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added thereto or stricken therefrom.

See United States v. Wildcat (224 U. S. 111); Lowe v. Fisher (223 U. S. 95); Garfield v. Goldby (211 U. S. 249); United States v. Adkins (260 U. S. 220); Johnson v. Payne (253 U. S. 209).

In order that the committee may fully understand and obtain a true picture of our situation, I should like briefly to set forth historically how the title of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to the land west of the Mississippi River, which is a part of Oklahoma, was acquired, how the rolls were made and the lands allotted in severalty.

The first treaty looking to the removal of the Choctaws from their lands east of the Mississippi to the country which subsequently was known as the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, was entered into between the United States and the Choctaw Nation of Indians on October 18, 1820, at Doaks Stand, Miss., on the Natchez Road. The purpose of the treaty of 1820, as appears from its preamble, was made by both parties thereto "to promote the civilization of the Choctaw Indians by the establishment of schools among them; and to perpetuate them as a nation, by exchanging, for a small part of their land here a country beyond the Mississippi River, where all who live by hunting and will not work may be collected and settled together."

The Choctaws by this treaty ceded to the United States 4,150,000 acres of their lands in the State of Mississippi, and the United States by the second article of that treaty ceded to the Choctaw Nation "a tract of country west of the Mississippi, situated between the Arkansas and Red Rivers", and its boundaries being substantially the country now embraced in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation.

This cession included all the lands the Choctaws have ever owned or held by cession from the United States west of the Mississippi River and all the same lands in part from which the Choctaws and Chickasaws received their allotments.

On September 27, 1830 (7 Stat. L. 333), another treaty known as the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was entered into between the Choctaws and the United States Government, in the preamble of which it is recited that "the State of Mississippi has extended the laws of said State to persons, and property, within the chartered limits of the same, and the President of the United States has said that he cannot protect the Choctaw people from the operation of these laws. Now, therefore, that the Choctaws may live under their own laws in peace with the United States and the State of Mississippi, they have determined to sell their lands east of the Mississippi." It was provided that in consideration that the United States "shall cause to be conveyed to the Choctaw Nation a tract of country west of the Mississippi River in fee simple to them and their descendants, to inure to them while they shall exist as a nation and live on it", and they "cede to the United States the entire country they own and possess east of the Mississippi River, and they agree to remove beyond the Mississippi River.”

Under article XIV of said treaty it provided that each head of a family who desired to remain shall have a reservation, and then states that "persons who claim under this article shall not lose the privilege of a Choctaw citizen, but if they ever remove are not to be entitled to any portion of the Choctaw annuity."

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The third section of said law empowered the President "* * solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made that the United States will forever secure and guarantee to them, and, if they prefer it, that the United States will cause a patent or grant to be made and executed to them for the same: Provided always that such lands revert to the United States if the Indian become extinct or abandon the same."

The treaty of September 27, 1830 (7 Stat. L. 333), was made primarily for the purpose of extinguishing the Indian title to all the lands which the Choctaws still owned in the State of Mississippi. By the treaty of 1820 they had ceded 4,150,000 acres of very valuable land in Mississippi to the United States, but at the time of the treaty of 1830, they still owned 10,425,139.69 acres of land in one body in the State of Mississippi.

The people of Mississippi were pressing the Government and the Indians for their Indian lands, demanding them for settlement. Commissions upon part of the United States were accordingly appointed with positive instructions to procure a cession of all the Choctaw lands in Mississippi on any terms.

The first interest which the Chickasaws acquired in the Choctaw lands west of the Mississippi River was by the treaty of January 17, 1837 (11 Stat. 573). The Chickasaws agreed to pay the Choctaws, as a consideration for these

rights and privileges the sum of $530,000, and since January 17, 1837, these two nations have held these lands in common. Thus we find most of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians living in what is now the State of Oklahoma. We now come to the treaties and acts of Congress under which the enrollment and allotment of lands in severalty took place.

On March 3, 1893, Congress created what is known as the Dawes Commission. Its duties were those of negotiation of agreements with the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes, which includes the Choctaw Nation, looking to the allotment of the tribal lands in severalty with the ultimate object of Statehood, but the first actual step in preparing the rolls for this distribution was taken under the act of June 10, 1896 (29 Stat. L. 321). Under this act the Commission was "authorized and directed to proceed at once to hear and determine the applications of all persons who may apply to them for citizenship in any of said nations (the Five Civilized Tribes), and after said hearing they shall determine the right of said applicant to be so admitted and enrolled.' An appeal within 60 days was also provided for by said act to the United States courts in Indian Territory, and the judgment of the court was to be final.

