The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-02-14
LETTER FROM KANSAS.
FORT SCOTT. Kansas,
January Doth 1874

promised you), why the Indian Territory
should be opened up to settlement by the
whites. OF course some of your readers
will SAT there are "two sides of every
question:" and that have given only one;
but l am not prejudiced and will only give
my opinion, which is based upon experience
and close observation.
In the first place, it may be with reason
coutended that it is not incumbent upon
our people to give up country larger than
Pennsylvania, richer in soil than Illinois,
and one that might be the home of thriving
and happy millions, to the unproductive
occupation of $4,000 Indians. If Massa-
chusetts or New York says that this coun-
try should be left to the Indian because he
was the first owner of the soil, | would
answer, "Give him back part Of Massa-
chusetts or New York, for lie once occu-
pied them as we'll"
Then again, there are strong political
reasons. The objections coming from the
East are not from sympathy with the
Indian. The Indian Territory, as before
mentioned, has woodland, prairie, and
water so intersperscd that it can be more
quickly settled up than any Western State
has been; and both political parties under
stand by the settlement Of the Territory
that two more Senators and eight or ten
Congressman would speedily meet them
in the halls of Congress, and both parties
alread claim they would have the majority
of these members. But it is fair to pre-
sumo that for the first few years those men
who represent it in Congress would be the
tools Of the railroads running through, and
to their constituents.
-Four States and Territory border on
the Indian Territory, and in all Of them
the ends of justice are defeated because tie
Territory affords & ready asylum to every
fugitive that can escape TO it. Texas is
somewhat protected by the Red river, but
still along the border there is great in
security on account OF the IMMUNITY with
which outlaws commit crime-an impunity
purely due to their ready facilities for
escape. But the borders Of Arkansas are
at their mercy. The region along the Dor
der is a perfect pandimonium.- And it all
the time grows worse; for every day the
Indian is growing in hatred toward the
white man, unless he be of that innumer-
able number of white fiends who affiliate
with themselves. And it is but fair that
should here state that in my opinion the
Indians are almost always instigated and
assisted to do their bloody work by the
white villains, Texans and Mexicans). who
abide among them. But not only does it
furnish an asylum for the outlaws Of tie
bordering States, but the Western portion
is the den from which issue the murderous
bands that commit the appalling massacres
and robberies that are so common in West
ern Texas. If the murders that are COM
mitted in Western Texas so frequently
were perpetrated in Minnesota or Nebraska,
the whole land would be in fNrore. Ter
rible scenes are being enacted along the
borders of this Territory, which are never
given to the civilized world See what
mighty commotion was produced in Min
nesota few years ago, when some twenty
or thirty citizens were butchered by the
Sioux Indians; yet in Texas scenes similar
in atrocity, and by frequency far more than
making up the difference in magnitude
are every few days being enacted. While
| believe that some of the most silairous,
thieving, murderous ruftitns that inhabit
this continent live in Texas, | know there
are thousands of generous and noble men
and women there, and their lives are as
dear to them, and all the tender ties that
bind families together is apparent among
them as well as among those OF the lands
that are protected by the vanguards Of
civilization. The children of Texan moth
ers aie dear to them, and it goes hard with
them to be outraged, mutilated, and killed,
while their screaming offspring are Icing
carried away by heartleSs savages to fate
that is even worse. This is no false or
exaggerated picture. The Government has
made many efforts to prevent these out
RACES upon these poor sufferers, but it has
been powerless, and will be, while the
present course is pursued. The remedy is
simple one, although many good people
in the East, who have no idea of the ter
rible state of affairs there, will doubtless
protest against it. 1t is this. The Gov
ernment must break up their headquarters,
open up the land to white settlement and
let all such as live by depreciation go to
work or death.
Another reason for settlement is, that the
country which must be reached by travers-
ing the Indian Territory is crippled in
development by the unproductiveness of
the Territory. Almost nothing is shipped
on any Of the railroads running through it,
and the way travel amounts to nothing; so
that through freight and through travel
have to be taxed TO make up the loss.
These are few of the reasons for open
ing up the Territory to settlement by the
whites, whilst nothing can be said against
it more than that the Indian cannot stand
competition with the white man, and that,
if he is not protected and kept alive, lie
will perish. In every argument this is tie
primary assumption.
Having reviewed the reason for settle
ment, will now briefly consider the in
tiuences at work to bring it about.
In the first place, all the better part Of
the Indians themselves are in favor of it.
Among the Cherokees, Choctaws, and
Chicasaws are many Indians of culture
and refinement. These all feel that the
present order of things must arrest all
social and intellectual progress, and they
desire such a change as will admit into
their midst the better class of whites-
Then there are three powerful railroad
companes-the Missouri; Kansas & Texas;
Atlantic & Pacific; and the Fort Scott &
Gulf roads-which have been, or are to be,
constructed through tie Territory at great
cost, without any hope of earnings within
its bounds; and besides the cost of con
structlon is the expense of running. The