shall
embrace the lands within said Indian Territory.

The Commission met much opposition from the beginning. The Indians
were very slow to act, and those in control manifested a decided
disinclination to meet with favor the propositions submitted to them.
A little more than three years after this organization the Commission
effected an agreement with the Choctaw Nation alone. The Chickasaws,
however, refused to agree to its terms, and as they have a common
interest with the Choctaws in the lands of said Nations, the agreement
with the latter Nation could have no effect without the consent of the
former. On April 23, 1897, the Commission effected an agreement with
both tribes--the Choctaws and Chickasaws. This agreement, it is
understood, has been ratified by the constituted authorities of the
respective Tribes or Nations parties thereto, and only requires
ratification by Congress to make it binding.

On the 27th of September, 1897, an agreement was effected with the Creek
Nation, but it is understood that the National Council of said Nation
has refused to ratify the same. Negotiations are yet to be had with the
Cherokees, the most populous of the Five Civilized Tribes, and with the
Seminoles, the smallest in point of numbers and territory.

The provision in the Indian Appropriation Act, approved June 10, 1896,
makes it the duty of the Commission to investigate and determine the
rights of applicants for citizenship in the Five Civilized Tribes,
and to make complete census rolls of the citizens of said Tribes. The
Commission is at present engaged in this work among the Creeks, and has
made appointments for taking the census of these people up to and
including the 30th of the present month.

Should the agreement between the Choctaws and Chickasaws be ratified by
Congress and should the other Tribes fail to make an agreement with the
Commission, then it will be necessary that some legislation shall be had
by Congress, which, while just and honorable to the Indians, shall be
equitable to the white people who have settled upon these lands by
invitation of the Tribal Nations.

Hon. Henry L. Dawes, Chairman of the Commission, in a letter to the
Secretary of the Interior, under date of October 11, 1897, says:
"Individual ownership is, in their (the Commission's) opinion,
absolutely essential to any permanent improvement in present conditions,
and the lack of it is the root of nearly all the evils which so
grievously affli