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Washington, D.C. April 7, 1887

Dr. J.E. Rhoads,

President Indian Rights Association.

Dear Sir:

At the meeting of the Board of Indian Commissioners held in this city last January, I was told by members of the Indian Rights Assn. that if I would write a statement concerning the Omaha Tribe of Indians, it would be published and distributed by the Association. In accordance with this promise I began a paper which was to set forth as succinctly as possible, the history of the allotment of lands to the Omahas, and to present a picture of the people at the time this work took place. It was also my intention to show the difficulties that must attend the reconstructive period in a tribe. This period will come to all tribes which receive their lands in severalty and are theoretically placed under the laws of the State on territory. By this act the Agency system becomes enfeebled by law, and a time must intervene before the machinery of the state and county can be adjusted and set in motion over the land previously held as an Indian reservation.

The Omaha tribe has been in this transition state for over a year. I foresaw this condition when working for them, and their late Agent Dr. G.W. Wilkinson held conversations with