Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-02-03
: fess mud 9akotaian
AN INDIANS %ELOQUENCE.
QUOTING THE YANKEE TRICK" OF
THE PHENiclAN PRINCESS.

Col. Harkins, the C~hiokasaw. Deliver
an Able Address In Opposition to thu
Oklahoma Territory Bill-A Balloon
Anchored to q Fly speck.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2.-In concluding
his argument against the Oklahoma bill
before the committee on territories, tn,
Chickasaw delegate, made a great hit
He said:
Elm my boyhood / was sent from thu
paternal wigwam, in the Indian terri
tory, to n of the colleges OF the United
States to be initiated into book. learning
of the white nan / read, in a note te
Virgil's "Asneid, . or something else, OF
the sharp Yankee trick played by the
Phenician Princess Dido. on the Choc-
taws and Chickasaws OF the north OF
Africa, thousands of years ago. Sho
bought. 1t Is said, as much Of their land
as a bulls hide would cover, and then
adroitly cut up the hide into strings SO
fine that 1T encompassed the site of an
cient Carthage. t~wenty-three miles In
circumference. The disproportion be-
tween the area which congress now has
the power to inclose within the limits OF
this proposed Territory Of Oklahoma, and
the area actually staked off by the first
section OF the bill, is not less monstrous
lis not less preposterous-thau the dis
proportion between the area OF Dido's
bulls hide II the area of the city of
Carthage. IL congress to-day holds the
power to throw the boundary lines of the
Territory Oklahoma around n part of
the land staked Off by the frat section of
this bill, that power ia restricted to q
little patch of land In the northwest cor
ner, as insignificant In comparison with
the whole OF the hclosed area, as was
Dido's bulls hide compared with the
Great Punic city. That little patch is
the bulls hide in this case. 1t is the
pretext which covers, on paper, large
tracts of land wherein the Cherokees,
Greeks, Semtnoles, Chickasawa and
Choctaws have rights which you can not
wrest from them unless you have power
to rescind solemn treaties of the United
States.
Suppose you pass this bill. Yon will
have the pleasure and the honor of look
ing upon the new territory of Oklahoma,
with the shoestring, which constitutes its
exterior boundaries, hung up around 3
body Of say 10, 900 square miles of lxnd,
and yet the only land in fact and in law
embraced in this great territory with its
magnificent boundaries and, hi.h sound
Ing name, the only land really subjected
to the provisions OF this law will be a
little fly speck up in the northwest cor
ner. Over this little patch of land will
preside, at the outset, a governor, a Sec
rotary, q chief justice, two associate
justices, an attorney and a marshal, all
appointed by the president, by and with
III consent of the senate. The congress
OF the United States, exercising the
power conferred by the the federal
constitution, has organized twenty-six
inherent territories since the establish
ment OF the territory nnrthwesl as the
In some cases certain Indian res
er%vations have been exempted from tho
Jurisdiction OF the territorial. govern
ments. But in such cases the reserya-
lions 80 exempted have always constitute
q very insignificant part of the lands
within the exterior boundaries
OF the territories. Never before has the
great body of the lands 80 inclosed been
exempted, at the outset, from the juris-
OF the territorial government.
Unde this bill Oklahoma will be, at
hrst, q mere balloon suspended over a
space inclosed within imaginary bound
aries, and anchored to a fy.speck in one
corner. The territorial government will
not descend to earth until the Cherokees,
S~ezntnoles, Creeks, Choctaws and Chicka-
saws shall consent. You will be disap-
pointed If YOU expect them to consent be-
fore the end OF the nineteenth century.,i
UaH=4rHH EE.s-