Harlow's Weekly (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 43, No. 20, Ed. 1 Saturday, December 1, 1934 Page: 15 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Harlow’s Weekly and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
HARLOW’S WEEKLY
15
tribes and groups, would permit Indians to re-
move legal restrictions at will and thus attain
full citizenship status in the ownership of land
and would make Indians of as little as one-
fourth blood, rather than one-half, eligible for
benefits.
Thomas said effect of the compromise would
be to make Oklahoma Indians eligible for all
forms of aid provided in tin* act, at the same
time avoiding the creation of new reservations
and the necessity for the communal setup now
required of participating Indians.
Wk -Comment on Indian Bill
The Oklahoma News presented an edi-
torial review of the vote and added:
Only 50.8 per cent of the eligibles voted on
^his measure so important to their tribal wel-
fare. Yet this is about the same as the pro-
portion of the rest of us who turn out to elect
a President. The women voted in large num-
bers.
The act, which now goes into effect, will abol-
ish the allotment system, initiate partial tribal
self-government, and start the Indians toward
a measure of economic freedom and cultural
self-determination.
Indian Commissioner Collier says of this
measure:
“It is. for Indians, the beginning of the most
precious thing in life—responsible partnership
in the world’s work, in the work of one’s own
group. How many thousands of years, in how
many races, has the struggle for that most pre-
cious thing in life gone forward! It was taken
away from the Indians ami now they may have
it again', if they desire. They do desire it.'*
In a lead editorial, last Friday, the
Muskogee Daily Phoenix commented in
part as follows upon a recent letter which
is credited to Indian Commissioner Col-
lier :
Under the heading “Campaign of Falsehoods
Directed Against Indians in Muskogee Phoenix.”
Commissioner Collier has sent a mimeographed
letter to till members of the Five Civilized
Tribes in which he states, among other things,
that “you are entitled to know that numerous
statements totally false as to fact have been
made from time to time in the news columns
of the Muskogee Daily Phoenix.”
The Phoenix does not deny that it is and
consistently has been unalterably opposed to the
provisions of the M heeler-1 loward bill which
^)voiild undo everything that has been done to-
"war<l the advancement of the Oklahoma Indian
in the last quarter of a century, or more. It
does not deny that defeat of the Collier pro-
gram for subjugation' of the Indian under ab-
solute federal control, destroying his every in-
centive toward initiative and self-improvement,
would give it great pleasure ; it does not deny
that it believes the Wheeler-Howard bill, even
with such changes as were promised by Mr.
Collier, although not yet accomplished, still
"‘»ujd work to the detriment of the Indian.
WTlPit it does emphatically deny that any of
news stories concerning the Wheeler-IIoward
bill have deliberately made even' the slightest
misrepresentation of tin1 things Commissioner
Collier has done or the things hi* has said.
It is not necessary to make a point of trying
to confuse anybody concerning the commis-
sioner’s proposed socialization of the Indian.
The Wheeler-Howard bill speaks for itself and
plenty of confusion is supplied by the commis-
sioner himself if one but compares the state-
ments he makes while in Muskogee, for Mus-
kogee and Five Tribes consumption, with the
statements he makes for general consumption
after he returns to his swivel chair in M ashing-
ton.
The Tulsa Tribune last Saturday com-
mented :
Commissioner .John Collier of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs also has a pain, as usual. After
having been quoted almost every day uhile lie
was touring Oklahoma a few weeks ago in be-
half of the Wheeler-Howard Indian bill, as ad-
mitting that the bill could not safely apply to
Oklahoma Indians, he mails us a press release
in which he vigorously attacks “repeating falsi-
fiers.” He serves notice that he has just begun
to fight for his pet bill.
Congressman Will Kogers,
Of Oklahoma City, may be’come chairman of
the House Committee on Indian Affairs
“I am confident.” says Commissioner Collier,
“that with the help of the Oklahoma delegation
the lienefits of the Wheeler-IIoward Act will be
extended to tho«e Oklahoma Indians who want
them—which is four-fifths of them all.
