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me concerning this coming problem. You will recollect that the Omaha bill stated that upon the receipt of their patents they were to be subject to the civil and criminal laws of the State of Nebraska, but the people were not made citizens. This complicated their difficulties as it virtually transferred them from the legal control of the Indian Dept. and put them under the law, but did not endow them with any legal position in the State.

The Severalty Bill signed February 8, 1887 has made them
citizens and that will simplyfy and I trust shorten their present interregnum condition.

It was Agent Wilkinson's plan in 1884 to assist the people 
to organize into some simple form of County government. The first set of officers to be these already filling the positions
of Indian police and judges in the Court of Offences; later the people would be instructed to vote for the men who should administer their home affairs. In accordance with a petition by the counsel of the tribe to the Indian Dept. the carpenter, blacksmith, and miller had been dismissed.  These employés, all Indians and half breeds, had been paid out of the tribal money, and the people desired to have the amount expended for these wages divided pro rata in the tribe, so that the money could be used for the benefit of farming. Agent