Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1886-01-14

but little OF the effect of his rulings
Sincerely Yours,
The order in question it will be no.
ticed, applies to all the lands west Of the
first guide meridian west, in Kansas, and
all west of range II west in Nebraska.
An examination Of any map Of thpsc
states will show that the suspension ef-
fccts fully onc-halt Of the area Of
each Of those states named. More than
this, the order, it will be observed, oper-
ates to withdraw from settlement all the
lands in the United States available for
settlement in the states and territories
west, southwest and northwest. All the
lands owned by the government now be-
ing sought for settlement by the people,
except those in the south, are practically
unavailable to the people wanting homes.
It must be borne in mind that mil.
lionairs do not migratcto Nebraska, Kan
sas or Colorado, The people that 60
there go much as the first settlers came
to the colonies in the old time. They
bring neither gold nor silver. They arc
without resources; their only property is
their W Iii n slo work Their wealth
is in the future. They ore surrounded
by no splcndor except that Of hope. They
are sustained alone by the faith Of things
not seen.
In the light of the extraordinary cen
sequences of evil to the present and fu-
ture Of the states aad territories affected
by this order it becomes pertinent to in
quire upon what authority of law and
what warrant of fact this wholesale.
slaughter of the rights of 252,753 c;ti-
zens of this country is based? The au
thority of law is raised by construction,
by implication, and that is raised by
what is called evidence furnished by the,
published report Of eighteen special
agents who are relied upon to impcach
the sworn evidence of S3,23l claimants,
and 166,502 disinterested witnesses, and
who must have sworn for them, and in
addition to this the official finding Of the
trusted local land officers of the govern
ment.
Some Of the evidence (reports) Of the
special agent would seem to commend it.
self to the ridicule of all reasonable men
by statements of this kind:
II give as my opinion that in Kansas,
Nebraska and Dakota the proportion is
80 per cent, to 10 per cent, of bona fde
and possibly successful cultivation"
Here the gentleman is speaking Of
timber,culture claims, and, on the
strength of his opinion of man hired to
hunt Down these settelers of the frontier,
an order issues suspended not only tim.
Der culture patents, but all patents.
When before, with the approval of civ.
ilized men, was the opinion Of an inform,
er taken as grounds for the suspension
of the due course Of law? NJ one
from the West, that region which ha,
suffered most from the aggressions Of thu
landed corporations, but will sympathize
with the Commissioner in his effort tc
protect the public domain from the en-.
e croachments of the corporations Of al
r kinds, whether cattle kings, so called, Of
e railroads.
: We do not object to the suspension oi
e ,imber-culture entries or to the suspension
f of any entry of whatever kind whenever
a specific charge of fraud is made agains
n that entry. We do protest against I
2 cloud being cast upon the honest claim
e of settlers on the agricultural lands O
Nebraska and other States and Terri
$ tories by the dust raised by eighteen spie.
), whose official heads hang upon slender
: thread of the caprice of an administration
y mad with reform, and a Department
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