The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1888-08-16
OUR PUBLIC LANDS.

sound. sensible document plainly
snd poin;ed'y presenting the iucNru,a-
Die policy which has been practice.
by state and National authority Foe
dispo.ing III public lands. Few 10
our best informed citizen. are aware
OF the fact thar since lSS0 3.13gWu
acres of the State, land has been
almost given away 10 land syndicate,
and railroad corporations and that we
now have remaining only 2Gl,OGO
acres Of the splendid heritage or o1.
children. Il j. a fact that the stat
realized not more than st Gems
per acre for more than l.3OO.O0d
rcres Of this land, and had j, been
properly cared for, We could have
realized within the next ten year, "a
sum Of money, the interest ON which,
would have been sufficient to run tlc
common schools in the state tive
months in each year.
The mpdus operandi by which large
bodies Of this land were gobblcd gp
by foreign syndicate, was as novel
as it was iniquitous The agent of
some London capitalists first goes
over the land, locates the best bodi,-.
has the numbers an arranged and thcu
Puts his wits TO work to beat a statute,
which provided that no one should
enter or purchase from the State more
than 30 acres. The next move was
TO charter couple of trains one to
run from Vicksburg, aud the other
from Yszoo City 10 Jackson and adj
vertise a free excursion to the Capital
for tie colored people. OF course
large number took the ride, and when
they got 10 Jackson ,the papers AZ
lready being prepared,) eacl, uale was
induced to make application TO lhr
swamp land commissioner for 80
acres of land. The money wa, paid
( by the agent OF the Noble Britishc,s,
the patents were obtained from the
Secretary Of states office, and forth
with the accommodating darkeys, were
requested TO make theirN toa quit
claim decd previously prepared, and
Il IS said We're given a drink Of whisky
and returned 20 their homes perfectly
delighted with the generous hospital
ity Of the excursion managers. The
result was that an English syndicate
obtained for "a song hundreds Of
thousands of acres Of the finest tim
bered lands in the State, and the COM
mon school fund was robbed Of a large
amount Of money. An investigation
made by this Writcrin the swamp land
Office in 1886. showed that iS,OOC
acres of pine land was obtained in
Harrison county alone, by the above
described process, in one day. And a
careful inspection Of the facts con
nected with the sale and purchase of
100000 acres in the Valley by anoth-
er land syndicate aud a Railroad cor
poration, at the Insignificant price Of
| 81 cents per acre, and the subsequent
act of the Legislature OF 1883, quiet
ing tax titles viii convince amy
unpreiudiced mind that the school
fund was again robbed in manneI
equally as bold and scarcely les, Wiz
lainous. Il is too late 10 save much
Of this valuable domain for our chil-
drcn but what we have left (26O,OOO
acres should be held by the State fur
homesteads. tor bona fde settlers. or
given to the wounded Confederate
soldiers, rather than to Northern
Eastern and foreign capitalists, rail-
road magnstes and -peculators. BU
that Progress with big p, which has
already stolen tive-sixth, of our pun-
lie lands. viii most likely absorb the
remainder before many years roll by,
aud then the method Of direct taxa
ton fort the support Of common schools,
now in vogue, will not only be cont.u-
ued, but increased.