The Nevada picayune., 1885-08-27
Looked a Million Dollars Straight in
 the Face aud Said No.

The Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian Reservations embrace i ,50O- 900 acres Of the finest grazing land on'this cOntinent-the famous pam pas of South America not excepted. When MT. Cleveland became Pres. ident he found the bullock barons in unlawful possession of nine- tenths-all but 100000 acres-of this vast, magnificent area, upon which they were grazing S0 100000 worth of cattle. They claimed to be in possession by virtue of a lease from the Indians and sane ton of the Government of the United States. They were payin g the Indians 1 3.4 cents per acre per annum for the land. There was great dissatisfaction and dis content among the Indians. There is no law or treaty stipulation au- thorizing the Indians to lease their lands, or the Department of the Interior to sanction or approve such 8 lease, except by special act of Congress. In this case there had been no special act of Con- gress, and when the President called upon Mir. Garland for his opinion as to the legality of the leases. he promply investigated them and gave it as his opinion that they were wholly unauthor- ized by law, and, therefore, null and void-simply no leases at all making it as clear as the monday sun that the barOns were tresspass- CTS upon the Reservations and ought to be ejected at once. There upon the President issued his proclamation ordering the barons to remove their cattle from the Reservations within forty days. The barons were Shocked, were indignant, and kicked higher and harder than the best kickers in their mighty herds could have done. They telegraphed the President that he must be joking, that they preferred to remain where they were. The President sent word back to them that "hc guessed not" Then the barons assembled in a large mass meeting in Kansas City and appointed a committee of wealthy cattle men. capitalists. Congressman and Sen ators to proceed to Washington to plead with the President for an ex- tension of the time until next Spring. They went, but MT. Cleve land looked a million dollars right straight in the face and said.
 Noy I said forty days, and mean forty days. I shall sympathize with you in any loss this order may entail upon you, but you entered upon these Reservations with !youi eyes open. You knew you had no legal right to do it. The Indians are complaining that the small portions of the Reservations into which you have them crowded d9 no afford them abundant means of subsistence This is the secret of their discomfort and their uprising against the whites Your interest, are great, admit, and would gladly pro. tect you from any loss or hardship, if I could lawfully do so. But you are tresspassers and your interests. great as they are, are far les, important than the peace and security of thu white settlers adjacent to the Reservations the welfare of the Indians themselves, and the vindication of the laws. Twelve of tn, forty days have already expired, and let me suggest that you lose no moro valuable time in quest of an extention-for that is useless but put your hoards in motion without further delay.
 These so-called leaseholds, to- gether with the cattle which the barons had on hand at the time, were estimated to be worth S6O, 900, ,000, and the barons having pro cured the leases by fraud and brib- cry in the first place, there can be no doubt that they would have re- garded q million dollars..as a req sonable price for reasonable ex- tention of the time. But MT. Cleveland is a Democrat, and through him the PEOPLE-not the money kings-rulc.