RESEARCHES AND TRANSACTIONS THE NEW YORK STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION LEWIS H. MORGAN CHAPTER ROCHESTER, N, Y. The New York Indian Complex and How to Solve It BV ARTHUR C. PARKER Secretary of the N. Y. State Indian Commission and Arcfieologist of the State Museum ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS ROCHESTER, N. Y. 1920 NEW YORK STATS ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Morgan Chapter, Rochester, N. Y. OFFICERS, 1920 President — Alvin H. Dewey, 440-444 Powers Building. First Vice President — Mrs. Dr. Frank F. Dow, 479 Park Avenue. Second Vice President — E. G. Foster, 36 Arvine Park. Secretary — Walter H. Cassebeer, 154 East Avenue. Treasurer — Edward D. Putnam, Municipal Museum, Exposition Park. ■ ICtbrtja SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has heen said "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned hook." CM Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library ARTHUR C. PARKER Vol. II. No. 1. RESEARCHES AND TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK STATE ARC HEO LOGICAL ASSOCIATION LEWIS H. MORGAN CHAPTER ROCHESTER, N. Y. The New York Indian Complex and How to Solve It BY ARTHUR C. PARKER Secretary of the N. Y. State Indian Commission and Archeologist of the State Museum ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS PUBLISHED BY LEWIS H. MORGAN CHAPTER ROCHESTER, N. Y. 1920 Press of C. F, Milliken & Co., Ca?iandaigua , N. Y. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/newyorkindiancomOOpark THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX AND HOW TO SOLVE IT* By ARTHUR C. PARKER Secretary of the Indian Commission and Archeologist of the State Museum A certain English critic of American progress recently said, " America has long boasted that she is the melting pot of the world, but for the past fifty years the racial elements in America have refused to melt." However true or untrue this may be of the immigrant groups from Europe, it is to a large extent true of the Indians of New York state. Within our state there are more than 5,000 tribal Indians living on reservations. While to all outward appearances they are civilized, these tribal Indians yet retain a certain tribal independence and are self-governing. The Onondaga nation and the Seneca nation of Indians go so far as to assert that they still live on their ancestral land and that while the State of New York has grown up around them they are yet not in the State of New York. Each claims to be a nation and living under the protection of certain treaty rights that guarantee to them their sovereignty. Indeed some of the other tribes make this claim under the treaty of Canandaigua of 1794, proclaimed on January 21st, 1795, asserting that article 2 of this treaty promised : "The United States acknowledges the lands reserved to the Oneida, Onondaga and Cayuga nations in their respective treaties with the State of New York, and called their reservations to be their property; and the United States will never claim the same nor disturb them or either of the Six Nations, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof; but the said reservations shall be tiheirs until they choose to sell the salme to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase." Some of the lands reserved have been sold, many acres have gone by a process of enforced "choice". The Oneidas * A paper prepared especially for Morgan Chapter, in response to the Chapter resolution on Indian citizenship. 4 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX and Cayugas are practically landless through such means. The Indian nations finding their property shrinking made a determined stand to resist further sale. The Senecas and Onondagas have been especially firm toward all measures by which more of their land might be taken. The Senecas learned a bitter lesson through the fraudulent " Treaty of Buffalo" by which they lost the Buffalo creek reservation in 1838, and fought so bitterly that an amended treaty was made in 1842 by which they retained their lands on the Allegany and Cattaraugus. The contention of these Indians, who belong to the famous League of the Iroquois or Six Nations, is that they were nations long before the United States was established and were regarded as independent to such a degree that they made treaties with the foreign colonists from Europe, who later established the state of Xew York and the Fnited States. "Why should we give up our government which in the days of the white invasion was a stable and powerful one?" say the Indians. "If the I T niterl Stntes desires consolidation lot them come to us seeking admission to our confederacy: we are the oldest government and we still exist and desire to exist." Here then is a problem of assimilation: shall the white man become an Iroquois or shall the Iroquois become as white men? It is an example of a racial group that has refused to melt. I. How effective is tribal government today? Each of the Indian tribes has some form of government, but not one retains the form of government it had at the close of the Revolutionary war. The old League of the Iroquois had a form of governmental administration that was nearly ideal for the state of society and the economic conditions with which it was designed to cope. But soon after the Revolutionary war the old government crumbled and was seized by councils of war chiefs. These Indian councils became extremely corrupt and incompetent. The Seneca nation, for example, had in 1838 at least 70 chiefs as opposed to eight sachems under the original league schedule. There were still sachems who formed a sort of honorary body but they did not govern. 