New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-26
to the minute details of execution which make
or mar such affairs as they have in hand.
yppUpTION AND EXODUS.

Tho retreat from Oklahoma has begun even
sooner than was expected, and in fact, has
assumed in single day proportions suggestive
of Mondays advance. A single train bore into
Kansas City yesterday morning fourteen car
loads of respondent immigrants. The return
ing boomers at Arkansas City descended upon
the restaurants like locusts upon green field
and forgot for the moment their disappoint-
ment in the rapture Of eating and drinking
after seventeen hours of starvation ana two
days struggle for food Other tributary points
are as crowded as they were last week and at
Guthrie the longing for corner lots has been
suddenly replaced by frantic desire TO get
away. From hundred sources come COM
plants of hardship and misery, of hunger and
thirst, of poor soil and dark prospects, and
Of fraudulent seizures of land. The exodus Is
scarcely less remarkable than the invasion, and
it is far less picturesque and romantic.
OF course it is chiefly the destitute and the
wrathful who now have the floor, and it Will
be safe to make a reasonable discount ON their
stories. individuals who were not inspired by
an irrational conviction that they were bound
for an earthly paradise will be heard from be-
fore long, and their reports will be more cheer
f,l. Oklahoma is not land flowing with milk
and honey, and there was never any reason
why man with his senses about him should
suppose it was Considerable parts of it will
Weld decent living to hard work, and those
who went thef6 on that understanding are
likely to remain. What proportion Of Mon
days army of occupation belong in that cate
CORY it is not yet possible to say, for at the
present moment the cpdulouS and the unfort-
innate monopoiSe attention.
Human misery is never a proper subject for
mirth, and nobody ought to feel that because
a multitude of fools have been answered &C
cording to their folly, they are not entitled to
compassion. But what an amazing display OF
ignorance and stupidity the country has Wit
messed during the last month. An Iowa farmer
is quoted as saying that he had left paying
property to take care Of itself on the suppose
ton that he was sure to get rich in Oklahoma
so fast that the sacrifice wasn't worth consider
ing He took money with him. and so had
little difficulty in getting back to CIVILIZATION
after forty eight hours in Canaan. He Will
now 90 to work and raise a crop on his Iowa
farm. The state Of mind of a man who aban-
dons such certainty for such an ideal is al
most nconceivable. The rush to newly dis
covered mining region can be understood
Fortunes are occasionally made in that way.
1t is gambling, to be sure, but there is at least
a chance to win big stake But what is the
fascination about quarter section OF mediocre
soil sufficient to tempt a man OF resources to
enter into a mad scramble with such total
lack of thought and calculation that he is ready
TO retreat at the end Of the first day
Those who had nothing to leave behind and
whose condition could not we'll be worse had
something tA-hopc for from free SOIL and
those who deliberately made mp their minds
to see what energy and industry could accom-
plish in new field were simply joining the
honorable line Of pioneers who have subdued
and pcopled the continent. Until the latter
have reported we shall not be able to predict
the future Of Oklahoma.