The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-06-19
FIVE PER CENT. on INDIAN LAMBS.

! The Commonwealth has elaine,
that Gov. Osborn was ''the discov
erer of the rights of the State il
reference to the five per cent. dul
the State of Kansas oil
sales OF public lands within il,
limits, whereby he has already ad
ded nearly $4,000 to The publ,
funds" Now the fact is, that of tn,
$4,000 thus far paid in, Governol
Harvey collected and paid into tn,
treasury So, 49I.20. For a verifica
ton of these figures. see last re-
port of the State treasurer.
Ii anybody is entitled to a patent
for the discovery of the rights OF
the State in this regard" it is Gov.
ernor Harvey.-Lawrence Tribune
The Tribune is either mistaken OF
wilfully misrepresents the state
ment we made. We did not saw. as
one would suppose from reading
the above, chat Governor Osborn
was the discoVerer of the rights OF
the State in regard to the five per
cent. due on public lands Simply.
That's part of the organic act, and
Its benefits haye voluntarily accru-
ed to the State since its organization.
But on the sale of public lands.
made sQ by The e.rttnguiShment of
I1ldt0ntitteS, like the Usage dimin-
ished reserve and the KaW reserve
for instance, Governor Osborn was
first to demand the percentage and
to press an acknowledgment o. the
justice of such claim. He made
special mention of this claim in his
message last winter, and asked for
an appropriation to pay counsel to
examine the records and obtain q
schedule of such land sales. The
proceeds of such sales will, il is es-
timated, aggregate about one mil
lion dollars. Nearly all the dekira-
BILE lands of the State were, at the
time of its admission, Indian lands,
and up to this time the State has
had no benefit from their disposal.
Gov. Osborn has been assured that
lads disposed of by land warrants
are also subject to the assessment of
the percentage. Gov. Carpenter, of
Iowa, is prosecuting such a claim
now, and he and Gov. Osborn have,
as lar as they were able, been work
ing the matter up in conjunction.
On application being made at the
department OF the interior in Wash
ingtOn for list of such land sales,
the governor was informed that
clerical force was inadequate to per-
form such Il task within regular
hours, and he was accordingly re-
ferred to the local land offices, but
was unable to obtain the list from
them, probably for the same reason.
The appropriation asked in his
message last winter was to paw
some competent persons 10 give il
their personal attention and get the
claim of the State against the gem
eral government In shape. Not one
dollar of this money was paid or
even asked for before Gov. Os-
born's administration, and we re-
peat that he is the discoverer of the
rights of the State in a regard that
will swell the Golfers of our State
ono million dollars, aud make Kan
sas one of the most solvent States
i'll the Union.-COmmonweAlth.
We copy the above articles be-
cause they allude 20 a matter which
interests the public. Our readers
may judge as TO the question in dis
pute about the "discoverers." We
want to hear of "the Golfers of our
State" swelling with "one million
dollars" We can all appreciate
that kind of imitation.