6 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX In 1848 the Seneca nation had a revolution and formed a republic, this departure being a result of the corrupt govern- ment by chiefs through which the Senecas lost the Buffalo creek tract and nearly lost the rest of their possessions. As a result the Tonawanda band seceded from the Seneca nation and by paying for lands once their own they secured again a homeland and retained a tribal existence. Under the pressure of the white man s economic and social environment these Indians have undergone a great change. Externally they are " whitemanized". The economic factor governs the policy of their governments and the old time Indian ideals have mostly vanished. Several investigations and several official reports show that the tribal governments are inefficient and frequently corrupt. Indian officials are astute politicians, many times outwitting their white competitors. The Indian courts where a tribe has them are likewise incompetent and justice is said to be hard to obtain unless the seeker is on the side of the political party that sits as a court. None of the tribes has jails and arrests by the Indian marshal are conspicuous by their infrequency. The United States courts take cognizance of the major crimes and try them, but petty crimes on reservations, excepting the Oneidas and possibly the St. Regis, go unpunished, save by the feudal revenge of the aggrieved party. To some extent the State has extended laws over the reservations and has sought to enforce the "compulsory school attendance law", but a year ago the attorney general's office rendered an opinion that the State could not enforce its laws over the tribal Indians living under the protection of the treaty of 1795. The State departments were thrown into confusion for the departments of education, health and charities had expended large sums for the improve- ment and protection of the Indians, and now saw themselves unable to enforce their laws. The attorney general ruled that these Indians were the wards of the federal government and not of the state, and Deputy Attorney General Jenks in explaining the opinion went so far as to assert that he believed that all laws passed by the State legislature and seeking to govern certain internal affairs of the several tribes were invalid THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX 7 and without force. The Indians soon learned of this opinion, it having grown out of an alleged violation of the conservation law, and those of them who stood for independent tribalism had another argument. Most of the reservations are small communities so far as population is concerned and this makes effective government difficult. Most members of a tribe know each other personally and have their personal likes and aversions toward individuals. The tribal officers can scarcely make their orders impersonal. In enforcing tribal law T they have no feeling that a higher officer and a stronger arm of the government is back of them; and in failing to perform their duties they likewise feel no prod of this arm. Tribal life is thereioie largely laissez faire. It is true that the reservations, especially those of the Senecas and the Onondagas, have picturesque features and that these have communities of non-Christian Indians who worship the Great Spirit in ancient form. But no community can live because of picturesque features alone, unless that feature is commercialized. A ruined castle does not make a comfortable dwelling. II. How do these Indians live? The Seneca nation is a corporation of Indians living on the Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations in Erie, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties. The Cattaraugus tract occupies the Cattaraugus valley from the mouth to Gowanda, and the Allegany tract occupies the Allegany valley from Carrolton to Onoville. The city of Salamanca lies in the heart of this reservation, and five other villages lie on leased tracts. The Seneca nation owns the Oil Spring reserve, a tract of 640 acres. Altogether the Seneca nation occupies 52,000 acres and has a population of 2,550 souls. Seneca land is valuable because of the oil and gas found beneath it, while the surface to a considerable extent embraces some of the best agricultural land in the state. In matters of the reform of the Seneca government the oil and gas rights, now leased by several corporations, constitute the veritable "Ethiopian in the fuel pile". Certain officials of the nation are charged with doing exactly what the 8 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX oil and gas operators desire, and of course a pecuniary reward is imputed. The Tonawanda band of Senecas live on a reservation purchased by them and situated in north-eastern Erie and north-western, Genesee counties, along Tonawanda creek. They have 7,549 acres and a population 01 061. Trie land is cnieny agricultural. The reservation of the Tuscaroras, who originally came from North Carolina, embraces 6,249 acres of Niagara county land, and there are 475 Tuscaroras. They have some good agricultural land and some excellent fruit orchards. They own a good stone quarry. The Onondaga reservation or ■"national domain'' embraces 6,1UU acres and is '"surrounded by Onondaga county". There are about 575 Onondagas. Their land is good in the valley but the hilly uplands are of little worth. They own