Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-08-10
THE CATTLE QUESTION.

already is being discussed as a party
question. This arises from the fact that
many of the most prominent men
engaged in it were at the time the
leases were made Government officials,
and no doubt Government influence
was used to secure these leases.
No doubt the cattlemen in the Indian
Territory have always taken advan-
tage of any doubts as to their rights,
and have presumed upon the credulity OF
the public and have expected to create
sympathy in their favor. To certain
extent they have succeeded. When
President Cleveland made his order to
remove all cattle from the Indian Territory
within forty days no effort whatever was
made by the cattlemen to comply with the
order, but they telegraphed to Washington
wanting to know if the order could not be
modified. and were answered in the most
positive terms that no modification would
be made. The cattlemen still gave no
heed to the order, presuming that the
Government would not enforce its order,
but allow them to continue as they had
been doing Trusting that the Govern
ment was not in earnest, but was merely
playing game of bluff, the cattlemen
sent delegation to wait upon the Presl-
dent This delegation contained, among
others, Senator Cockrell and Representa-
tive John Nj. Glover, and when they met
the President, Senator Cockrell intro
duced Representative Pollard, who pre-
sented the President with a memorial in
behalf of the cattlemen. The memorial
in the first clause set forth this somewhat
astonishing fact:
Leases were in every case made with the
knowledge of the then Secretary of the In
terror and were submitted to him and re-
ceived from him every sanction, except the
formal and technical affix of his signature
and seal.
From this the only inference that can
be drawn is that Secretary Teller gave
the entire proceedings his personal sane
ton, and only refrained from atfixing his
official signature and seal because he
must have doubted OF the legality of any
such transaction. The duty of the Secre-
tary was plain in the matter. If he be-
lieved that the leasing of the lands of the
Indians in the Indian Territory was right
and legal, he should so have said official
ly and acted accordingly. If, on the other
hand, he entertained grave doubts as
to such matters, SO grave that he
refused to give his official sanction to the
leases, he should have forbidden the
leasing of the land. In either case he
should not have shirked responsibility.
If the cattlemen have gone into the In
dian Territory wrongfully and knowingly,
then upon them should rest the loss and
inconvenience of moving their cattle at
an inauspicious time. Their memorial
stated that the cattle could not
be moved in herds containing more
than 800, and that each herd would
require twelve men and sixty horses.
Surely this is a much larger force than is
usually required out West to move 300
head of cattle. Moreover, a herd of only
300 head is a very small herd, about
three or four times as small as herds in
this Territory. Their machinery must be
very cumbersome in the Indian Terri
tory.
The delegation certainly presented
their case to the best advantage them
selves. They say:
There are other features of the subject
which commend themselves to Executive
consideration, among which is the fact that
rentals for all these lands have been paid to |
the LIST of November this year. No amount |
of diligence will enable us to gather up all |
the cattle during the time allowed, and the |
result must be that the uncollected portion |
will be left on the range unprotected by |
their owners and subject to depredations by |
the Indians. In conclusion, we respectfully |
state that this memorial is directed, not |
against the policy which has been adopted, |
but against the time which has been allowed |
us to conform thereto. We only solicit that |
measure of protection to our property which |
is accorded TO other established interests. |
The enforcement of the present order can |
only result in great injury to ourselves as
well as to others with whom we have bust |
ness relations. We therefore respectfully |
ask for such time to remove our cattle as the /
above facts show to be Indispensable.
The delegation asked everything and
offered nothing. As the President re-
marked to them, they were in Washing
ton twelve days after the order had been
issued, and that time, precious time, had
been lost. They made requests and ex-
pected the Government to make conces-
sions. They endeavored to do nothing,
trusting that Executive clemency would
be enlisted in their favor. The con-
duct of the cattlemen has been
such as to entitle them to no sympathy.
If an honest, earnest effort had been
made to comply with the order of remov-
al, it is more than probable that such
time would have been given the cattle
men to remove their stock without loss;
but no such effort was made The pub
lie peace and safety We're to be endan-
gered that men who had wrongfully gone
into the Indian Territory might be main
tanned there. No consideration was
given to those things by the cattlemen or
heir representatives. The public will
be inclined to think and hold with the
President when he said:
If your interests led you out of the Terri
ory, instead of in, / cannot help but think
1ou would find some way out in the specified
ime. l wish you would cooperate and take
lold ard try to get the cattle out. :
He recognized that some loss and in
might arise from enforcing ,
he order, but he very plainly intimated {
hat the order would not be harshly en- 9
orced if an honest effort were made to
omply with it when he said to the dele /