The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-02-19

MONDAY IN Apr1l tney VIII commence
working for eight hours per day. The
district likely to be affected by this de-
cision employs about 40. 900 min -
CoRREsP0MDEHCE.
rye do not hod ourselves rssponsabls Tor ny opan-
len sxpressd BY cur corrsspondnsAl
FROM WASHINGTON.
WAsHEaroN, d. c., Feb. 10th.
70 the Bdissr Of the woskseMAH's ADvooAzz.
Your valuable paper, some time
stranger to my Office, is again on file,
and reminds me Of my promise to oc-
casionally correspond. The President
Of the National Labor Union is now
with his cabinet council, in this city.
Their forthcoming address is about
completed, and will, no doubt, be salts
factory to all true workingmen.
1 have heard it suggested that the
Committee on Address are not harmo-
NOUS, and that there will probably be
minority report, but the majority are
determined to admit no foreign matter,
believing that their authority is limited
to the principles contained in the plat
form adopted by the Congress which
assembled at Philadelphia in August
last. There is marke change in the
minds of many members Of Congress
in regard to our organization. At
least one hundred have expressed
themselves in the most friendly manner
possible, and are, no doubt, looking to
it as the future place for them. The
truth is, it is the only tenable ground
on which honest men of either party
can stand. Hon. J. P. G. Shanks, of
Indiana, is fully converted, and is doing
wonders for the working classes all
over the country.
The opposition to the various Indian
treaty swindles has been so well d.
rected that all pending treaties grant
ing the public lands to corporations or
mOnopolies have been withdrawn by
the President. This we look upon as
favorable to the working people.
A somewhat curious case is about to
be introduced in the Senate. 1t will
come in by resolution of inquiry call
ing on the President to inform the
Senate if. any officer or agent of the
Government has recently violated the
tenth article of the treaty of 1895 with
the Cherokee Indians, which article
reads as follows:
Every Cherokee and freed-person resident
in the Cherokee Nation shall have the right 20
sell any produce of his farm, including his or
her live stock, or any merchandise or manufac-
tured products, and to ship and drive the same
to market without restraint, paying . tax
thereon which 10 nov or may be levied by the
United States, on the quantity sold outsade of
the Indian Territory"
This will be the first step in the con-
troversy between the Cherokee Indians
and the officers Of the Treasury and
Revenue Departments, which contro-
versy may involve the President Of the
United States. It will, no doubt,
throw some light upon the singular DO
Icy which recognizes the Indians Of
the several tribes as wards Of the Gov
eminent, and at the same time clothes
them with power to conclude treaties
"a power never exercised except BY
sovereign nations.
The case which the resolution in
question will introduce to the country.
through the Judiciary Committee Of
the Senate, is that of Elias G.. Boudi-
not, a Cherokee Indian, vs. Mcdonald,
Delano, Boutwell, & Co.
The facts in the case are briefly az
follows: Boudinot, having an eye to
business and desiring to encourage
agricultural industry and enterprise
among his people, established tobac-
CO factory in the Cherokee Nation. He
advanced over IS. 900 to certain men,
bers OF bis t:ibe, TO be paid in leaf TO-
bacco grown in the Cherokee country
by Cherokees, and as an additional in
ducement he agreed with all who would
contract to pay for all the tobacco
grown by Cherokee farmers price one
dollar per cwt higher than the regular
market price in the adjoining States
He also furnished seed and implements,
to be paid for out Of the future crop. |
Mr.. Boudinot is intelligent and enter
prising as well as public spirited and
progressive, but he is not quite up to
the requirements Of this progressive
age. Had he permitted Mcdonald,
Delano, Boutwell, q Co. to name a few
friends to help him conduct
the lucrative business in which he had
he would not have been in
terfered with as be was. He had not
learned the advantage Of division of
large profits, and men like Pomeroy
and Harlan will, no doubt, hold his
business qualifications in contempt
throughout all future time.
The result of Mr.. Boudinot's efforts
was to increase the production Of TO-
bacco, within the limits Of the Chero-
kee Nation, over sixty-fold in q very
short time, and no one can tell to what
extent tobacco would have been grown
and manufactured had not Messrs.
Mcdonald, Delano, Boutwell, & Co.
interfered
The interference, however, furnishes
an important subject for the considers
lion Of the Committee on the Conduct
IF Reconstruction-a committee here
after to be appointed. u