a stone quarry which is leased to white operators. Many of the men who have little land work in the city of Syracuse which is only seven miles distant, or two miles or less from a trolley line. The St. Regis reservation lies in Franklin and St. Lawrence counties and embraces 14,640 acres and has a population of about 1,420 Indians. Across the line in Canada there are more than a thousand of these Indians holding some 12,000 acres. The St. Regis are mostly Mohawks, but have some Oneida and Onondaga admixture. There is a large amount of white blood in this tribe and most of its members are less than half Indian. The so-called Shinnecock Indians live in the town of Southhampton, Suffolk county, Long Island, where some 450 acres are occupied. The original Shinnecock men were seamen and whalers. By 1876 nearly all the males had perished from shipwreck and other marine disasters. A settlement of negroes from the south then began to intermarry with the Shinnecock women until today the so-called tribe shows a pronounced African tinge. These people do a little gardening but are mostly fishermen and day laborers. None of the Indians in this state live by Indian pursuits. Their economic life is entirely that of the white man and they depend upon the white man's methods to supply their wants. THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX 9 They raise little or no wool, and their farming, dairying, and to some extent poultry keeping, forms the bulk of their production. The St. Regis to some degree are makers of snow shoes, lacrosse sticks and baskets. Nearly all the tribes have a few basket makers and bead workers. Many of the Indian men and some Indian women work in factories, dairies, canneries, shops and stores. The Indian is not naturally a farmer to any greater degree than his white neighbor, but chooses his occupation according to his taste. A considerable number work for the railroads, some of them in offices. The Iroquois have produced some doctors, lawyers, engineers, clergymen and teachers as well as a few excellent business experts, but these are not numerous. Indian homes and farms are like those of rural whites, but many dwellings are yet of logs and some are mere shacks. To the contrary there are some fine houses furnished with many modern conveniences. Some Indian farmers also have many kinds of machinery and modern devices for dairying. The tendency of the Indian economically and socially is toward the white man's ideal of things. The old and conservative Indians who retain their ancient beliefs and who have resisted the advancements of education control about one fifth the population of the Senecas and Tonawandas. But even these are dependent on the products of civilization and aspire to the white man's goods. Typical log cabin home of the non-Christian Indians. 10 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX It is thus seen that our State Indians have no economic separateness but are a part of our economic system. They are out of adjustment to it only because they seek to retain certain forms of tribalism, and tribal custom. Their greatest drawback is ignorance and the tyranny of tribal precedents. III. Do these Indians own in fee their land? In a decision rendered in the case of the Seneca nation versus Christie, (1891) 126 N. Y., 122, 27 N. E., 275 the court said, "The fee to the lands on Indian reservations is in the State, subject to the Indians' right of occupation." This was a Seneca case, but in the recent case of George V. Pierce, (1914) 85 Misc. 105, 148. N. Y. S., 230, the court also applied this decision to the Onondagas. Said the court, "The fee of the Onondaga reservation is in the State. Over it the State has the exclusive right of preemption. They constitute an alien nation, not a subject one." The fee of the Tonawanda and the St. Regis reservations is also in the State, but unlike other Indians the Tonawandas hold their land by purchase. One of the peculiar conditions governing the tenure of the lands of the Seneca nation is the so-called Ogden land claim. Before the colony of New York was definitely fixed, the colony of Massachusetts, in accordance with the customs of the times laid claim to the lands west of the Genesee river. When the war of the Revolution determined that a new country should be erected from the several states, Massachusetts gave New York the sovereignty over the western New York land so claimed but retained the preemptive right, subject to the extinguishment of the Indian title. Later Massachusetts sold this right to Robert Morris for $1,000,000 and Morris sold it, or lost it through mortgage, to the Ogden land company. The lands of the Seneca nation, except Oil Spring, and a part of the Tuscarora tract, are under this Ogden cloud. The Senecas and Tuscaroras fear that if they ever become citizens through the abandonment of their tribal government the Ogden claimants may assert owner- ship of their lands and expel them. The courts have never definitely said what the value or extent of the Ogden claim is, but the Ogdon company through Charles Applebe, trustee, asked $200,000 for its right over the reservation lands. THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX 11 The Ononclagas claim that they alone own their land and that the white man has no title to it since the white man never owned it. "We cannot be disturbed in our possession of our ancestral domain," they vehemently assert. IV. How does tribal life react upon the Indians? Tribalism affects the Indians of this state in various ways, some of which