The Chickasaw messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1880-1900, 1889-04-25
wHlraER ARE WE DRumNoq

hundred years age George Washing
ton. the first President Of the United
States took charge Of this Government
composed Of States lying along the
Atlantic coast and comprising total
population ofabout 3OO0,0O0 people.
The vast territory lying between the
then settled portion of the country
and the Pacific Ocean, embracing an
area more than ten times as great as
the thirteen original states, was a
wilderness inhabited by wild beasts
and savage men. At that day the
most enthusiastic prognosticatOr of
the rapid growth Of the government
and the extent Of its power and glory
little dreamed that in one century our
territory would be bounded by the
great lakes on the North, the Gulf Of
Mexico on the South, the Atlantic
Ocean on the East and the Pacific on
the West; that il would comprise
iort1-three great States and six terri
tories. and would be inhabited by a
population Of more than 600000O0
people. As the eastern States filled
up, the man with the plOw and hoe
turned his face to the setting sun.
lie subdued the Indians, felled the
forest and cultivated the soil, feeling
himself and his posterity for many
generations secure in the occupancy Of
the country and never suspecting for
a moment that spirit Of aggression
and robbery, miscalled progress and
development, would in so short a time
seize upon his hard earned possessions
and deprive him and his children Of
the comforts and luxuries of home.
The most astute statesmen Of the last
century regarding the resources Of
our country in agriculture, mining
and manufactures as practically limit
less. proclaimed the doctrine that free
America offered an asylum for the op-
pressed Of every nation, tongue and
cline. and We dare say, not one Of
them ever imagined for a moment
that one hundred years would disclose
to their descendants the scenes which
are familiar to the readers of the cur
rent news Of the present day.
\ Instead of the public lands in the
territories being retained by the Gov
ernment as homesteads for the settler,
immense bodies, many times larger
than States Of the Union, have been
given to corporations without ade-
quate consideration. In the States
small bodies Of land held and culti-
vated by the farmers are gradually
and surely drifting into the hands Of
spectators and capitalists, so that the
number of tramps and landed aristO-
crats arc increasing day by day. Two
million ofm in this country to-day
and their families dependent upon
them are homeless and without en-
ployment. One hundred thousand
persons are rushing with a orazy en-
thusiasm to Oklahoma to obtain homes
when there arc only ten thousand
quarter sections of land to enter.
More than fifty times this amount Of
better lands has been stolen from the
Government by corporations and land
sharks during the present generation.
Mississippi alone has permitted her
children in the common schools to be
robbed Of about twice as much public
land as is contained in the territory of
Oklahoma within the past ten years.
One hundred years ago, the govern
ment under which we live was put in
operation by the fathers, who fondly
hoped they were bequeathing to pos
terity a republic, founded upon the
God given principle Of "equal rights
to an and special privileges to none.
Yet It the end Of the century. three
thousand men own and control two
thirds Of the property valuations OF
the country, and millions of producers
and wage-workers are practically
their vassals and serfs. Trusts and
combines organized to prey upon the
masses Of the people are the order OF
the day and concentrated capital ar
rogates TO itself the control Of the
Government and is rapidly under
mining the liberties Of the people
The history Of the world dscloses the
fact that Republics are established by
patriotic, self-sacrificing, working men
and are destroyed by immense wealth
IN the hands Of a few selfish, graspinp
and INSCRIPTIONS money lords. King
George, with the wealth Of Greai