It is quite obvious to us that the outstanding need in the situation we are presenting is for Congress to take action now which will enable the constituted authorities to handle the crisis that will come upon this group of the Nation's wards within the next five years to the best interests of the Indians.

As the result of deliberation we have arrived at certain conclusions. We have embodied our views on the situation in the following recommendations which we beg leave to submit with the purpose of centering the attention of the legislative and executive Federal authorities upon a matter of supreme importance, not only to the Indians and white people of Oklahoma but also to all the people of the United States:

It is recommended

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That Congress shall provide for extending the period of restrictions after 1931 for those restricted members of the Five Civilized Tribes who, in 1931, shall be 40 years of age or older or who, through physical or mental ills, are incapable of self-support; such extension to be for the life of the original allottee; and that provision be made for removal of restrictions as at present authorized for other tribes.

2. That the able-bodied Indians, excepting such as may be mentally incapacitated, who in 1931 will be between the ages of 21 and 40 years, shall now be urged in all the ways within the possibilities of the Federal authorities to prepare themselves for handling their own property and that at the end of the present restricted period they shall be released from further restrictions and be paid such funds as will then be due them, and the period of wardship shall for them be at an end.

3. That there shall be made, forthwith, by an impartial group of persons from outside of the State of Oklahoma, an enumeration of the restricted members of the Five Civilized Tribes, enrolled and unenrolled, which will give the population by tribes and the residence, sex, age, blood status and the educational, social, economic, physical, mental, and living condition and property holdings, and the use thereof, of each individual so that there will be furnished adequate information for the classification and future treatment of these Indians.

4. That the restricted Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes who have an annual income of $5,000 or more be segregated into a class for the speedy disposition of their estates either by the removal of all their restrictions, or the creation of a trusteeship for each estate by employing well-established and competent trust companies or banks, which make a business of handling estates, for this purpose, and which will have the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.

5. That Congress shall promptly repeal the law which made the office of the superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes appointive by the President and that the present superintendency be subdivided into two or more jurisdications similar to others in the Indian Service with their employees subject to the civil service law.

6. That Congress shall enact legislation which will restore to the Secretary of the Interior the supervision of the property of restricted

members of the Five Civilized Tribes which was taken from him by the act of May 27, 1908, and subsequent legislation; which will provide that restricted lands can not be leased for agricultural purposes by restricted members of the Five Civilized Tribes without Federal supervision; which will provide that such members can not execute valid wills disposing of restricted property without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior; and which will confer upon the probate attorneys the authority that will enable them to more effectively safeguard the interests of these Indians in the probating of estates and in the sale of inherited property.

7. That a medical service for the Five Civilized Tribes be established with sufficient personnel and equipment adequately to care for the health of these Indians and that special efforts be made to provide hospitalization for advanced cases of tuberculosis that now are not permitted to be treated in Indian Service hospitals.

8. That field matrons and more farmers be detailed by the Indian Service to this superintendency and that the five-year industrial program which has been successfully adopted on the Blackfeet and other reservations be put into effect for the benefit of the restricted members of the Five Civilized Tribes.

9. That every encouragement be given the education division of the Indian Service in its efforts to provide school facilities for all the restricted children of the Five Civilized Tribes, and further, that when the coal and asphalt properties of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes have been sold, a substantial proportion of the proceeds shall be set aside for the education of the children of these two tribes.

EXTENSION OF RESTRICTIONS

Space limitations preclude an extensive review of the happenings which brought about the present situation in the Five Civilized Tribes. But the pertinent facts are well known and complete information is available in the printed reports of the several hearings which have been held by the Senate and House Committees on Ind an Affairs, in reports of investigations made by those committees and others, and in printed reports of the Superintendents for the Five Civilized Tribes and of Government and non-Government organizations. However, it will be necessary to refer briefly to some of the salient historical facts.

In 1906, by virtue of the act of 1887 (commonly known as the Dawes Act) 15,794,218 acres of land in the then Indian Territory were allotted in severalty to 101,506 persons of whom 75,519 were Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole Indians— the Five Civilized Tribes; 23,405 were negro freedmen and 2,582 were intermarried whites.

The act of May 27, 1908, removed all restrictions from about twothirds of these allottees. Subsequently the authorized removal of restrictions by the Secretary of the Interior, and deaths, further reduced the total of restricted enrolled and allotted Indians to the present number of approximately 16,000, holding 2,051,812 acres of land. It will be the surviving members of this group who, in 1931, will be "turned loose" without protection unless Congress inter

venes.

Because of the diversity of opinion it is idle to even hope that any proffered solution of the problem concerning the extension of the restriction period will be approved by all the persons who are interested in the matter. There are some good, disinterested friends of these Indians who are demanding that no extension shall be granted excepting in the case of Indians who are incapacitated by age or infirmities. Other equally good and disinterested friends are as firmly convinced that justice to these Indians requires that all of them shall have their restrictions continued by Congress for a term of years, and it has been suggested that the whole business be turned over to a competency commission with power to act. Several groups of Cherokee and Creek Indians have filed with us memorials urging the extension of the period to all full bloods.

After considering the whole situation we have arrived at the conclusion that able-bodied Indians who in 1931 will be between the ages of 21 and 40 years should then be given their allotted lands and their money free from all restrictions and thus be separated from Federal guardianship. We are not deluding ourselves in the belief that any considerable number of them will hold their lands for long, but they will be in the possession of health and strength and ability to earn their own living either on their own farms or as wage workers. It seems both sensible and just that these Indians between 21 and 40 years of age should not have their restrictions extended beyond 1931.

