Show INDIAN LEGISLATION Laws Needed That Shall Be Equitable to Both Races By section 16 of the act of March 3 1S93 the president was authorized to appoint three commissioners to enter into negotiations ne-gotiations with the Cherokee Choctaw Chickasaw Muskogee tot Cro > ki > and Seminole nations commonly known as the live civilized tribes in the Indian Territory Briefly the purposes of the negotiations were the xtingiiishment of the tribal title to any lands within that territory now held by any and all such nations or tribes either by cession of the same or some part thereof to the United States or by allotment or by division of same in severally among the Indians of such nations or tribes respectively as may be entitled to the same or by such other method as may be agreed upon he twjen the several nations and tribes aforesaid or each of them with the United States with a view to such an adjustment upon the basis of justice and ecjuHy as may with the consent of the said nations of the Indians so far as maybe may-be necessary requistt and suitable to enable the ultimate creation of a state or states of thc union which shall embrace the lands within said Indian Territory MET OPPOSITION The commission met much opposition from the banning The Indians were very slow to act and those in control manifested a deckled disinclination to meet with favorite propositions submitted sub-mitted to them A little more than three years ago the commission effected an agreement ith the Choctaw nation alone The Chickasaws have refused to agree to its terms and as they have a common Interest with tha Choctaws in the lands of said nations the agreement with the IP tier nation could not hart been rkh the consent of the former April 25 1S07 the commission effect d an agreement with both tribes the Choctaws Choc-taws and Chickasaws This agreement it Is understood has been ratified by the constituted authorities of the rsnectivr fibes or nations or parties thereto and only requires ratification by congress to make it binding vruwte On the 27th of September 1897 an agreement agree-ment was effected with the Creek nation but it is understood that the national council refused to ratify the same Negotiations are yet to be had with the Cherokees the most populous of the five civilized tribes and with the Seminoles Semi-noles the smallest in point of numbers and territory The provision in the Indian apnropna tion act approved June 10 IsDC makes it the duty of the commission to investigate and determine the rights of applicants for citizenship in the five civilized tribes The commission is at present engaged in this work among the tribes and has made appointments for taking the census of these people up to and including the SOth of the present month LEGISLATION NECESSARY Should the agreement between the Choctaws ind Chickasaws be nititietl by congress and should the other tribes fail to make an agreement with the commission commis-sion then it will be necessary that some legislation shall be had by congress which white just and honorable to the Indians sha be equitable to the white people who have settled upon these lands by invitation or the tribal nations Hon Henry L Dawes chairman of the committee com-mittee in a letter to the secretary of the I interior under date of Oct 11 Ib97 says WHAT DAWES SAID Individual ownership is In their the commissions opinion absolutely essential to any permanent improvement in conditions condi-tions and the lack of it is the root of nearly all th evils which have so grievously afflicted these people Allotment Allot-ment by agreement is the only possible method unless the United States courts are clothed with the authority to apportion appor-tion the lands among the citizen Indians for whose use it was originally granted I concur with the secretary of the interior that there can be no cure for th > evils engendered by the perversion of these great trusts excepting by their resumption by the government which created them |