Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-08-14
TWO VIEWS FROM ONE SIDE.

The cattle question continues to engross
the attention of the public, and the varl-
GUS views expressed by the leading
journals of the country are eagerly sought
for by ALL Yesterday morning the 1Ti-
buae published an extract from the st.
Louis Globe-Dem0crdt, making no COM
ment upon the extract but this, There
are two sides to the cattle troubles iii In
dian Territory" Here is the extract;
Some of the best informed Eastern papers
are terribly disgusted at what they call the
outrage-that has been perpetrated upon the
poor Indians by the designing villains who
leased the use of the grass from them for
term of wears at a certain price per acre.
Thus the Brooklyn Union sets forth Its sad
ness. saving: NEARLY II, 1,O0J.0J0 acres have
been leased for less than S214, 4,OOO-an aver
age of less than two cents an acre J! Ihe
writer of that awful phrase evidently knows
nothing about land and its values, save what
he may have picked up In the purileus OF
New York, or, maybe, on forty-acre onion
farm. For his information it may be stated
that when the terrible leases we're made
there were millions of acres of land In the
market that could have been purchased for
from 80 cents an acre upwards, and that 2
cents represents per cent on 5O-cent IN
vestment-about what Uncle Sam pays IN
interest to his creditors. He may also be
properly informed that the money already
paid to the Indians on account of these
leases, amounting to about $640,0OJ up to
date is so much money found. That butfo
the cattlemen and the leases the Indians
would not have got cent out of the lands.
Moreover, when the cattlemen leave the In
dian lands, as it is now clear they must do,
1AlN
property, it may be as well to ask how ''Lo,
the poor Indian is going to be fed and
clothed and kept in state of contentment!
These points may as we'll be considered be-
fore our Eastern friends go into Mysteries
again.
1t is almost needless to say that the
Globe Democrat is rabid Republican
paper The Chicago Inter-Ocean of the
9th instant has the following editorial
concerning the cattlemen and the Presi-
dent:
"The question of the removal of the great
droves of cattle from the leased lands IN
the Cheyenne and other reservations
in Indian Territory has come to focus.
the President made a strong case.
The delegation was composed of men of in
fluence, and of men we'll informed as to ali
the points at issue. All that can be said in
favor of allowing the cattle to remain in
Indian Territory was said by this delegation,
and it may be presumed that they put the
case as strongly as it could be put. They
virtually admit that the cattle ought to be
removed, but they claim that there will be
great loss if the time for removal is not ex-
tended beyond the forty days mentioned in
the order. The difficulties in the way of re-
moval are undoubtedly great. Under favor
able circumstances the loss to the cattlemen
will be heavy, and it may be that the cattle
trade itself will be injured.
But admitting all this, the President made
q good point when he said that he was called
upon to decide whether the interests of the
cattlemen should suffer somewhat or whether
the interests of the public should suffer a
good deal through an Indian war. He de-
clared that with these two interests in con-
hict, with public peace, public security and
the safety of lives on one side and
the interests of the cattlemen on the
other, that the latter must give way.
This is the correct position, and the Presi-
dent deserves commendation for the clear
ness and force with which he stated ii. His
reasons for not granting extension of time
are that further delays will increase the irri-
tation of the Indians and increase the posi-
bilities of an Indian war on the Kansas from
.lIeT. IL may De SOlIl0 udruSHlp IOr Tue CdItl6
men to carry out the order, but it would be a
greater hardship for the people of Kansas to
endure the horrors of an Indian war.
General Sheridan in his report placed the
responsibility for the leasing of Indian lands
on the Indian agent, and advises a recon-
struction of the reservations. General Sher-
idan, it is well known, is no sentimentaIist
on the Indian question. He believes in he
roic methods in treating outbreaks of saw
agery, and he now recognizes the fact that
there has been wrong on the part of the In
dians as we'll as on the part of the whites,
but he declares that the only way to pre-
serve peace is to remove the cause of irrita-
ton, or in other words, to remove from the
Indian country the whites who went into
the Territory with the cattle. The admis-
sion that the Indians have been mistreated
coming from General Sheridan means good
deal more than would stronger declaration
coming from the advocates of the peace pol
icy. Putting aside the whole question of
right or wrong in the issuing of the leases
it is clear that only by decided action can
the present difficulties be settled, and the
President and the Lieutenant General seem
to have taken the right course"