Wichita eagle., 1886-12-16
DARLINGTON DOTS.

Oklahoma question, and II the wishes ant
needs of the people of the United States arr
considered. their desires should not be dis
appointed.
OF the present status of the country IL
question, there can be no legal doubt, thu
it is not open to settlement by whites, bu
the area of public land is becoming dimin
ished yearly TO such an extent, that all sur
plus land-Indian or other, must eventu-
ally be put upon the books of the general
Land office, for homestead and pre- emrtlon
entry. The Indian title must sooner OF
later be extinguished This can be but a
matter of few years only. The whole
public domain now open TO settlement en-
braces less than six hundred million acres,
onethird Of which is mountain land, which
while valuable for timber privileges, is not
susceptible of tillage One-half Of the bal
ance is swamp land, mainly on the Atlantic
and Gulf coasts and Mississippi bottoms,
leaving less than two hundred million OF
acres suitable for agricultural purposes, be-
yond that vast body Of land, known as the
Indian Territory, embracing within its
borders. land as fair as the sun ever shone
on, now lying fallow, because the owners
have more than they can possible cultivate.
4 sickly sentimentaiity has assigned the
Indians Of this country, rights and priv
leSes which have never before in the his
tory of the world been accorded to con
quered savages. Treaties were made with
them in the nations infancy and reserva-
tons given them in a country, which at the
time never entered the mind of the most
ardent visionary, would be in less than half
a century surrounded by civilization.
Land beyond their utmost possible needs
was sclemnly granted to them By treaty,
simply because no one then living supposed
it would be needed by higher civilization,
and to-day we are face to face with ques-
ton upon which the welfare of hundreds
depends.
A Democratic president has seen fit to
thwart the wishes of the people in neglect
ing to appoiot the commission authorized
bT congress TO treat with the tribes holding
Oklahoma by treaty, on the ground tic.
the appointment of the commission WIS OPP
tional with, not obligatory with him. Ills
advisors have now taken alarm, and are
recommending the action which but lately
they neglected. Two years delay has been
created, and more time must yet be con
sumed before entrance into this promised
land is free to all. But the question can
be materially expedited if the project of
the Indian Office, as lately promulgated be
carried out; that is, to remove call Indians
west of the ninety eight degree of longitude
to the east of that meTidign and then open
up this vacated territory to white settle
ment.
This is. however, simply sop to Ger
berus The wants of the people may be
appeased for a time with this Slice but the
time will surely come when the Indian
must have only the same land privileges as
his white ncighbor The whole territory
must be occupied and titles in severalty
given for each and every acre of this grand
domain. A far sighted and wise policy
demands the opening up of the whole coun-
try, after dealing justly and fairly by the
present population. Give the Indian,
normal or civilized. the first chance; make
his title inalienable for generation of
twenty-one years, if necessary, but this
dark spot of uncultivated land, bearing in
its bosom all that goes TO make the real
wealth Of a nation must be wiped ont of
the future maps Of this country. Already
great trunk lines of railways are planting
on its face the slender threads which must
eventually grow into stronger and stronger
bonds to burst assunder the fetterS our fore
fathers unknowingly put upon this land.
TO the present congress the people of the
frontier look for help, and the over-crowd
ed cities are waiting TO turn their surplus
population into this channel Of relief The
Indian must take his chances with the great
BODY Of citizens and cease to be a burden
and taxation upon his white brother. In
no other way can this be done. We may
go on for years feeding and educating
him, using our best endeavors
to bring him up to the plane Of white CHI
lization. by moral suaSion, to find in the
future, rs in the past. our endeavors in
this regard, will be futile Necessity
must be the sole arbiter in the end. and
when the red man finds it to be question
of self support OF starvation, he will work
rs willingly and as perSeveringly as his
pale-f faced brother now does. and he will
never recognize his own manhood until he
does.
Oklahoma, in lis restricted sense. en-
braces but n small portion of this land,
situated geographically in such 4 manner
that It's entry into the sisterhood Of states,
would at present be awkward and ilI-ad-
vised \ radical cure is attainable only by
a complete regulation of the whole matter,
and with less than perfect cure the PEG
/ pie of the country will be coutented for a
short time only CYMoN.
GREAT BEND, KANSAS.