Omaha daily bee., 1885-07-06
UsURPING INDIAN RIGHTS.

RANCHMEN IN OKLAHOMA.
WASHINGTON, July 5.-Secretary LANAI
has received a letter from Gen. McCook, ex.
governor of Colorado, relative to the power o.
the government to prevent the illegal occupa
tlon Of lands in the Indian Territory. Tit
writer asserts that the law declares that the
secretary of the interior has full control of al
Indian affairs under the laws, subject to di
rection by the president; that certain con,
tracts may be made by individuals with In
dams relative TO services in procuring the pay.
ments of claims, but that no authority exists
for making contracts of any other nature, and
if made they are null and void; that no pur-
chase, grant, lease or other conveyance OF
lands or of any title or claim thereto
from any Indian nation OF
tribe of Indians shall be Of any
validity of law or equality unless the came
shall be made by treaty or convention entered
into puIsu int to the constitution; that only
| the United States can make any contract with
any Indian nation or tribe affecting lands,
WHISTLER by purchase, lease or otherwise, and
that the United States can do 30 only by
formal agreement, and that the president may
employ the military to remove trespassers
from the Indian lands, Gen. McC1ok sub
stimulates the above points by citations from
the revised statutes, and declares that the
United States can make agreements re
speeding 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 leasing or o n
veyauce Of lands by Indian tribes, substan-
TALLY all the lands in the Indian territory st
apart for exclusive Indian occupation, Gen.
AcCOok says. are in the possession Of white
men under leases from the Indians, who had
no power to lease, and with the tacit Iecog-
nitlon of the interior department, which he
believes had no power to recognize or assent
10 any such lease or possession. The follow
ing il given as q partial list of the
parties in occupation of such lands in
in the Indian Territory and the amount Of
land controlled by them and embraced in
their designated coundaries:
HAMPTON II. DEMMAN, of Washington, D..
c., formerly q member of the Kansas Etato
senate, $4,000 acres.
EDWARD FRNToN, of L~eavenworth, and
WILLIAM @. MALLELLY, of Caldwell, Kansas,
each 564. 500 acres.
RoBsRT A. HUNTER, of st. Louis, 456, 96O
acres.
LEWIS L. BRGGs, of Muscaton, Kansas,
3lS, 720 acres.
JESSE s. MORRISON, of Darlington, Indiana,
1885, $40 acres.
AN UNKNowN LESSEE, dated October 10.
1888, ia, 0C0 acres.
Total to the above parties, $500 500 acres.
Briggs, . member of the Kansas stat e
senate from 1881 to 1885, and E. M. Hewins
and others in trust for the Cherokee strip
live stock association, a Kansas corporation,
leased for five years from October 1st, 1883,
5000, O00 acres, being all the unoccupied lands
conveyed to the Pawnees, Poncas, Nez
Perces, Otoes, Missouris. Osages, and Kan
sas Indians, The rental is one and two-
thirds cents per acre. If the Indians had
power to make leases and if the interior de-
partment had power to assent to them what can
be said of such conduct in the execution of a
public trust supposed to be created for the pur-
pose of protecting Indian rights and interests
as the acquiescence in a lease of lands for a
term of years at a rental which is nothing
more than nominal? Is that the way the gov
eminent of the United States should care for
its wards? Ii ouch leases were legal, if au-
thority existed to make them, they would still
be obtaining from the Indian ward, with the
assent of their guardian, valuable property
rights and privileges for a pittance. If the
legality of the leases were doubtful they
should not be permitted. Continuing his ar
gument, declaring the illegality of the leases,
Gen. McCook writes:
"Both under common law and the enact.
ments of congress all parties other than In.
dams occupying these lands are trespassers.
lu6 iuLtItlUD U bue law, BbtUlUR apart UllS
domain, was that it should be enjoyed by the
Indians for the purpose of making them civil
lied homes, encouraging them in the habits of
industry and elevating and improving their
condition. The actual facts now are that in
stead of the Indians possessing and enjoying
the benefits designed for them their country
is over run with spectators and adventures
of every degree, who have de-
spelled them of their property and
P EigSts' Se,,ra sSaus't tSsjs oDt their birth h
self support and leaving them nothing for the
future while keeping them dependent. These
men who for the last three years have enjoyed
covert protection and coldly insisted uLon
Official recognition of their ella ms are in many
instances foreigners who owe no allegiance to
this government, and in all cases evade every
duty and obligation which the laws impose
upon American citizens.
This part of Indian country to which 1
have called your attention is a country where
scrupulous mon ask the support of the govern
ment and army OF the United States
to protect them in violating the law and
avoiding any responsibility for their acts.
These men are apparently the representatives
OF great official and financial influence and
seem to have behind them an autocratic ele-
ment mysterious as 1t is powerful, which ban
lshes from the face of the land, they now
hold every American citizen who Is not with
them'.s trespassers. Their representations
to your department are not the prayers of the
weak appealing for protection bnt the de-
mands of the strong who from q rips exper-
fence evidently believe that the future and the
past will be the same"
The Iowa Regatta.
CEDAR RApnS Ia Jnlu A Tho To5o.