The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-06-06

tation-and sent them off as agents tc
distant Territories to see who was com
mitting depredations there. In the fast
nesses of Montana he created wild dis
may and fright by selling the firewood o
the inhabitants, cut on the harsh noun
tain sides and hauled twelve miles tc
their homes. He directed that all the
firewood cut for the town of Helena or
the public lands should be seized, no pre-
Vious notice having been given that the
custom of the country or the former
usage of the department was to be
changed. All the fuel piled up for the
use Of citizens and even soldiers in gar
rison, cut under contract with the War
Department was seized. He took pos
session of it as though it were stolen
goods purloined in the night time and
just found on the person of the appre
hended thief This is the testimony oil
Mr.. Maginnis, the delegate from Monta
na read before the Senate. The Montana
newspapers declared that the raid of the
Nez Perces Indians were not so disas-
trous as Mr.. Schurz's order Mr.. James
Freeman Clarke, in his comfortable Bos-
ton church, on a smiling April morning,
thinks it all as trivial as possible The
deluded inhabitants of Montana did not
think so. The CONSERVATION that ensued
amounted almost to panic. 1t was on
the eve of Winter in a climate where
Winter means all the rigor of a far
North. A violent snow-storm was pre-
vailing at the time the order was receiv-
ed. Mass-meetings were called. 1t was
represented to Secretary Schurz that
great suffering would result unless the
fuel were released, that the people could
not live without it, nor could they make
an exodus in Winter time. Mr.. Schurz
| &o1o Loo1 - i H. i i
have tribunal constituted to determine
what stumpage the settlers would pay
and Is cents per cord was the verdict.
Secretary Schurz then peremptorily set
aside the award of his own tribunal and
demand 81 per cord stumpage. The peo-
| pie protested that this was ruinous. The
Secretary was inexorable. The peo-
pie, confronted by an Arctic Winter. paid
| the tax, protesting that they paid it not
as a matter Of right, but as a man would
give up his purse to highwayman who
had pistol at his head" Then, being
intelligent as we'll as law-abiding citizens.
they laid their grievances before Con-
gress, and petitioned for redress. Thus,
as the lawyers say" the case came up
regularly" No Senator or Representa-
tive lugged it in for the purpose of at
tacking Mr.. Schurz. The case was there,
and every Senator and Representative
was compelled to determine whether he
would side with the oppressed settler or
with the expressing Secretary.
And here let it be remembered that
the wood then seized was cut on public
land that was unsurveyed and not offered
for sale. Had the United States offered
these timber lands for purchase at rea-
sonable rates-and the land rates of sale
have always been reasonable-the set
tiers could and would have bought their
own timber tracts But the tracts were
so wild and far that the government has
never yet considered that it would pay to
survey and offer them for SALE but has
left them open to all who might in good
faith settle on them, as has been the in
variable practice in the early settlement
of our Territories. Let it also be remem-
bered--what the Delegate from Montana
testifes before Congress-that "the Ter
ritory by wise laws kept fire out of the |
mountains, and expended money and |
labor, so that the aggregate amount of
timber to day is much greater than when |
the Territory was first settled" In con-
frmation of this testimony, printed in
the Congressional Record Of March 1st, |
the Washington Post this morning, MAY |
10) in general article on "The Great |
Arid Belt" says "Vast quantities (of |
timber) are every year destroyed by fire.
We recollect three such fires in Utah !
within year or two, each one of which |
destroyed more timber than all the set |
tiers have used for all purposes since we
owned the country. These fires were in
every instance originated by lazy, shift
less, vagabond Indians for the purpose of
taking game. These dirty wards of the
Nation and pets of the Interior Depart
,o1l Il i,,
chief, more timber than all the timber |
thieves of America have stolen since the
discoveries by Columbus"
As soon as attention was called in Con- |
gress by the Delegate from Montana to
these outrages upon the settlers, and the |
fact had been brought out conspicuously |
in the Senate debate Mr. Schurz sought |
opportunity to defend himself To af |
ford him that just privilege, Senator
Stanley Matthews procured the passage |
Of a resolution calling on the Secretary |
ito report what proceedings have been |
taken by the Department of the Interior |
for the suppression of timber depreda-
tions in Montana" The Secretary took |
a week to reply, and then transmitted to
the Senate voluminous defence of his |
actions, claiming among other things that |
the stumpage demanded by him was con-
sidered very reasonable in Montana |
Secretary Schurz's entire letter was re-
markable remar able first, because the |
resolution was passed at his request
though it ought not, perhaps, to be con-
sidered remarkable that when he was
stung so severely he should wish to sting
back again-remarkable also in the fact
that for the first time, | believe, in the
history of Department communications,
the Secretary deliberately and personally
replied to what had been said in debate,
even quoting the precise language Of
Senator'S for criticism and comment
The Rev. James Freeman Clarke appa-
rently considers that the legislative
branch Of our Government has no eti-
quette which the Executive is bound to
respect But all we'll informed persons,
all who are at all familiar with the ordi-
nary rules of parliamentary decorum,
know that this is gross breach of the
practices, precedents, and proprieties be-
tween the two departments of the Gov
ernment. If a Cabinet Minister is at
tackled in Congress, the whole theory of
a republican Government, with all par
ties represented in Congress, is that the
Minister has supporters as we'll as oppo-
nents in both Senate and House, and
they are to speak for him. If the Minis
ter has no friends competent or willing
to defend his cause-as Secretary Schurz
| practically assumed in his own case-the
| one suggestion of dignity and propriety
would seem to be that he retire from the
| position This is certainly in harmony
with English custom, and it might add
| to the efficiency of our Government If
the practice were domesticated in the
| United States.
| But Mr. Schurz, expressing the inhab-