The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1884-05-08
LARD PLRAOY.


The schemers and robbers are ever
finding new fields for the eradication OF
their sleAshnsss AMI dishonesty IN thia
country. One of the latest abuses that
has been Developed Is what the New
York Tribune calls Gland piracy" That
paper says: The house committee on
public lands has submitted . very en-
DhAtic and strongly worded report on
the bill TO prevent the unlawful occu-
pancy Of public lands. This report
shows that the abuse against which the
proposed Law Is directed is q serious one.
The committee reports that while cor
porations of cattle breeders have unlaw-
iully enclosed large tracts of fertile land
in Wyoming, Dakota, Arkansas. Texas
and elsewhere, many OF these acts
Of land piracy have been the
work of foreigners, who have thus
in a peculiarly insolent manner
undertaken 70 fence out the American
people and TO prevent them from SIT
ting upon lands belonging to their own
government. OF course such occupancy
of public lands Is as unlawful when
Americans are the actors as when il is
done by aliens, but there is an exalted
sudAcity in the idea Of foreigners. COM
ing 70 the United States and cody tax
Ing possession of millions Of acres Of
grazing lands In open defiance CT the
laws. The cattle corporations are in
many cases English or Scotch. They
employ considerable bands of herders or
cowboys, and with the aid of these re.
t4iners they are able net only to brea
the LAWS With impunity, but To threaten
and terrorIze poor men who may be in
their way or who may protest against
their methods.
There is danger that these highland
ed seizures of the public land may, If
allowed to 60 uncballenged and unpun-
ished, pr rmsnenily deplete the territory
available for the people. Hitherto the
cattle corporations have had things their
own way In the sparsely
settled regions where they bear
sway. Poor men have been
"frozen" out by them, and though there
has ell the time existed ample authority
for the exercise of force in dlspossess-
ing them, it has apparently been no
bcdy's business to put the law in mo-
ton The committee says truly that
"the evil sought TO be abated is in;olera-
ble." 1t is indeed an unheard-of thing
that foreign adventures should be al
lowed to fence IN whole counties, at the
same time fencing out intended settlers,
keeping the cattle of poor men from
water. closing mail routs, in fact altering
the face of the country 10 suit themselves
and their greed of gain. The commit
tee say rightly that there is Lo other
country on earth where such outrages
would be tolerated; but they should
also have stated the fact that the extent
of the abuse has only recently been
made known, and that the remoteness
of the scene of action must be
held accountable for at least some
of the Inaction which seems so repre-
hensibIe.
AOAO OuA III 0O0Ot bAA1 COhSlS hAOhb
has been retarded in the regions affected
by the course of the land-thieves The
only check to the monopoly of the cat
tle-men in some of the territories has
been the spread of sheep farming, which
is death to range-feeding for cattle.
The wire fence business, however, has
been abused by these corporations 60
recklessly that unless congress passes
the bill for the abatement of the evil it
is to be feared the people who have sur
fered most will organize and undertake
to redress their own grievances; and in
that event there is liable to be serious
trouble, the responsibility for which
must rest upon the government The
facts of the situation once brought to
the attention of congress, there can be
no excuse tor failure to adopt prompt
remedial measures.