have already been discussed. In the first instance it keeps them as a special people who are not subject to the responsibilities of citizens. It makes them a "peculiar people" who are exempt from the duty of caring for themselves entirely. Individuals do not feel their full social or civic responsibility. Indians cannot be sued by white citizens. Indians do not pay taxes. They feel that the white man has usurped so many of their s rights that he should atone for his wrongs by giving to the Indian schools and churches, orphanages and the offices of the Charities department. They want the white man to build their roads and bridges. Now it may be right for the white man to fulfill his promises to the Indians, but that the Indians should receive these benefits is pauperizing to them. It places the Indian in the attitude of saying, "Give me schools, religion, charity, medical attendance, annuities, roads and gratuities, — I'll take these things because they are free, and treat them accordingly." This system denies to the Indian one of life's greatest rights — that of having an active, determining part in supplying himself with the requirements of civilization. The system is weakening and degenerating. It has made the "noble red man" a beggar. As the years go on it will break down his self reliance and replace it with shrinking fear. Even now many Indians fear the coming of citizenship and seek by every means to avoid it. They fear taxation for fear it may cause them to lose their lands. They fear the keen competition of white men \vlio may come to live near them as neighbors. After all, it is only an instinctive dread of a native people for the relentless power of a dominant culture. The Indian, however, has as great capacity as his white neighbor. The laziness of mind that comes from the "take-it- 12 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX easy" reservation life inhibits expansion. "We are Indians," say the fearful, "and we want to live as we do. It is the ' Indian way ' and is best for us ; we are happy. ' ' To some extent the Indian school system has been at fault, especially the education afforded by the government schools. These for the most part are but common grammar schools leading but little above the eighth grade. The Carlisle school, though in foot ball rated with the universities, was but an elementary school with a trade shop addition. An Indian youth, fooled into the belief that he had acquired an education in one of these institutions, soon found himself ill equipped to meet his better trained white competitor. The Indian to be rightly trained should have received a "white man's education" and not an Indian education just because he was an Indian, since his economic life was to be in a white man's world. Indians trained properly have risen to considerable heights in the business and professional world, but they have not usually been Indians who had only an "Indian education" or who lived on reservations. Tribalism, it is therefore found, diminishes the expansion of capacity. An Indian cannot ordinarily achieve his best in the tribal state. He cannot become as useful a factor to humanity in the tribal state as in the citizen state. He becomes ingrowing and static instead of expanding and dynamic. Tribalism in civilization, having special protection and gratuities, constitutes a socially weak spot in the common social fabric. It emphasizes exemption. As a result Indians are more ignorant than the surrounding whites-, they are not as healthy-, they are not as thrifty: they are not as valuable as contributing factors to the world's progress: they are a menace to themselves. There are those who think that an Indian tribe should be conserved as a sort of menagerie or museum wherein the aborigines may be allowed to rove and slumber to extinction, but persons who thus think must realize that Indians must move upward in the scale of progress as must every race that is to survive. The white man of today has moved upward and away from his cruder life in the acre of the Druids, and the white THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPL/EX 13 man should give the Indian this right. This is a world in which economic conditions largely govern. Anything that places the Indian as an exception, as tribalism does, contributes to the destruction of the Indian. The Indian must struggle and think in a modern way if he is to survive as a virile member of the human race. His right is to have this experience of struggling to obtain greater heights. V. How did the white man acquire New York? The white European claimed sovereignty over New York state by right of discovery. The British claim to New York after the extinguishment of the Dutch claim was simply the sole right to colonize and to trade with the Indians. None of the English grants gave the grantee the right to take the soil by conquest but only through an extinguishment of the Indian title by purchase or treaty. When the Indians sold their lands they passed to the colonists and to the crown the right of governing those lands. By treaty the English bound the Indians to sell only to them. This prevented the establishment of little colonial provinces staked out like a checker board and under the rule of various sovereigns. The Indians fully understood that once they parted with their lands they could rule them no longer. Moreover these New York Indians fully understood what rights were gained and lost by conquest. The New York Iroquois came into New York and Canada from other regions and acquired the land