The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1878-02-15
GEN. HooKER's SPEECH.

| IL I NV w. 49,
this morning, as a substitute for the
bill which | had the honor to intro>
duce yesterday, and which the house
declined to consider by a two7thirds
vote. meets substantially all the re-
ouiremer Is of the people interested.
The original action taken by TIE
department Of the interior in this
matter was begun under what is
known as a writ Of sequestration.
The department sent two agents OF
the government for the purpose OF
protecting the timber lands OF the
government, a very proper thing Tor
it to do, and which no citizen Of
Mississippi desires it shall not do.
These two agents, Carter and Bart
ley, went to Mississippi, and under
this writ Of scquestration there was
a general seizure Of the lumber and
logs belonging to the millmen in
that region OF the country upon the
rivers which debouch into the Mis-
sissippi sound. the Pascagoula, Esr
tawpa, and Pearl.
When the attention of the court
from which this writ issued was
brought to it by a motion to qua-h
the writ, the motion was sustained
by the court, the writ Of sequcstra~
ton was quashcd, and all the seiz-
urcs made under it were to that ex-
tent relieved. After that the gcv-
eminent, through the department OF
justice, instructed suits to be insti-
tLted, predicated upon the ~affidayits
of the agents Of the interior depart
mcnt, alleging that the lnmber and
logs in the possession Of the parties
named in the afidavits were cut
from the government timber lands,
and that they we're depredators up
on the public lands Of the govern
meut, and that all the property in
their possession vas government
property. Under these ai1ijavits
some twenty-five or eight suits have
been instituted in the circuit courts
of the United States for the south
ern district Of Mississippi. Since
these seizures in November last, the
large milling interests lining the
coast and the rivers PasCagoula,
E~.catawpa, and Pearl, adjacent to
where they flow into the Mississippi
Sound, have been stopped and are
now de. The hands have ncceSsa'
rily been dismissed, and this great
inter est has absolutely bceh pros
trated to the extent Of stopping the
entire milling interest on the coast.
That the government, under The
penal statues that have been in
existence Tor many years, should
pursue the depredators upon the
public lands. the people of Mi5sis
sippi arc as much in lavor as any
one. But unfortunately in the
course Of procedure originally in
slitutcd by the writ of scquestra
tion, aud under the lepleyln suits
which have been instituted upon
the aiiidavits OF the agents OF the
interior department, they have seized
} alike the property of the innocent
and of the guilty. II there be
guilty ones there, no nan in Missis'
sippi or in all that region OF country
desires that he shall be shielded from
, punishment.
What they ask by the terms Of
this bill is a speedy adjudication
both of the rights Of the govern
ment and the rights OF individuals
} They desire, if there be property
there which belongs to the govern
ment OF the United States, an early
: adjudication which shall so pro-
uouEce.
When | was upon that coast las
season, | saw at a certain pom.
twenty-seven mills in active opera
ton. When | visited that place
Immediately before the reassemblIng
OF congress, | could not see smoke
arising from one single chimney
All the vessels which had that vas
: carrying trade, which from 1872 tC
1876, as shown by a memorial which
! had the honor to present during
the last congress, amounted to hon
SO, 500, 900 to $4,000,000 a year, anc
during that period amounted t
E $4,000, O00-all of that trade, boil
coastwise and foreign, has gone
, The demurrage which these men haC
to pay fol the vessels broke up man!
; of them.
, To-day there is not only seriou
/, disaster among the capitalists witt
f conduct these operations there, bu
:. absolute want and restitution have
fallen upon the unfortunate laborer;
who were in their employment, anC
whom they were no longer able Il
| employ after their milling operation
Z were stopped.
What this bill proposes, the sub
. stitute reported from the committed
on the judiciary, is merely tha'
| there shall be an early a~djucatioi
, of the question, both in the interes
of the government and in the inter
est OF The people. | have received
numerous petitions from the parlie.
' whose property has been seized
showing that so far from its being
a seizure OF government property /