I’nless the press corres|M»i dents who reported
the Thomas Collier meetings with Oklahoma In-
dians an* the biggest liars on earth, only a
small minority of the Indian population of the
state approved the \\ heeler-Howard bill in its
present form. Apparently distance lends en-
chantment to those favored smiles, as Commis-
sioner Collier, back in Washington recalls
them.
But we do wish that before mailing out the
next press release Commissioner Collier would
make up his mind once and for all whether or
not he intends to recognize as warranted some
of the objections raised against his bill by Okla-
homa Indians. First he does, and then he says
he did not.
Tribes Claim Fortunes
Members of the Five Civilized Tribes
are more interested in winning claims
against the government than in the
Wheeler-Howard Act, according to the
Muskogee Daily Phoenix which, in a
news story Sunday quoted here in pait,
reported:
If the Five Civilized Tribes win ;»1 suits
against the Great White Father that are now
pending before the United States court of claims,
they will be richer by at least $511,473,151.02.
That estimate does not include 2.> separate ac-
tions, {lending before the court of claims, in
which the amount sought is unstated or unde-
termined. but in many instances estimated to
be more than the total of all other pending liti-
gations. ♦ ♦ ♦
If the Cherokees win 10 suits, they will be
richer by $39,228,143.93. although prominent
Cherokee citizens said last week that the amount
sought could more appropriately be set at ap-
proximately ,>0 million dollars, taking into
consideration' suits filed since 1930, If Creeks
can win 11 litigations, they will be richer by
$1,192,140. but 12 actions, begun by the Creek
tribe—in which the amount sought has not been
determined, are also pending before the court
of claims.
If the Choctaws and Chickasaws can win 11
suits from the government, their members will
be richer by the total of $lS.tdM»..>i3.79, with-
out consideration to four suits in which the
amount is not stated to which the two “sister”
Indian nations in southern Oklahoma are par-
ties.
By winning two suits from the government,
the Seminole nation would profit to the extent
of $47(1.294.20, but nine suits in which the
amount is unstated, estimated in excess of five
million dollars, must also eventually be decided
by the court of claims.
That, briefly, is a controversy that has in-
terested members of eastern Oklahoma s Five
Civilized Tribes more intimately than the “new
deal” proposed under the Wheeler-IIoward bill.
It was evident during the Collier-Thomas
hearings here in September that members of the
five tribes, particularly the scattered Cherokee
band, were more interested in payment of gov-
ernment monies than in ( ommissioner < oilier s
visioimry scheme of Indian social justice.
Wild applause greeted the question—“when
will the government pay us?”—on the three oc-
casions that it was asked and avoided by the
commissioner and Senator Elmer Thomas,
chairman-to-be of the Senate committee on In-
dian affairs.
Tribal Rolls Ruling
The Oklahoman-Times Washington
bureau Wednesday reported:
Justice Peyton Gordon of the District of ( o-
lumbia federal district court Tuesday signed a
final order on his decision of last week in the
Timothy Hamilton case which, in effect, reopens
the Osage Indian tribal rolls for changes and
corrections. -
In a suit brought by Amos and Marie Ham-
ilton. Osage Indians living near Hominy. Okla-
Justice Gordon issued a mandamus to compel
Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes to add to the
tribal roll the name of their dead son. Timothy,
ami allot to his heirs a share in Osage funds
estimated at $100,000, The decision was im-
mediately appealed by Indian bureau attorneys
to the district court of appeals. It is believed
similar cases will bring the amount involved in
this litigation to more than $1,000,000.
The same bureau reported Sunday that
Congressman Will Rogers, of Oklahoma
City, may become chairman of the House
Indian Affairs committee. The bureau
reports however that whether Rogers
gets the chairmanship will depend upon
whether Congressman Wilburn Cart-
wright, who also is a member of the In-
dian Affairs Committee and ranks ahead
of Rogers, takes the chairmanship. If
Cartwright relinquishes the chairman-
ship of the committee on roads he may
become the chairman of the Indian Af-
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Harlow, Victor E. Harlow's Weekly (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 43, No. 20, Ed. 1 Saturday, December 1, 1934, newspaper, December 1, 1934; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1601367/m1/15/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.