Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-02-17
End of the Indian Land Plum
Jnq.

End Of the Indian Land Plum
der.
An abuse of long standing anC
of monstrous dimensions has beer
corrected by Secretary Cox, by
making such representations to Tho
President as caused him to with,
draw from the Senate all pending
treaties by which the Indians had
bargained to sell land to railroad
companies. In its own right, and
for the protection Of the Indians,
the nation should have maintained
its sole authority to acquire the
Indian lands. 70 abandon this
was to license any adyenturers to
take advantage of the ignorance
and simplicity of the Indians to
cheat them out Of their lands.
We do not remember when this
evil practice began, 1t was always
improper. The dimensions to which
it has grown may be estimated by
the tact that one of the treaties
thus withdrawn gave to the Leav-
enworth, Lawrence q Galveston
Railway Company eight million
acres of the Usage lands at nine
teen cents per acre, on a payment
Of 100000 down, without any Sc
curity on the rest. Another, the
treaty with the Kaw Indians, gave
to a railway company 135,000 acres
Of their reserve in Kansas at S75
cents an acre, and $4,000 acres at
$3.50 an acre. Two treaties pro
vided for selling the lands of the
Sacs and Foxes, and of the Otoes
and Missouris, in Nebraska, to a
railway company at 81 25 per acre
the first described by Commission
er Taylor as Gin the center of the
most fertile and productive agri-
cultural district in Nebraska" and
the second as "highly productive
and well supplied with timber and
water"
Secretary Cox, while holding
that "the possessory rights of the
Indians should only be extinguished
in favor of the United States, and
that the land should thenceforth be
subject to the laws regulating the
public domain" and therefore be-
ing opposed to this whole prac
tice, did not interfere with these
treaties till he had instructed the
proper Indian Superintendent to
ascertain the wishes of the Indians
and the value of the lands Upon
information that a majority of the
Indians prefer that the treaties
ST. ould not be ratified, and that the
price is no fair consideration for
the lands, he represented the case
to the President, who sent mes
sage to the Senate withdrawing the
treaties.
This abolition of an organized
system of plumber is made in the
face Of the opposition of a power
full lobby and Of combination of
all the corrupt influences in and
around Congress, and stretching
their roots from the center to the
frontier, 1t is such a movement as
our knowledge of the character of
Secretary Cox gave us reason to
expect, 1t is but an instance of his
resolute straightforwardness in the
right. 1t proves also that when
wrong is brought to the notice of
ihe President, he is prompt to abate
IT, The Augeal stable which the
previous administration made of
the Interior Department is swept
out. One evil practice of long
standing and gigantic magnitude is
dead. One means of corruption is
We yield slightly to human ma
lure in taking this occasion to ten
ler our coincidence to some mendi-
can't Republican journals, who,
seeking to sustain a precarious ex-
stance by party subsidies, have an
lfIinity only for the corrupt ele-
nents that have fastened themselves
lpon the party, and who keep up a
chronic sorehead carping at a free
Republican journal or correspond
mt who exposes and censures pub
ic corruption without regard to
,arty, The achievement of a re-
orm like this does moreto strength
N the Republican party than can
,e done by trying to cover up
is corrupt elements and to reduce
II to the same level Gin. Ca
cite.