The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-07-07
LANDS, LAWS AND LEASES
THE INDIAN TERRITORY CASE,
General MoCook shows Up the Situa-
ton Millions OF Acres Illegally
Occupied by Nabobs - No
Benefit to Indians.

ti6n-MilIions OF Acres Illegally
Occupied by Nabobs - No
Benefit to Indians.
WAsHIYGToN, July 6.-Secretarv |
Lamar has received letter from Gem
eral McCook. the ex-governor of Col
orado, relative to the power of the
government to prevent illegal occu.
patton of lands in the Indian Terri
tory. The writer asserts that the law
requires that the secretary of the in
terror has full control of Indian
affairs, under the laws, subject TO di-
rection by the President; that GER
tain contracts may be made by indi-
yicuals with Indians relative to SER
vices in procuring the payment of
claims, but no authority exists for
making contracts Of any other kind
and if made they are null and void;
that no purchase, grant, lease or any
other conveyance OF land or claim
thereto from any Indian nation or
tribe of Indians shall be of any valid
ity in law or equity, unless such shall
have been made by treaty or conven-
bl0h AtoIcu lnto puLbuSub W ln0 COu-
stitution; that only the United States
can make any contract with any In
dian nation or tribe Offering lands
whereby purchase was otherwise, and
the United States can DO so only by
formal agreement, and that the Presi- |
dent may employ the military to re-
move trespassors from she In
dian lands. General McCook sub.
stantiated the sboYe points
by citation from the revised
statutes and declares that the United
States can make agreements respect
ing Indian lands only with the In
dams themselves and not with third
parties, and only with the Indians by
agreement ratified by Congress, not,
withstanding the positive prohibition
of the law against the leasing or con-
veyance Of lands by Indian tribes,sub-
stantially all the lands in the Indian
Territory SGT apart for exclusive In
dian occupation, General McCook says
are in possession OF white men under
lease OF Indians who had no power to
lease, and with the tacit recog.
milton of the department OF
the interior under former
administration which he believes
had no power to recognize or assent TO
any such lease or possession.
Ao IOllONliiB klNch h5 phILlhl
list OF the parties in occupation of
such LANDS in the Cheyenne and Ara
patoe reservations Ia the Indian Terri
tory, and the amount of land con-
trolled by them and embraced In their
designated boundaries:
Acres
Hampton n. Denman, of WASH
ington, D. O., formerly a mem
Der ofthe Kansas State Senate $40 900
Edward EentOn, OF Ieaye1WOrtl,
Kansas, and VIM. G. Mattelly, OF
Caldwell, Kansas, each .......... 564,S01
Robert A.. Hunter, OF st. Louis -. 100000
Albert j. Evans, OF ST. Louis ....... $4,000
Kansas. ....,..,.,...........,......' 3lS,72O
Indian Territory -....:.-',.,,. 1890
1881 ..,...................,,' $1,000
Total to the above parties =. 8,S8a,550
Briggs, member OF the Kansas
State Senate from 1851 to 1855, and E. !
NJ. Hervis and others, in trust for the
Cherokee Strip Live Stock Associa- |
ton, Kansas corporation, leased for
five years, from October /, 1883, 6000, 900 |
acres, being the unoccupied lands con-
veyed to the Pawnees, Poncas, Atoes, |
Missouris, Usage and Kansas Indians. |
The lease price is 12s cents per acre.
III the Iddians had power to make |
leases, and If the Interior Department |
had power to assent to them, what can |
be said Of such an execution of |
public trust supposed to be |
created for the purpose Of protecting |
Indians rights and interests as the &C.
quiescence in q lease OF land for a term |
OF years alta rental which Is nothing |
more than nominal? Is that the way |
the government of the United States |
Eh ~ NAN= 60 Aeo oh,
leases were legal, If authority exists TO |
make them, they would still be obtain
ing from the Indian ward, with the |
assent the guardian, valuable prop. |
erty rights and privileges for a pit |
lance. II tina legality of the leases |
were doubtful they should |
not be permitted continuance
by an administration pledged to
set its face against corruption, collus-
ion and wrong doing-as they unqueH-
tionably are. We hold them as unau-
thorized and illegal, az well as unjust
in the consideration paid. Should
there be an iustant's hesitation in dis
covering them and in the summary
exercise of the government authority
in dispossessing the holders under
them?
Continuing his argument, declaring
the illegslity of the leases, General
McCook continues:
Both under the common law and the
enactments OF Congress, all parties
other than Indians occupying these
lands are tresspsssers, The intention
of the law setting apart the domain
was, that 1t be enjoyed by the Indians
for the purpose Of making OF them
civilized homes, encouraging them in
habits of Industry and improving their
Nn1
that instead Of the Indians possessing
and enjoying the benefits designed for
them, their country Is overrun
with spectators and adventurers
of every degree who have despoiled
them OF their property and practically
sequestr9ted their birth rights, de-
stroying their opportunities of self
support and leaving them nothing for
the future, while keeping them depen-
dent in the present. These men who,
in the last three years have enjoyed
covert protection and haYe boldly in
sisted upon an official recognition OF
their claims, are In many instances
foreigners who owe no allegiance to
evade every duty and obligation
which the laws impose upon Ameri-
can citizens. This part of the Indian
country to which have directed your
attention is country where force
reigns and rapiue dwells; where I'M
serupulous men ask the support of
the government and tho army OF the
United States to protect them In ylo-
lating the law and In evading any re
sponsibility for their acts. These
men are apparently tho representa-,
tives OF great official and financial In
fluence and seem TO have behind them
ala a,,s a-ta
and painful, which vsnishes from
the fair land they now hold.
Every American citizen who il
not with them or OF them are tres
passers. Their representatives at
your departments are not the sup.
porters Of the weak appealing for
protection, but the demand of the
strong, who, from ripe experience,
evidently believe that the future and
H.. I'd ...Nl IsN 4.