Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1878-04-25
Helena, Montana, Thursday, April IS, 1878.

hundred and fifty thousand square miles OF
territory. where every man that has got an
AK and an ox-cart can cut all the Wood ne
wants. should all sit still and allow ring 10
he formed to put up the price OF Woou on
them when the forests are IN plain sien'
And then. l believe, to carry it out, this mover
idea of wood ring, there is some man out
there who has very considerable aMounS VI
money made out of this business who has
Great influence in Washington! Not only
ring in Montana of these twenty-five thousano
adventurous settlers, but their influence IS so
nrodigious that it. not only absoros one nun
dred and fifty thousand square miles OF tne
domain of the United States, but 1t absolutely
extends to Washington, has paralyzeo Con
oress. and entered the sacred portals OF the
interior Department! ~.
No Mr.. President, wise caretaking OF the
nnhl;c domain would stop those who are cut,
f;nc and selling the timber for export ana
ston those depredations which are merely
traffic and not supplying the needs OF the sci,
tier on the ground Cutting tor export anu
what has been done in Montana, are as wloe-
" different as it is possible to CONCEIVE tnings
to be: and undertake to say that tne chlio
is not born who will have great-grea1-gIan
child that will ever see cord-wood IN MOI
| tana worth twenty five cents coro stump,
ore Itisan absurdity. tisfour hundred and
o3d miles remote from railroad; it has no
access to the water; it cannot be shipped; II
is simply cut for use at their door-sllls and
firesides there and there only and the report
of the Secretary of the Interior Justlnes Item
Inv item every solitary assertion that was
made in the communication that reao on
This floor from the Delegate from the Terrl-
torv of Montana There is not contraven-
tion or a contradiction of one single allega-
ton in the paper read from the Delegate.
That gentleman did me the honor to give
me one of a series of petitions. several OF
which he has presented in the House OF KEEP
resentatiyes. signed, he states, by between
four and five thousand adult male cltizens OF
that Territory, addressed very peculiarly Il
suppose from the terror that the secretary o1
the Interior was creating out there). 1hey
were addressed in this wise:
To the honorable the secretary o. We 1t:e'1",
the Senate and House Of Represent0tt0es o.
the Forty.tvM Congress OF the O"''e'
States.
You remember that Dcgberry was very par
ticular as to which iisshhe should be. put down
first. and the Secretary is here put down first
ssTo the honorable the Secretary OF the In
terror. the Senate and House Of Representa-
lives of the United States, the major pre-
mise first The document may be trit1e
: overweight in point of style, but am 60
ing to detain the Senate 10 read this entire
!, memorial.
! Here follows the petition referred to,
signed by nearly all the adult male people OF
Montana who could be readily and quickly
reached. .-ED. HERALD
Mr.. President, am told by the Delegate
from Montana, as l repeat, that this Is signeo
by nearly five thousand adult male citizens,
, without any regard to party, in that Terri
tory, and that it represents the unanimous
feeling of the people.
: Mr.. Sargent-Flve thousand thieves, &C
cording to the report of the Secretary:
Mr.. B]aine-The Senator from California
, alluded TO the fact that, es the document IT.
self shows. these officers sent from Wash
inpton bv the Secretary of the Interior wen
. ont and sat down in the back yards anc
: wood-sheds of the settlers and talked WITH
them about where they got wood, and aooo
their plans for the future, about all thel
hopes of building up homes and doing some
, thing for their children and themselves, an(
then made these statements the basis OF re
E mort to the Interior Department for taxation
IF T mistake not, although was not then
q member of this body, the Secretary of the In
' terror was a Senator a few years ago whel
the question of moities was before this body
4 in cases where rich merchants and importer
n were accused of defrauding the Governmen
10 the extent of millions and tens OF million
e of dollars in New York. They could not b
). detected unless you had some agency OF thl
y kind; but he waxed wroth over 1t. de con
tended that it was opposed to the spirit o
q liberty that q rich importer in New York VIII
made millions by evading duties and under
valuing and smuggling should have his right
8 as an American citizen interfered with b.
any person going to him in the nature OF
spy or detective! But the lonely settler Il
J. the mountains of Montana-I see my kind
o hearted friend from Illinois (Mr. Davis
n smiles at the idea, and well he may-shoul
k he visited by spies and detectives and inform
: crs. and made to confess information whic
1t should be the basis of an oppressive tax.
e Why. sir, I know nothing in the worl
V to parallel it except that great assertion !
= our Immortal Declaration of independence
e that the King of England 1'has erected
it multitude of new offices, and sent hithe
.s swarms of officers to harrass our people, an
!. eat out their substance" And one even NOR
+ pertinent than that in the Declaration OF lr
IS dependence "He has endeavored to prever
q the population of these States" by s'raisin
d the conditions of new appropriations
d lands" :"
!. that the policyo the Secretary of the 1nterio
le will depopulate their country: The early Sc
! Tiers of this continent, the old revolutionar
,e stock. with whose struggles and hardship
n and contests the Secretary of the Interior
ic not expected to have much sympathy, bt
,e some Of us have right to, complained
King George that be stopped emigration he'
at by raising 's'new conditions for the appropr
is ation Of the public lands. The Secretary
E. 1.-The Interior is doing precisely that; imposin
o. / cnnditions that are abaQlutelY lmpfAC0c4D