BULL. 30] 



COMMUNIPAW 



333 



Commission proceeded to request a hear- 

 ing from eat'h nation in turn, asking it to 

 treat with the United States, and after- 

 ward made the same offer to a joint con- 

 vention. The proposal was received with 

 some favor, but persistent misinterpreta- 

 tion of the purpose and proposals of the 

 United States by the favored class created 

 prejudice among the ignorant Indians, 

 and the overtures were refused. Private 

 and public conferences were held and 

 further proposals made. Whenever the 

 purposes of the United States were un- 

 derstood a desire appeared for a friendly 

 agreement, but adverse pressure of many 

 kinds was constantly and successfully 

 brought to bear. As the internal condi- 

 tions grew worse the situation became a 

 menace to the surrounding country. Ac- 

 cordingly the United States was com- 

 pelled to resume its right of i^rotection 

 and control, hitherto held in abeyance. 

 In June, 1898, Congress passed a law, 

 generally known as the Curtis act, pro- 

 viding that in case no agreements could 

 be reached the Indian courts should be 

 abolished or curtailed in jurisdiction, and 

 giving the Commission authority to allot 

 the land and otherwise to proceed with 

 the work for which it was created. 



Agreements were made with the tribes 

 at various times, but none of them was 

 completed until after the passage of this 

 act. As the land titles differed with each 

 tribe, separate agreements were neces- 

 sary. In the case of the Choctaw and 

 Chickasaw the land was held in common, 

 but agreements were necessary with each 

 government. Two agreements were made 

 with the Creeks in 1897, but failed of 

 ratification. Many other vain attempts 

 were made, l)ut on Mar. 8, 1900, an 

 agreement passed the Creek council which 

 was ratified by Congress. Agreements 

 with the Cherokee were made in 1899 

 and in 1900, but failed either in Congress 

 or in the Cherokee council. Another 

 agreement was sought by the Cherokee 

 in Apr., 1901, but too late, and allotment 

 proceeded under the Curtis act. An 

 agreement made with the Choctaw and 

 Chickasaw in Feb., 1901, failed to be 

 ratified by the Chickasaw. Another in 

 Mar., 1902, was ratified by both nations 

 and by Congress. An agreement with 

 the Seminole was made in Oct., 1899, and 

 ratified by Congress. Several other agree- 

 ments were made from time to time re- 

 garding the enrollment of citizens, or 

 otherwise supplementary to the main 

 agreements. 



Allotment began among the Creeks in 

 1899, the Seminole in 1901, and in the 

 other nations in 1903. Congress also pro- 

 vided that the Commission should make 

 citizenship rolls for each tribe, containing 

 lists of such Indians as were justly en- 



titled to share in the division of the land. 

 Of the 200,000 claims presented, about 

 90,000 were allowed. These decisions 

 included the question of the rights of the 

 Mississippi Choctaw, the care of the freed- 

 men who had been owned as slaves by 

 these Indians and after the Civil war 

 granted citizenship, and several other 

 difficult questions. 



The Commission was required to allot 

 the land according to its value. This 

 differed greatly on account of the coal, 

 asphalt, and other minerals, of the valu- 

 able timber, of its great agricultural possi- 

 bilities, and of its large towns with fiour- 

 ishing business interests. It was there- 

 fore necessary to determine the value of 

 each quarter section. The Commission 

 surveyed the country, appraised these 

 values, decided and carried out plans for 

 the eciuitable and possible adjustment of 

 the town sites, and made triplicate records 

 of all these matters. This occupied a 

 large cleric?^ force, at one time amounting 

 to 500, from 1898 to 1905. 



In 1903 charges w^ere made by the In- 

 dian Rights Association that the members 

 and officers of the Commission had used 

 their positions to advance their private 

 interests. President Roosevelt appointed 

 Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte and Mr Clinton 

 R. Woodruff to investigate these charges. 

 Their report, while advising circumspec- 

 tion in these particulars, exonerated the 

 Commission from all malfeasance. 



By the processes described, and by a 

 large amount of other detailed work, 

 20,000,000 acres of land were justly dis- 

 tributed among 90,000 heirs; the interests 

 of 600,000 other inhabitants were con- 

 served, and an enormous amount of labor 

 connected therewith was successfully 

 carried on under difficult conditions of 

 many kinds. The work of allotment occu- 

 pied about 7 years and was accomplished 

 at a cost equivalent to 10 cents an acre 

 for the land allotted. Thus by the work 

 of the Commission from 1893 to 1905 five 

 governments with their executive, legis- 

 lative, and judicial machinery were suc- 

 cessfully transformed into a constituent 

 part of the United States by transactions 

 which secured all their just rights and 

 promoted their highest welfare, as well 

 as contributed to the best interests of the 

 whole country. 



See the Reports of the Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs, 1893-1905; Reports of the 

 Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 

 1894-1905. _ (a. L. D.) 



Communipaw ('good fishing.' — Jones, 

 Ind. Bui., 15, 1867). The principal vil- 

 lage of the Hackensack, about 1630, at 

 the present Communipaw, Hudson co., 

 N. J. (j. M.) 



Communipau.— Ruttenber, Tribes Hudson R., 90. 

 1872. Gamoenapa. — Ibid. (Dutch form). Gamo- 



