Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-12-09
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE,
TCoutinued frsm Third Page

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
TContinued frsm Third Page.
~expedient it will be necessary 10 have
surveys completed of the reservations, and
l hops that provision will be made tor the
prosecution OF this work.
In May Of the present year a small Por-
ton Of the Claricahus Apaches on the
White Mountain reservation in Arizona,
left the reservation and committed q num-
Der of murders and 6epredstions upon set
tiers in that neighborhood- Though
prompt and energetic action was taken by
the military the renegades eluded capture
and escaped into Mexico. The formation ct
the country through which these Indians
passed, their thorough acquaintance
with the same and the speed of their es-
cape and the manner in which
they scattered and concealed them.
selves among the mountains near
the scene of their outrsges put u soldiers
at a great disadvantsg &c in their efforts TO
capture them, though the expectation is
still entertained that they will be taken
and punished for their crimes. The threat
enipg and d~isorderly conduct Of the Chey-
ennes in the Indian Territory early last
summer caused considerable alarm and
u~nessiness. Investigation proved that
their threatening attitude was due in 8
great measure to the occupation Of tbs
land of their reservation by immense herds
of cattle which their owners claimed were
righ,fully there under certain leases made
by the Indians.
Il %CATTLEYEE.
Such occupation appearing upon exam
~inslion to be unlawful notwithstanding
these leases, the intrudeys were ordered lo
remove with their cattle from the lands Of
the Indians by executive proclamation
The enforcement of this proclamation had
the effect of restoring peace and order
among the Indians and they are nov quie'
and well behaved. By an executive order
Issued on February q. 1885, by my pre-,
decessor, a portion of the tract Of county
in the territory known as the OLD
Winnebsgo and Crow Creek reserVs
lions was directed TO be restored
to the pRbie domain and opened to settle
ment under the land laws of the United
States, and a large number Of persons en-
tered upon these lands. lnis actor
alarmed the Sioux Indians, who claimea
the territory as belonging TO their reserva
ion, under treaty OF 1868. This clniu
WGs determined, after careful investigation
to be we'll founded, aud consequently 'h'
executive order referred 10 was, By procla
nation Of April II, 1885, declared to b,
imperative and of DO effect, and gil per
sons upon the land we're warned TO leave
This warning has been systematically com
piled with.
Il Bin DOMAIN
had its origin in c~essions OF land By tbJ
States to the General Government. Tn
irst cession was made by the State Of New
York and the largest which in area exceed,
all the others by the State Of Virginia
The territory, the proprietorship Of WI ci
became thus vested in the General Govern
ment, extended from the western line 0
Pennsylvania to the Mississippi river
These patriotic donations Of the State
we're encountered with no conditions excap
hat they should be held and used for thu
common benefit OF the United States. b.
purchase With the common fund of all thu
people, additions were made to this domain
until it extended to the northern
line of Mexico. The Pacific ocear
and the Polar sea, the original trus
Tor the common benefits OF the UnileC
States. Attached to all in the execution
IF that trust the policy Of many homes
rather than large estates was adopted by
the Government, that these might be easily
obtained aud be the abode Of security anC
contentment. The laws for their scqaisi
ion were few, easily understood AID gen
eral in their character. But the presence
Of local interest combined with q speculs
i've spirit have, in many instances, procured
the passage Of lava which msrred III;
harmony OF the general plan and enculn
oered the system with Z multitude of gen
raj and special enactments which renders
he land laws a complicated subject, thu
TILES to unt~ certainty and the purchasers
often to oppression aud wrong laws, which
sern intended for the Common
Benefit" have been perverted 81
hat large quantities Of land
are vesting in single owDerships. From
he multitude and character Of the laws,
his consequence seems incapable Of cor
rection BY mere administration. 1t is not
Tor the common benefit of the United
States" that large area Of the public lands
should be acquired, directly or through
rsud, in the haads of q single individual.
The n%ation's strength is 10 the people, the
national prosperity is in their prosperity
The nation glory is in the equality If her
Justice. The nations perpEtui'y is in ihe
patriotism of all her people, hence, as far
ss practicable, the plan adopted in The
disposal of public lands should have in
view the original policy which en-
outraged many purchasers CT these lands
tor homes and discouraged the msssing Of
large sreag. Exclusive Of Alaska, about
chree-ftths Of the nstlonal domain hes
neen sold or subjected to contract or grant.
Of the remaining two.ffths a considerable
portion is mop1tanopG. A rapidly i~ncieas-
ing population ereates 6 growing demand
for homes and the accumulation af wea!tt
,nsriress an eager competition to obtain ,hp
public land for speculative purposes. 10 the
future this collision of interests will be
marked than in the past, and the
4xeCution of the nations trust in behalf OF
our settlers will be more difiicult. ! there
fore commend to your attention the recon,
meudations contained ia he report Of the
secretary G. the Interior, With reference
the repeal and modification of certain
IF our land laws. The nation has made
grants aud subsidies to a system Of
'ailroAds projected ss national highways to
the Pacific States With the East.
has been charged that these donations
rom the p'ople have been diverted to Uri
rate gain and corrupt usHs, and thus pab
ic indignation has been arolsel and sus
engeudered Our ggeat nation Goes
lot begrudge its generosites, but it sbhors
,eculatiOn end fraud, and the favorable
egard of our people for the grsa: corpora.
ions to which these grants were made
only be revised by a restoration of cou
dance IN he sFcurad bv their coust,,.