by conquest or deliberate occupation. They destroyed the nationality of numerous tribes in historical times and claimed these lands and the right to sell them to the whites. Some of the Iroquois tribes were allies of the British in the Revolutionary war and went down in defeat with the British. In this way the Mohawks largely lost their lands and hunting grounds. Captain Brant, the Mohawk chief and principal leader, fully understood the consequences of the defeat of his nation as the ally of the British. As his people had gained their land by conquest so they lost it by conquest. The whole thing, though unhappy, was in full accord with the rules of warfare and possession as the Indians understood them. 14 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX Now, there are some friends of the Indian, more sentimental than practical, who believe that our Indians were deprived of ineir lands entirely by fraud or confiscation. To a certain extent in some instances this may be true, but it is not entirely true. Where the Indians sold their lands for small sums it was because the boundless tracts of land in colonial times were worth little, at the time. There is a vast disparity in the price of land when unimproved and when a city rises upon it. It is the roadway, the buildings, the factories, the labor, the thought, the railways and the protection afforded by community life and its government that adds the hundred thousand per cent, to the value of land in its original condition. To say that the white man of today should make a readjustment of the original sale price or vacate the land for a reoccupation by the Indians is not logical. Shall the people of the British Isles repay the ancient Britons and their descendants for the lands that the ^ngio-Saxons acquired by conquest / Shall the Normans now pay the Anglo-Saxons for the land they took and governed/ Why then should we of today raise the question of an unjust occupation of this area when the Indian does not / VI. How did the Indian become a ward? For its own protection the United States bound the New York Indian nations, and others elsewhere, to treaties by which the Indian nations and tribes could deal solely with the United States and its people. If by chance some foreign nation was to be dealt with this should be done through the United States and with its consent. This was in order to protect the United States. The Indians of New York, and elsewhere, were dealt with by treaty so long as they were powerful in arms and in government and able to protect themselves. When they became comparative- ly small and unable to effectually protect their internal rights many complications arose due to the incursions and trespass of the white settlers and also due to greatly changed economic conditions. To protect the Indians from the gross invasion of their rights the United States assumed the role of guardian, gradually extending its offices as such. In the case of the United States THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX 15 v. Kagama, (1885) 118 U. S., 375, 6 S. Ct., 1109, 30 U. S. (L. ed), 228, the Court ruled : "These Indians are the wards of the nation. They are communities uependent on the United States — dependent for their political rights. Tney owe no allegiance to the States and from them receive no protection. Because of the local ill-feeling, the people of the States where they are found, are often their deadliest enemies. From their very weakness and helplessness, so largely due to the course of dealing of the federal government with them and the treaties in which it has ueen promised, there also rises the duty of protection, and with it the power. This has always been recognized by the executive and by congress and by this court whenever the question has arisen. The power of the general government over these remnants of a race once powerful, now weak and diminished, in numbers, is necessary for their protection, as well as to the safety of those among whom they dwell. It must exist in that government, because it has never existed anywhere else, because the theatre of its existence is within the geographical limits of the United States, because it has never been denied, and because it alone can enforce its laws on all the tribes." The Six Nations of Iroquois entered into many treaties with the English and acknowledged that they had placed themselves under the protection of the Duke of York. This "protection" with the weakening of the political power of the Indians and the changes in government has ripened on the part of the dominant government, the United States, into a status of guardian and ward. Indeed the Indians by frequent acknowledgment have regarded themselves as wards and sought the government as their guardian. VII. What will be the ultimate fate of these tribes? 1. They will become extinct through the dissipation of their members by distribution in the citizen communities or hy death, 2. They will become absorbed in the white race by intermarriage, or 3. Eventually become citizens of the commonwealth. 1. There seems no immediate likelihood of the tribes becoming extinct. The population of the tribes has increased twenty per cent, in the last hundred years, or from 4,538 in 1820, (N. Y. census) to 6,046 in 1910 (U. S. census). Certain tribal members enter the business life of the country, but most of these retain a residence on their respective reservations. This is not dissipation. 