The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-12-17
THE Usage LANDS.

Mr.. Clarke's bill, as the telegraph re.
ports 1t, is an unbelievable mystery
providing that the U. s. Government
shall not, after its passage, have any au-
thority to make treaties with the Indian
tribes. This is apparently in direct con-
hict with the Constitution of the United
States, and the telegraph may be at
fault.
We wish, however, to call attention
to one strikingly unjust feature in the
Usage Treaty as it is interpreted by
Senator Ross. Three-fourths of the ex-
tent of the railroads which it proposes
to aid In building are entirely off those
lands, and in no way directly beneficial
to the settlers upon them. 1t would
seem to be no more than common de-
cency that the pioneer settler, whose
toll and sufferings give the land its val
ne, should reap the benefits. We might
also add that the construction of some
Of these roads, as the Neosho Valley
road, is already assured.
Moreover, the donations to individual
roads are far too great. Ten sections
to the mile are enough to build any Or
binary road. Let us sketch an outline
Of what those lands ought to do.
And first, let US remember that New
York Is not long to be our seaport.
Galveston is practically as near to us as
Chicago is, and hundreds OF miles near
er than New York is to Chicago. The
present channel of foreign commerce is
an unnatural and temporary one, forced
by slavery and the civil war. New Or
leans or Galveston, probably the latter
must ultimately be our seaport.
We must therefore have a great rail-
road from Galveston to Leavenworth
with branches extending in a north.
westerly direction, wherever the neces-
stiles of the country call for them. The
Indian Territory, as such, must soon
disappear from the map, owing 10 the
rapid extinction of the various settled
tribes. We need not regard this terri
tory as permanent obstacle to the CON-
pletion of our system.
From Fort Gibson great trunk line
must extend up the Arkansas to about
the 98th meridian, thence extending to
Hays City. The Neosho Valley branch
IL already in rapid progress. The Yer
digris Valley branch should extend from
little above Fort Gibson to Emporia.
A road from Rolla and Carthage, No.,
extending through Oswego, Indepen-
dence and the southern tier of counties,
and should join the Fort Scott s. Santa
Fe road somewhere on the Arkansas in
Cowley or Sedgwick county. A branch
should also extend up the Walnut to
Cottonwood Falls.
II would be better for the State, If the
old Usage Treaty should be utterly de-
feated, and q new purchase be made,
recognizing the rights of the Indians,
the public schools, and the pioneer
squatters; and, after that, granting al
ternate sections, or the proceeds of their
sale, to the system of railroads men,
toned above, so far as they extend
through the tract in question.
Senator Ross, in his recent letter, is
guilty of one striking inconsistency.
He attempts to justify the evil side of
the Usage treaty by pointing to similar
monopolies already consummated. This
Is beneath criticism. If Congress had
possessed honor and honesty enough to
put its entire domain upon the basis of
the "Twenty Mile Strip selling only
to actual settlcrs-the State could to-
day have been richer by hundreds OF
thousands of people, and hundreds OF
millions of dollars; even though the
landed estates of some of our public
servants might have been trifle less
gigantic.
Vast interests are now trembling in
the balance, and the crisis is at hand.
II Ia time for the public sentiment OF
our people to manifest itself in the re-
preston of these great monopolies.
n. B. N.