Speech #440032159

Even the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. in his last report to the Government. which has been published since this Congress has been in session. and which is found doubtless upon the desks of all the members in the House. concedes the fact that even with reference to those tribes inhabiting the Indian reservation in) the Indian Territory it is essentially necessary to have some more formidable and powerful system of management than that which belongs to the Indian Bureau as it exists in the Indterior Department. He says. upon page 48 of this report: No census hasbeen taken of the Western Cherokees in theIndian Territory since 1872. They were then reported. ia round numbers. at 17.000. which numbor has probably been swelled by natural increase ani immigration to tas000. They have been mach distmrbed duinlug th past year by an attempt to distribute a per capita relief fund of $200.000. lamv persons who claimed to belong tn the eation were excluded from participation inthe distribution. being declared aliens by the authorities. Now I call the attention of the committee especially to the following observation of the Commissioner: The contentions between the Downing am Ross factions are often bitter and sometimes bloody.