2. There is more or less intermarriage between the whites and the Xew York Indians, so much so that it is to be doubted 16 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX that the Indian blood averages as much as 75 per cent. now. This dilution will continue until, if the tribes retain their status, the preponderance of blood will be Anglo-Saxon. 3. The policy of the United States government is to prepare the Indians for citizenship and to confer citizenship as a right when individual Indians are found to be competent in our commercial life. Citizenship is an inescapable goal. The Indians of this State some day will be citizens, for it is anomalous that there should be nations within the nation and portions of the population segregated and living under special laws. VIII. If, then, citizenship is the ultimate fate of the Indians of New York, what barriers interpose to prevent the bestowal of citizenship? 1. Many of the Indians living on the reservations in this State desire to avoid the responsibilities of citizenship as long as possible, finding it easier to live in tribalism than in citizen- ship. They fear the loss of lands through the accruement of taxes that they cannot pay and to the quick inrush of whites who will eagerly buy their lands. In a tribal state they have a refuge with their fellow tribesmen. The poor and the landless thus have an asylum. Reservations are refuges for the incompetent and thriftless who may live on the energy of the thrifty and landholding tribesmen. 2. Certain treaties, notably that of 1795, pledge to the New York State Indians freedom from interference and molestation. The treaties do not affect the St. Regis tribe. 3. The Ogden land claim seems to be a lien or preemptive claim upon the lands of the Seneca nation and a portion of the Tuscaroras. If the tribes are dissolved and citizenship granted the Ogden claimants will assume ownership of the Indian lands, but this claim may be only the right of first bid. The claim has never been definitely determined though it has been before the courts several times. 4. Certain contracts and treaties between these Indians and the State and federal governments promise certain annuities and other gratuities. These must be reckoned with and satisfied. 5. If citizenship is extended without protecting former rights the Indians may lose the right to certain claims that they THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX 17 now assert against the State and Nation. This might amount to confiscation without recompense, since the claims are in the names of the several tribes and not in bodies of citizenized Indians. IX. How may these barriers be removed? 1. By educating these Indians in the meaning of citizen- ship and proving that they must make ready for it as an inescapable event that is not far off. Tribalism blinds the Indians to their real destiny and part in the common struggle of universal humanity. They must understand that every individual and aggregate of individuals must conform to the laws of moral, economic and social progress. There must be an intensive child and adult educational drive. 2. By trying out in the Supreme court the validity of the Ogden land claim and by paying this claim if found to be just. If found merely to be the first right of bid and not a title in fee or a sole right to buy, then the claim will be without prejudice. 3. By showing that greatly changed conditions among the whites and especially among the Indians have made old treaties and tribalism anomalous in the present state of progress. The Indians of today are not in the same condition that their ancestors were. The descendants of the people treated with by the government have outgrown the special forms of legal protection, so much so that these things have become restraints to their progress and barriers to their higher rights. 4. By capitalizing all treaty and trust funds and by paying out these moneys pro-rata to each person entitled to receive the same. 5. By making a complete and final roll of every member of a tribe and every other person who by descent is entitled to receive a share of his tribal ancestors' property and money. The roll should be held open for a period during which time claimants who had been excluded might make application for enrollment and during which time those enrolled but not entitled to enrollment might be excluded. 6. By capitalizing all tribal property, except land for dwellings and agriculture, and selling this property, giving the Indians the first and preferential bid, then distributing the 18 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX amount realized per capita to enrolled members of the respective tribes. 7. By causing the various railroads and industries located on Indian reservations to pay an assessed amount for the value of the lands occupied by them or to vacate these lands. 8. By causing the various villages and the City of Salamanca located on Indian lands to pay into the Indian tribal treasury or into the trust fund created, sums equivalent to the present value of the property beld by them, said values to be determined by a commission. 0. By reserving tbe right of the enrolled members of tribes jointly to start action at any time within ten years after the bestowal of citizenship, and at any time before this end, to recover on any claim against individual citizen, corporation, or the State or federal governments and the people thereof. The bestowal of citizenship must not prejudice or invalidate any tribal claim to things of value in which the tribe has an interest or title. 10. By establishing a competency commission whereby the money and property of minor and incompetent Indians might be safeguarded. 