in time become useful members in society. The first step should be to make them citizens. There are many million acres of land set. apart to the Indians for which they can never have use. The proper course to pursue, he says, is to break up their tribal relation, put them under the protection of the law, and make them amenable to its penalties, allot to each of them a sufficient quantity of land to enable them by industrious habits to maintain themselves as individual members of society, and dispose of the rc mninder of the land to actual settlers, and appropriate the proceeds of the sales for their education and support. Mr. Townshend’s plan is essentially different from that of Senator Van Wyck. His bill to organize the Territory of Oklahoma provides for the consolidation of the Indian Territory under a territorial government, the establishing of a court, and the allotment of lands in severalty among the Indians. It authorizes the appointment of a Governor and Secretary by the President, the Governor to be ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Territory. A Legislature, to consist of a Senate of eleven members and a House of Representatives of twenty-nine members, is to be chosen at the first election to be held in the Territory by all male persons over 21 years of age, lawfully domiciled in the Territory. At subsequent elections the right of suffrage is vested in all such male persons who have resided in the territory for six months. A court is established, to be presided over by one judge. An attorney and marshal are authorized do* be appointed by the President. jurisdiction, criminal and civil, will be of a character similar to that of the Western District of Arkansas. All are competent as jurors who are bona fide male residents of the Territory and over 21 years of age, and who undeistand the English language well enough to comprehend the proceedings. All laws of the United States applicable and not in conflict with Indian treaties are to be in force in the Territory. A delegate to Congress is authorized as in other Territories. It also provides that patents shall issue to all tribes on any reservation of the United States for all lands which have been* set apart to them respectively, to be held in* trust for them by the United States for the period of twenty-five years. But the President is authorized at any time before the end of that period to allot such lands in severalty to the Indians located on the resp< ctive reservations in the following quantities: To each head of a family, 160 acres; to each single person over 18 years of age. 80 acres; to each orphan chi.ld under 18 years of age, 80 acres; to each other person under 18 years of age, 40 acres. When the lands are mainly useful for grazing purposes double the quantities named are to be given to each. It provides that patents shall issue to each allottee for the lands allotted to him, but the title is to be held in trust by the United States for the period of twentyfive years thereafter, when it shall become absolute in fee simple. All conveyances of binds allotted in severalty, made before the end of the period of twenty-five years, are to be void. The Secretary’ of the Interior is authorized to purchase from the Indian tribes all the lands not allotted to them in severalty, subject, however, to the ratification of Congress. The purchase money for the same is to be held in trust by the United States for the period of twenty-five years, and interest at the rate of 5 per cent, is to be paid in the meantime for the education and self-support of the Indians.