The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-07-16
LAND-GRABBERS.
Power OF the Government to Prevent
Illegal Occupation OF Lands In
.h Indian Territory. As'
Millions Of Acres Occupied BY Cattle Com
panies Without the Color of
Law or Justice.

washington telegram 10 chicago fribune.I
Gen. Sparks. Commissioner of the Gen.
eral Land Office. has had complete list of
all the cases where the public lands have
been improperly fenced made out, with a
statement of the present status of affairs
In all of these cases the parties have been
notified to remove the fences. In some in
stances they have consulted attorneys who
have held that reasonable number of
openings in the fences is sufficient. In
such cases the openings are guarded, and
TO all intents and purposes fences still ex-
list. The total amount Of land that has
been appropriated in this way is between
one and two million acres.
Secretary Lamar has received a letter
from Gen. McCook, ex- Governor of Col
orado, relative to the power of the Govern
ment to prevent illegal occupation Of lands
in Indian Territory. The writer asserts
that the law declares that the Secretary of
the Interior has full control of all Indian
affairs under the laws. subject to direction
by the President; that certain contracts
may be made by individuals with Indians
relative to services In procuring the pay
ments of claims, but no authority exists
for making contracts of any other nature,
and, if made, they are null and void; that
no purchase, grant, lease, or other con-
veyance of lands or of any title or claim
thereto from any Indian nation or
tribe Of Indians shall be of any val
idity in law or equity. unless the same shall
be made by treaty or convention, entered
into pursuant to the Constitution; that only
the United States can make any contract
with any Indian nation or tribe affecting
lands, whether by purchase, lease. or other
wise, and the United States can do so only
hxf -. n1 hat k1a IL, .
may employ the military 10 remove tres
passers from the Indian lands.
Gen. McCook substantiates the above
points by citations from the Revised
statutes, and declares that the United
States can make agreements respect
ing Indian lands only with the Indians
themselves, and not with third parties,
and only with the Indians by agreement
ratified by Congress. Notwithstanding the
positive prohibitions of the law against the
leasing or conveyance of lands oy Indian
tribes, substantially all the lands in Indian
Territory set apart for exclusive Indian oc-
cupation, General McCook says, are in the
possession of white men, under leases from
Indians who had no power to lease, and
with the tacit recognition of the Depart
ment of the Interior under a former adj
ministration), which he believes had no
lease or possession.
LIST OF THE LESSEES.
The following is given as a partial list of
parties in occupation of such lands in the
Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservations in
Indian Territory, and the amount of land
controlled by them and embraced in their
designated boundaries:
Hampton II. Denman of Washington, d.
c., formerly member OF the Kansas State
Senate, 50, 600 acres.
Edward Fenlon of Leavenworth, Kas.,
and William C. Mallelly of Caldwell, Kas
each 56f, 800 acres.
Robert A. Hunter of st. Louis, Mo-,
500. 900 acres.
Albert q. Evans of st. Louis, Mo-, 456,-
$50 acres.
Lewis l.. Briggs Of Muscoton, Has,
318, 100 acres.
Jesse S. Morrison, of Darlington, I. T.,
1873, 240 acres.
Unknown lessee, leasing Oct. Is, 1888,
714,O acres.
Total TO above parties, 1882, $40 acres.
THE NOMINAL RENTAL.
Briggs, member of the Kansas State
Senate, lSS1-'85, and L. M. Hewins, and
others, in trust for the Cherokee Strip
Live Stock Association of Kansas, Kan
sas corporation, leased for five years from
Oct. l, 1888, 5000, 900 acres, being oil the
unoccupied lands conveyed to the Pawnees,
Poncas, Nez Perces. Otoes, Missouris,
Osages, and Kansas Indians. The rental
is Ii cents per acre. If the Indians 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 q public trust, supposed to be Gre
ated for the purpose of protect
ing Indian rights and interests, as
the acquiescence in a lease of lands for
term of years at rental which is
nothing more than nominal? Is that the
way the Government Of the United States
should care for its wards? If such leases
were legal-if authority existed to make
them-they would still be obtaining from
the Indian wards, with the assent of their
guardian, valuable property rights and
privileges for q pittance. If the legality OF
the leases were doubtful they should not
be permitted the countenance of an admin
istration pledged to set its face against cor
ruption. collision. and wrong. Being. as
they unquestionably are, wholly pnauthor-
lied and illegal, as well as improvident,
should there be an instants hesitation in
disavowing them, and in the summary ex-
ercise of all the power and authority Of the
Government in dispossessing the holders
under them?"
TRESPASSERS.
Continuing his argument declaring the
illegahty of the leases. Gen. McCook says:
Both under the common law and the
enactments of Congress all parties other
than Indians occupying these lands are
trespassers. The intention of the law set
ting apart this domain WAS that it should
be enjoyed by the Indians for the purpose
of making TO them civilized homes, en-
couraging them In habits of industry. and
elevating and improving their condition.
The actual facts now are that, instead of
the Indians possessing and enjoying the
benefits designed for them, the coun-
try is overrun with spectators and adj
venturers of every degree, who have de-
spoiled them of their property and prac-
tically sequestrated their birthrights, de-
stroying their opportunities of self-sup-
port, and leaving them nothing for the fu-
ture. while keeping them dependent in the
present.
SENATOR PLUMB. of Kansas. is said to
be engaged in n careful study of Southern
scenes and life and the horrible possibil-