Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-12-04

peoples voluntary acquiesce from day
, to dsy. Oklahoma City has Q population
of 5000 and is proportionately as well
provided as Guthrie with churches,
schools and newspapers. Other towns
and villages, having populations of from
100 to 1000 are scattered over the terri
tory. ..
In order to secure the peace of the new
community, in the absence of civil gov
eminent, l directed General Merritt,
commanding the Department of the Mis-
souri,, to act in conjunction with the mar
shals Of the United States to preserve
the peace, and, il requisite, to use the
troops to aid them in executing warrants
and in quoting any riots or breaches of
the peace that might occur. He was
further directed to use his influence to
promote good order and to avoid any
conflicts between or with the settlers.
Believing that the introduction and sale
of liquors where no legal restraint or
regulations existed would endanger the
public peace, and in view of the fact
that such liquors must first be introduced
into the Indian reservations be-
fore reaching the white settlements,
| further directed the General command
! ing, to enforce the laws relating to the
introduction of ardent spirits in the In
dian country. The presence of the
troops ba9 given eense Of security to
the well disposed citizens, and has
tended to restrain the lawless. In one
instance the officers in the immediate
command of the troops went further than
l deemed justifiahle, in supporting the
de facto municipal government of Guth-
rio, and he was so informed and directed
to limit the interference of the military
to the support OF the Marshals on the
lines indicated in the original order.
very urgently recommend that Con-
gress at once provide Territorial gov
ernment for these people. Serious
questions, which may at any time lead to
violent outbreaks, are awaiting the in
stitution of courts for their peaceful ad.
justment. The American genius for self
government has been we'll illustrated in
Oklahoma, but it is neither safe nor
wise to leave those people longer to
the expedients which have temporarily
served them.
LAWS FOR ALASKA.
Provisions should be made for the &C.
QUESTION OF titles to town lots in towns
now established in Alaska, for locating
town sites and for the establishment of
municipal governments. Only the min
ing laws have been extended to that Ter
ritory, and no other form of title to lands
| can now be obtained. The general land
laws were framed with reference to the
DISPOSE ion of agricultural lands, and it is
doubtful If their operation in Alaska
would be beneficial. We have fortunate
ly not extended to Alaska the mistaken
policy of establishing reservations for the
Iudian tribes, and can deal with them
from the beginning as individuals with, I
am sure, better results; but any disposi-
| ton Of the public lands and any regula-
tions relating to timber and to the fish
cries should have kindly regard to
their interests. Having no power to
levy taxes the people Of Alaska, whose
| revenues from the seal fisheries make
o large annual contribution, need
an appropriation which should
| neither DO overlooked nor stinted. The
smallress of the population and the great
distances between the settlements offer
serious obstacles to the establishment of
the usual Territorial form Of government
Perhaps the organization of several SUBJ
districts With small municipal council
of limited power for each, would be safe
and useful.
Attention is called in this connection
to the suggestions of the Secretary of the
Treasury relating to the establishment of
another port of entry in Alaska, and to
needed customs facilities and regula.
| tions.
THE LAND LAWS.
In the administration of the land laws
| the policy of facilitating in every proper
way the adjustment of the honest claims
of individual settlers on public lands
| has been pursued. The number of
pending cases heard during the pre-
ceding administration has been
greatly increased under the operation of
orders for time suspending final action
in large part OF cases originating in the
| West and North west, and by the subse-
quent use of unusual methods of exami-
nation. Only those who are familiar
with the conditions under which our ag-
ricultural lands have been settled, can
appreciate the serious and often fatal
consequences to the settler of o policy that
puts his title under suspicion or delays
the issuance of his patent. While care
liz taken to prevent ant. expose fraud, it
The manifest purpose of the homestead
1 @AAA PA0 WILL PtAoh AoWo Who w PAOh~OVO ohC
settlement Of the public domain by per-
sous having bona fide intent to make a
home on the selected lands. Where this
intent is well established, and the re.
quirements of the law have been SUBJ
stantiAlly complied with, the claimant is
entitled to prompt, friendly considsra-
ton of his case; but where there is
reason to believe that the claimant
is the mere agent Of another who is
seeking to evade a law intended to
promote small holdings, and to secure
by fraudulent methods large tracts of
timber and other lands, both principals
and agents should not only be thwarted
in their fraudulent purpose, but should
be made to feel the full penalties of our
criminal statutes. The law should be so
administered as not to confound these
two classes, and to visit the penalties
only upon the latter.
SPANISH LAND GRANTS.
The unsettled state of the title to large
bodies of land in the Territories of New
Mexico and Arizona has greatly retarded
the development of those Territories.
Provision should be made by law for the
prompt trial and final adjustment before
judicial tribunal or commission of all
claims based upon Mexican grants. 1t
is not just to an intelligent and enter
prising people that their peace should be
disturbed and their prosperity retarded
by these contentious. express the
hone that tha diffarenco IF opinion al to