156 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.W 



or South America a body of land sufficient for all their purposes, to bo f(jrever their 

 joint home. ... I believe also that for such ln<iians as did not desire to join 

 the colony and leave the country provision should be made for them to re|.iurchase 

 their old homes, or such other lands in the country here as they might desire, and 

 tliey coulil remain here and meet such fate as awaits them. I believe this presents 

 the most feasible and equitable solution <.if the <juestions that we must decide in the 

 near future, and will prove absolutely just and fair to all classes and conditions of 

 our citizens. I also believe that the same could be acted ujion by any or all of the 

 five civilized tribes. . . ' 



The final chapter is nearly written. By suece.ssive enactments 

 within the last ten 3'ears the jurisdiction of the Indian courts has 

 been steadily narrowed and the authority of the Federal courts pro- 

 portionately extended; the right to determine Indian citizenship has 

 been talvcn from the Indians and vested in a Government connni.ssion; 

 the lands of the five tribes have Ijeen surveyed and sectionized Ity 

 Government surveyors; and by the sweeping provisions of the Curtis 

 act of June ^8, 1898, "for the protection of the people of the Indian 

 Territory," the entire control of tribal revenues is taken from the five 

 Indian tribes and vested with a resident supervising inspector, the 

 tribal courts are abolished, allotments are made compulsory, and 

 authority is given to incorporate white men's towns in the Indian 

 trilies.'- By this act the five civilized tribes are reduced to the 

 condition of ordinary reservation triVjes under government agents 

 with white communities planted in their midst. In the meantime the 

 Dawes commission, continued up to the present, has by unremitting 

 effort In'oken down the opposition of the Choctaw and Chickasaw, 

 who have consented to allotment, while the Creeks and the Seminole 

 are now wavering.^ The Cherokee still hold out, the Ketoowah secret 

 society (47) especially being strong in its resistance, and when the end 

 comes it is possible that the protest will take shape in a wholesale 

 emigration to Mexico. Late in 1S!»7 the agent for the five tribes 

 reports that "there seems a determined purpose on the part pf many 

 fuin)loods ... to emigrate to either Mexico or South America 

 and there purchase new homes for themselves and families. Such 

 individual action may grow to the proportion of a colony, and it is 

 understood that liberal grants of land can be secured from the coun- 

 tries mentioned.* Mexican agents are now (1901) among the Cherokee 

 advocating the scheme, which may develop to include a large propor- 

 tion of the five civilized tribes.^ 



By the census of 1898, the most recent taken, as reported by Agent 



1 Letter ol' Bird Harris, May 31, 1895, in Report of_ Indian Commissioner for 1895, p. 160, 1896. 



-Synopsis of Curtis at't, ]jp. 75-79, and Curtis act In full, p. 425 et seq., in' Report of Indian Commis- 

 sioner for 1898; noted also in Report of Indian Commissioner, p. .84 et seq.. 1899. 



^ Commissioner W. A. Jones, ibid., pp. i, 84 et seti. (C'urtis act and Dawes commission). 



^ Report of .\gent D.M. Wisdom, Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. 141-144, 1897. 



■'-.Author's 7icrsonal information; see also House bill No. 1165 " for the relief of certain Indians in 

 Indian Territory." etc.. Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, 1900. 