Then came the act of Congress of June 28, 1898, prescribing the manner in which the Commission was to make the rolls of citizenship of the several tribes, and that all names found to have been placed upon tribal rolls by fraud or without authority of law were to be eliminated.

The rolls so made, when approved by the Secretary of the Interior, were to be final, and the persons whose names were found thereon alone constituted the rolls of the several tribes they represented.

Congress, by the act of May 31, 1900 (31 Stat. 221) made the position of the Government clear and unequivocal in the making of the citizenship rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes. This act is, in part, as follows (referring to the Dawes Commission):

"The Commission shall continue to exercise all authority heretofore conferred on it by law, but it shall not receive, consider, or make any record of any application of any person for enrollment as a member of any tribe in the Indian Territory, who has not been a recognized citizen thereof, and duly and lawfully enrolled or admitted as such, and its refusal of such applications shall be final when approved by the Secretary of the Interior."

The act of 1896 also confirmed the existing rolls of the tribes and allowed an appeal to the United States Court for the Indian Territory of persons who had been denied the right to citizenship by the Dawes Commission. Robert Fix's father was denied enrollment by the Dawes Commission.

The right permitting applicants to appeal from the Dawes Commission to the United States Court for the Indian Territory resulted in a horde of white adventurers flocking into the Territory, making applications to the Dawes Commission and when applications were denied, appealing to the United States Court for the Indian Territory. The result was that approximately 4,000 of these people secured judgments and were known as court claimants. These numerous court claimants were mostly white, had secured judgments by fair means and foul. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes saw that a large part of their domain, if these judgments were allowed to stand, would go into the hands of these white adventurers. They became alarmed over the situation and appealed to Congress. Congress passed the act of July 1, 1902 (32 Stat. 641), subject to the ratification of the tribes by the vote of the tribe membership, which was ratified by the Five Civilized Tribes on September 25, 1902, in which was created a citizenship court, which reviewed the judgments of the United States Court for the Indian Territory in these court-claimant cases and annulled, vacated, and set aside the said judgments.

The record shows that in February 1900, Jesse Fix, father of the claimants, filed an application with the Dawes Commission for the enrollment of himself and the four children named as members of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, by virtue of alleged citizenship rights therein, but not as Mississippi Choctaws. In his supporting testimony Mr. Fix stated that he was born in Alabama, going from there successively to Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma (Choctaw Nation); that he was a one-fourth Choctaw by descent from Peter Picayune; that neither his father nor mother ever lived in the Choctaw Nation; and that, so far as he knew, neither he nor any of his family had ever been recognized by the Choctaw Tribe as members. This application was not approved.

Later in the year, Jesse Fix made application fo ridentification as a Mississippi Choctaw under article XIV of the treaty of September 27, 1830 (7

Stat. L., 333), known as the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, with the Choctaw Nation of Mississippi. It will be remembered by article III of this treaty the Indians ceded to the United States "the entire country they own and possess" east of the Mississippi River and agreed to remove west of that river as early as practicable.

Section 21 of the act of June 28, 1898 (30 Stat. L., 503), provides that the Dawes Commission shall have authority to identify Choctaw Indians claiming land in Mississippi under article XIV of the treaty of 1830. Section 41 of the act of July 1, 1902 (32 Stat. L., 651), states that all persons thus identified as Mississippi Choctaws entitled to benefits under said article XIV may remove to Oklahoma at any time within 6 months after such identification and select, settle upon, and receive land in the Choctaw Nation and be enrolled by the Commission; that the descendants of any Mississippi Choctaws, whether of the full or mixed blood, who received a patent to land under article XIV who had not removed to Oklahoma prior to June 28, 1898, shall be deemed to be Mississippi Choctaws entitled to benefits under said article XIV, but that this provision shall not operate to the advantage of any applicant who is not a Mississippi Choctaw of the full blood or who is not a descendant of a Mississippi Choctaw who received a patent to land under said treaty.

