Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-11-07
The CHEROKEE OUTLET.

NOOlcs uHucE OAGo OF OcbOOcE 20, uaS
written long letter to General Fair
child, chairman of the Cherokee Com
mission, in which he virtually serves
notice upon the cattlemen who have
leased land from the Indians in what is
known as the Cherokee Outlet, that
they must vacate the lands with their
property on or before the 1st of June
next, this date being fixed in order that
they may escape without injury or suf-
fering to their cattle.
Speaking of the Cherokee Strip Live
Stock Association, the letter says:
This corporation is one of the ordinary
kind, and like similar others which
have disappeared with the loss OF their
assets. The assets consist in cattle in
the field, chiefly. No responsibility at
taches to the individuals composing the
corporation, and if it did, the persons
whose futures, however great they may
be to-day, are liable to fluctuations at
tending all such ventures. Grazing on
such lands does not tend, according tc
the common Judgment, to increase in
value from year to year nor benefit the
land"
Comparing the amount to be paid by
the Government for the lands with the
rental received from the cattlemen, Sec
retary Noble says: IF the amount al
ready paid in excess of appraised value
for lands occupied and used be de-
Quoted the amount to be paid to the
Cherokee Nation will be s., 1873, $40. By
this exhibit, it will be perceived, the
Cherokees will derive from the United
States the sum of at least 81, 900, 900 after
deducting payments already made,
which, upon interest at 5 per cent. per
annum, would net them yearly quite
$3.50, 900 to be paid by the United States
Government. On the other hand, the
large amount to be paid for the
fifteen years commencing after the
present lease by this cattle syndicate
will, if completely effected, little ex-
coed the amount to be paid by the Gov
eminent, will be entirely depend
ent upon the prosperity of the syn
dictate with all the possibilities
of disease and drought and cold that
have so often devastated whole herds
over vast sections of the country, to say
nothing of the indisposition of the cor
poration to pay the Indians their dues
if it would be at a great sacrifice, or the
ability of the Indians to enforce their
claims either within or without the
boundaries of their outlet"
The Secretary says that the United
States must be sovereign within its own
territory. Its purpose is to wrong no.
body and yet allow its own people to ex-
pand over the land that is theirs, and to
give to the Cherokee Nation a magnif
cent and permanent income for lands
which it already has acquired for GER
tain purposes.
The Secretary quotes from opinions OF
the Supreme Court and from sections of
the Revised Statutes which show that
the Secretary of the Interior is author
lied to summarily remove from the res
ervation any persons thereon without
authority of law, or whose presence in
the Judgment of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs may be detrimental to
the welfare of the Indians.
The story of the various treaties and
laws with relation to the Cherokee Out
let are detailed at length up to the time
of the CherOkees leasing the lands in
1888 to the Cherokee Strip Livestock
Association. While the department did
not interfere with any arrangement, the
lease was never formally approved by
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the
Secretary of the Interior or the Presi-
ident, and the department had uni
formly refused to approve any lease Of
these lands. After stating the action of
the last Administration, declaring all
leases of these lands to cattlemen null
and void and ordering the latter out of
the country. the Secretary says that a
careful consideration of the whole sub
ject by Assistant Acknowledgement
Shields led to the following conclusions:
First-That the lease of the Cherokee
Outlet is unlawful.
Second-That the President has au-
thority to declare invalid any agree
ment or lease of the Outlet for grazing
purposes made contrary to the provis-
ions of section2116.
Third-That he may cause the re-
moval of unauthorized persons or prop
erty from this reservation whenever
their presence is, in the Judgment of
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and
the Secretary of the Interior, ''detri-
mental to the peace and welfare of the
Indians, whether they claim to be on
the reservation under a formal lease or
by license or permit from the Cherokee
Nation"
CHIEF MAYEs WILLING.
TAHLEQUAH, /. T., Oct. 3O.-Chief
Mayes states that, after due consider
alton, he has come to the conclusion
that it would be best for the CherokeeS
to favor an immediate sale of the Strip
to the Government and that he would
such course in his message
to the Council next Tuesday. He also
stated that if the land was allowed to re-
main as it was now the Cherokees would
lose it in the end and he would do his
to push the bill for it's sale i'm
on the opening of the Ccun-
Gil. He thinks that the present Council
will vote for the sale and it's members
will not need much persuasion. Ex-
Chief Bushyhead, who had until re-
Gently opposed the sale, stated that he
could plainly see that the time had
come when they had to sell or lose the
land and, as q matter of course, they
Mould ,,,,rc,,a Kbo f0rx,o, oo,,.a-