For Indians who, in 1931, will be beyond the age of 40 years, and those under that age who are physically or mentally incapacitated, we are of the opinion that the Government should continue guardianship during the life of the original allottee with provision for the declaration of competency as at present authorized. Coupled with that should be the responsibility, and not only the responsibility but the duty as well, of training the next generation to a greater degree of usefulness. It is necessary, perhaps, that the elders of the present generation remain a public charge; but this necessity ought to be construed as conferring upon the public the right to require the education of the coming generation away from this state of tutelage.

NEED OF ACCURATE INFORMATION

Accurate information of the economic and social conditions of the restricted members of the Five Civilized Tribes is a prime necessity for the intelligent working out of their pressing problem— and this information is lacking. We are informed that the field clerks of the Five Tribes Agency are making a census of the restricted Indian population. Doubtless they will arrive at a close approximation, but a mere enumeration will not furnish the data which Congress should have to draft legislation that will pave the way to a practical, satisfactory solution of this complex problem.

Congress should know not only how many restricted Indians there are, where they live, what tribes they belong to, how many acres and how much money each has, but it should know how far each Indian has progressed, how much and what kind of an education each has had, what use has he been making of his allotment, what chance has he to take unaided care of himself if he is turned loose

in 1931, what is his physical and mental condition, etc. In short, Congress should be given the full information concerning these Indians which only can be obtained by a house-to-house canvass by persons who know how to make such a canvass.

We have ventured to recommend that this sort of a survey be undertaken by a group of disinterested persons from outside of Oklahoma, for in view of the present situation it is deemed of the utmost importance that the survey should be unembarrassed by local interests and local influences, and this includes the Indian Service. We believe there are organizations, amply financed and manned, which would undertake this task without expense to the Government. And it is obvious that a report from a non-Government, disinterested organization, with a field force of experts, would carry great weight not only with Congress but also with the general public.

THE OIL RICH INDIANS

Oil has brought great wealth to about a hundred restricted members of the Five Civilized Tribes and has made a couple of hundred more fairly rich. The agency of the Five Tribes carries the accounts of over 13,000 Indians on its books. Of this number 109 are in receipt of annual incomes from oil-producing properties ranging from $5,000 to $180,000. This number is made up of 94 Creek, 11 Choctaw, 3 Seminole, and 1 Chickasaw. In addition to these there are some two hundred or more Indians whose yearly oil incomes range from $2,000 to $4,500.

Numerically this group represents less than 5 per cent of the restricted enrolled members of the Five Tribes whose affairs are handled by the agency. The total value of their oil-producing lands runs up into the tens of millions of dollars. As guardian of these Indians and as trustee for their rich estates the Government, of necessity, is compelled to manage these large income-producing properties. Their magnitude, with the complexities and manifold details incidental to their administration, monopolize the time of the greater part of the staff personnel of the agency in Muskogee.

This situation has developed a lamentable condition. The interests of 95 per cent of the restricted membership of this jurisdiction, the poorer Indians, is being sacrificed for the material benefit of an inconsequential number of wealthy persons. And this unfortunate situation will continue as long as this agency is charged with the details of administration of these large estates.

The Muskogee Agency staff can not be held blameworthy for the grossly disproportionate attention it is forced to give to the affairs of oil-rich Indians. The responsibility rather lies with Congress, which has steadfastly maintained an attitude of indifference to the urgent pleas that will be found in every annual report of Superintendents for the Five Civilized Tribes. Without exception they have insistently asked for ways and means to organize a health service to adequately care for the tubercular and trachomatous people in their charge, for field matrons to teach the common rules of household sanitation, and for other welfare workers.

Furthermore, the very existence of these large oil estates has been provocative of much of the trouble in which this jurisdiction is con

tinually involved. It is common knowledge that "grafting on rich Indians has become almost a recognized profession in eastern Oklahoma and a considerable class of unscrupulous individuals find their chief means of livelihood and source of wealth in this "grafting." So common is this practice that the term "grafter" carries little, if any, opprobrium with it in Oklahoma; it is the popular designation for one whose principal business is dealing with Indians. We have ventured the recommendation that the richer restricted Indians of this group of tribes be placed in a class for the disposition of their estates either by the removal of all restrictions thereon or the creation of a trusteeship for each estate by the employment, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, of a well-established and competent trust company or bank which makes a business of handling such trusts. In our opinion this method of procedure is both sound policy and good business, and, further, the trusteeing of such estates would make for their greater security and permanence, for they would be handled by business experts and thus be removed from the quasi political atmosphere of this superintendency.

But above all it would enable the agency staff to carry on the real work for which the Indian Service was instituted, the work of attending to the pressing needs of the long neglected poorer Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes.

CIVIL-SERVICE STATUS FOR SUPERINTENDENT

The Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes is the only superintendent in the Indian Service who has not a civil-service status. He is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, by virtue of an act of Congress approved in 1914. All other reservation superintendents are appointed by the Secretary of the Interior under civil service laws and regulations. Before 1914 this jurisdiction was ably managed by two officials appointed in conformity with the civil service law, and under them the great task of allotment and organization was practically completed.

It is quite evident that the radical change in the status of the superintending official was effected 12 years ago as a matter of political expediency. There were no unusual conditions existent at the time which required the setting apart of this agency as a unique exception to the long-established and time-tested practice that placed the field management of Indian affairs in the hands of civil-service employees. There then were a number of competent, experienced field officials having the civil-service status as there are now-any one of whom could have effectively superintended the agency for the Five Civilized Tribes.

This office is frankly regarded as a rightful perquisite of the political party in power. No other superintendency is so regarded. There is no valid reason why the Five Civilized Tribes superintendent should be unique in this respect. It certainly is a sad commentary on our vaunted American civilization that the happiness, welfare, and progress of several thousands of human beings, who happen to be the Indian wards of a great Government, should be made secondary to the political fortunes of a few white persons who happen to live in Oklahoma.