11. By giving each competent Indian the deed of the land he now holds and can show a title to, or other right of occupancy, subject of course to the opinion of the courts of the State. 12. By abolishing all tribal courts and forms of tribal government. 13. By extending over the Indians in their several communities and elsewhere all the laws of the State and the Nation. 14. By extending citizenship and the right of franchise to m11 competent Indians. X. What precedents have we for such action? The United States governmenl has steadily pursued ;i policy of educating Indians for citizenship. Under the Dawes general allotment net of 18*7 nil Indians except those of New York were given individual holdings of their tribal land and a trust patent, which after the expiration of twenty-five years would THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX 19 give the Indian or his heirs full title with the right to sell. Allotted Indians were regarded as citizens and enumerated as "Indians taxed". Legislation grew up to further protect the allotted Indian which in the end amounted to complex restrictions. The Burke act of 1906 deferred citizenship after the expiration of the trust period. Later, about 1914, the department of the interior organized competency commissions to determine what individual Indians were competent to receive without restriction their full property. Congress now has a bill pending before it. (passed the House Jan. 14, 1920) which makes all Indians citizens but protects their holdings due them from their former tribal condition. The only Indians excepted are the five civilized tribes of Oklahoma who have been specially provided for already, the Osage nation with its rich oil fields and the Seneca nation of New York. This last exception was made because of the cloud of the Ogden land claim to the Seneca domain. All societies and associations of Indians and white citizens interested in Indian welfare have advised education toward citizenship. Among these are the Indian Rights Association, the National Indian Association, the Boston Indian Citizenship League, the Board of Indian Commissioners, the Lake Mohonk Conference, the Federated Indian Conference of Philadelphia, and several others. XI. What would be the results of citizenship? Reservations are places of social and moral stagnation. When the barriers are cut and the normal stream of civic responsibility and vigorous citizenship flows into and through them stagnation will cease. Instead of lethargy there will be an awakening that will stimulate moral energy. The release of moral energy is one of the objects of civilization and citizenship. The onward march of progress cannot be stopped and no social group can hope to survive as a healthy one that does not keep pace and step. Without doubt citizenship bestowed upon the New York Indians would be a bitter experience to some. Those who have refused to prepare for it and those who because of the degenerating influence of tribalism have become diseased 20 THE NEW YORK INDIAN COMPLEX morally and physically will go the way of all created things that have been arrested in development, reverted or perverted. The law of nature is that the unfit shall be weeded out to make room for the energetic and competent, Citizenship for the New York Indians will prevent the propagation of the unfit and put a premium on the thrift of those who aspire. Citizenship will give us a better grade of Indians more nearly like the Indians of old in point of stamina and independence of character. It will make the descendant of the first American of old the right kind of American today. An oat field on a N. Y. Indian reservation. THE NEW YORK STATE AROKEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. Lewis H. Morgan Chapter. The object of this Chapter shall be to promote historical study and intelligent research covering the artifacts, rites, customs, beliefs and other phases of the lives of the aboriginal occupants of New York State up to and including contact with the whites; to preserve the mounds, ruins and other evidences of these people, and to co-operate with the State Association in effecting a wider knowledge of New York State Archeology, and to help secure legislation for needed ends. Also to main- tain sympathetic appreciation of the history of the American Indians, particularly of those now resident in New York State, to the end that all of their ancient wrongs and grievances may be righted agreeably to their just desires both as to property and citizenship. Also to publish papers covering the results of field w r ork of members or other matters within the purview of the Chapter. All persons interested in these subjects are invited to become members of the Association or of the local Chapter nearest to them-. ^ ' The Association and its Chapters plan to issue a uniform series of transactions and researches covering all fields consistent with the objects of the Association. All members of the Association or of its constituent Chapters are issued a membership certificate suitable for framing and a pocket membership card serving as an introduction in the field where collecting is contemplated. The Association is approved by the State Education Depart- ment, University of the State of New York, and is working in cooperation with the State Museum. Address all correspondence to Alvin H. Dewey, Box 185, Rochester, N. Y., or Walter IT. Cassebeer, 236 Meigs St., Roches- ter, N. Y., or Dr. Arthur C. Parker, State Museum, Albany, N. Y.