The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-12-18
OKLAHAMA.
Teutonic rac'

j Captain Payne, in his enterprise 70 force the
settlement of the Indian territory on the south
ern border of Kansas by white people, has
succeeded In raising a genuine commotion.
Though constantly warned, since the begin
ming of his movement, that any attempt on the
part of the whites to settle IN Oklahama, as
the Indian territory Is called, would be resist
ed by all the power of the government he has
gone steadily on, staked ont farms, town sites,
&C. in the forbidden land and has now gath.
cred at Caldwell on the border some 800 eml.
grants, with their wives and little ones, teams
and household plumber, ready and eager TO go
in and take possession. Most of these emf
grants are said to be from Western Kansas
where they were starved out during the past
summer by the drought, and whenever the
present company get foothold IN the terri
tory, thousands more from the same afflicted
region are ready to follow them. The settlers
do not come in the spirit Of lawlessness to defy
the power of the government, but backed by
the opinion of eminont ST. Louis and other
LAWYERS, honestly believe the Indian territory
to 60 there. "They surround every VISITOR
says dispatch, land quote law constitution
and treaties, as though each member was a
constitutional lawyer. The opinion of Broad
head, Krum and Phillips, the committee of
St. Louis lawyers who reported the lands sub
iect to settlement, is relied on by the settlers to
sustain them" They are attended, and their
movements are closely watched, by consid.
cradle force of {. 5. soldiers, and though every
adult male among the emigrants is armed they
disclaim any intention to fight the soldiers;
but having unquestloning faith that the law
is on their side they await with great conf
dence the speedy arrival of orders to the mill
tary from Washington no longer to obstruct
their free passage into the promised land.
Meantime, to hasten the matter, they have sent
DR.. Wilson, prominent and intelligent man
among them to Washington to hasten the de-
cision of the powers there IN their favor.
Thus far, with what they have brought with
them and what the Kansas peoplc in the VI
cinity have gwen them, the emigrants have
had enough to eat but when the orders from
Washington come, as they certainly will, to
the military not to allow man to cross the
Indian line, there must follow restitution and
suffering amoAg them.
But that decision will at the most produce
but temporary quiet. The Indian territory
cannot remain many years in its present con.
dition, no matter what the government does
now. You might as well undertake to beat
back the waves of the ocean as the wave of
settlement by western emigrants in land that
suits them. The government may as well set
about the business at once, for 1t must do so
In few years anyhow, to extinguish the In.
dian title and open that fair land to the whites.
The Indians themselves are said not to be
averse to receiving the settlers and are ready
and eager to sell their lands.
Besides, Is it not about time that this myth
of an Indian title was dispensed with anyway ?
In the eye of heaven and absolute right the
only honest title to the soil belongs to the man
who tills 1t. Assign to every Indian head of
family homestead Of 100 acres as his fee
simple to do with as he please, as government
gives land to the white homesteader If the
Indian Is too lazy to work it, let him sell 1t
and 60 away to the wilds of the far northwest
and live by hunting if he prefers to. But even
that country is becoming too crowded to admit
of setting apart vast regions for people too
lazy to work to subsist in by hunting.