Thus, to entitle a Mississippi Choctaw to rights with the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, he had to be either a full blood or the descendant of an ancestor who had complied with the provisions of article XIV of the treaty of 1830, and in addition, must have actually removed to Oklahoma within the time specified. At the hearing before the Dawes Commission on this latter application (for identification as a Mississippi Choctaw) Mr. Fix was asked:

"Q. Have you ever been recognized by the Choctaw tribal authorities, by any official act of their national council, as a citizen of that nation?—A. No, sir; I have not.

"Q. Did any of your ancestors ever receive land as a beneficiary under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830?-A. I do not know that.

"Q. Why do you believe that you are entitled to be identified by this commission as a Choctaw Nation entitled to the rights in the Choctaw lands under the provisions of the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830?-A. Well, I believe, because my great-grandmother was a Mississippi Choctaw."

He also stated that his wife, Elizabeth Fix, was about one-sixteenth Choctaw through her grandmother, a member of the Patten family; that he did not know whether or not his wife's grandmother was a recognized member of the Choctaw Tribe of Mississippi Choctaws in 1830 and that so far as he knew, none of his wife's ancestors had ever complied with the provisions of article XIV of the treaty. This latter application was denied by the Dawes Commission on June 19, 1902, and such denial was affirmed by the Secretary of the Interior on November 5, 1902. Thus, it will be seen that these claimants had their day in court.

The Choctaws and Chickasaw Indians always insisted that recognition among themselves was an absolute prerequisite to citizenship. It was fundamental for one entitled to be enrolled to have: First, blood of the tribe; second, residence; and, third, participation in tribal relations and recognition by the tribes. These were essentials to enrollment and had to be complied with before anyone was entitled thereto. This position was sustained by court decisions. The testimony in the instant case shows that none of these claimants or their ancestors through whom they claim could meet these requirements. By operation of the provisions of section 2 of the act of April 26, 1906 (34 Stat. 137) the final rolls were completed and closed on March 4, 1907. With the exception of an act of Congress of August 1, 1914, which permitted the enrollment of a few Mississippi Choctaws, no one has been admitted on the rolls since they were closed on the above date. The work of enrollment by the Dawes Commission lasted from 1896 until March 4, 1907. Claimants in addition to the period of time from 1849 to 1896 had from 1896 to 1907 to establish their right to be enrolled.

Congress can today, if it sees fit, pass this bill enrolling these people on our tribal rolls that have been closed since March 4, 1907, with the exception of an act of Congress of August 1, 1914, which permitted the enrollment of these few Mississippi Choctaws above mentioned. These are the rolls that were made by the Dawes Commission, a creature of Congress, and were then finally approved by a solemn act of Congress as being conclusive as to age, name, quantum of blood, parentage, and all other things. By their very terms they are final.

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From what has been said above, it is apparent that the claims of the applicants have not been substantiated on either side of the family, either as original citizens of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma or as Mississippi Choctaws entitled to rights therein under article XIV of the treaty of 1830.

The question involved here resolves itself into one of policy. What policy does Congress now want to indulge itself in in the consideration of these and similar bills? Does Congress, by its policy, want to build up our rolls and put other people on? These people are not entitled to enrollment because they had their day in court and the Dawes Commission and the Secretary of the Interior denied their application for enrollment and their claims should be precluded from further consideration.

There is no way we can persuade Congress what it should or should not do. It is your problem and, as heretofore stated, it is a matter of policy as to whether or not you are going to say after more than 30 years have elapsed whether you will now reopen our rolls at anyone's suggestion. If you do reopen our rolls we can only find refuge in article 26 of the treaty of 1902, which provides that if the rolls are reopened, the Government must respond in damages.

In conclusion we indulge in the hope that this honorable committee will say to all in no uncertain terms that the rolls of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations are closed and have been for more than 30 years, and Congress will not reopen them for anyone.

Respectfully submitted.

W. G. STIGLER, Choctaw National Attorney.

FURTHER STATEMENT BY ROBERT FIX

This thought occurs to me: You have shown that your family were a part of a group that moved from Mississippi to Indian Territory, later Oklahoma. The group is only identified by names of the heads of families. Is that identification sufficient to identify the children? If so, then you have this, particularly if the removal from Mississippi was under official sanction, that it was the duty of the officials to see that the transportation was effected, if not, and the heads of the family were slain, as the facts disclose; then it was the duty of the officials to do what ought to have been done, and it must be considered as done of the time when it should have been done. The children could not do it themselves. Even after they were grown they did not have the contact, relation, and knowledge of the deceased parents.

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