The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-18
The Cherokee poomers.

Those Cherokee boomers are a very un
happy and dissatisfied lot of people al
present. There are a good many thousand:
of them, and If they dared they would defy
the troops that have been ordered to put
them Off the forbidden lands. and hold on
to the town sites aud quarter sections upon
which they have squatted. The most of
them are not to be greatly pitied. They
were not sure that tie Cherokee strip, which
/ is a beautiful section Of country in the
Indian Territory, between Kansas aud
/ Oklahoma, had been opened to settle
ment They thought, however, that the
government would not disturb them if they
once got a fOo.hold in the coveted country,
and that. being the first on the ground, they
would have their choice of tine Ian Is aud
the pick of the lots Of the projected towns.
| They did not wait for the cattle me D, who
had rented the lands, to remove their cattle.
! They set fire to the tall prairie grass, and
the cattle men were forced to remove their
stock. as there was nothing left for the cat
tic to feed upon.
OF course there are hundreds of the BOOM
ers who will have to endure great hardships
hSL0lt bilEf VIII Oe dDAG W IL iu 1HC
weather is yet cold in Kansas, and doubt
less there will be a great deal of ckness
among women and children. However,
the boomer have only themselves to blame
for tLeir pitabe condition. They did not
take the tr,uble to inform themselves
whether or not the c lerokee country was
open to them. They went ahead blindlY
and they are now suffering the consequences
OF their rashless.
1t is remarkable that there should be such
arush to occupy the new lands as fast as the
right to enter them is obtained from the
Indians When Oklahoma was opened tens
Of thousands of people hurried there, think
ing apparently that fortunes awaited them,
and when the Sioux reservation in South
Dakota was opened, few weeks ago, the
people crowded into it through every avail
able avenue until every acre Of good land was
taken. And now, upon the borders of the
Cherokee strip a great multitude is gathered,
waiting for the proclamation announcing
that they may enter it. 1t is true that good
unoccupied land is becoming rather scarce
in the west, but there is plenty of it in the
south. There is room for several millions
more people in this state alone. Way
should there be such anxiety
to get wild lands in the west,
where there are neither schools, churches.
nor organized society, while there is so
much good land in every one of the south
ern stItes which can be had at very low
prices, and whare there are all the surround-
ings necessary for comfortable honest In
this issue of the MORNING News there is a
letter from Tattnall county pointing out tie
advantages which that section of Georgia
offers to Immigrants. Land there can be
obtained almost as cheaply as in Okla
homa or the Sioux reservation, and
it is as productive as any in the west. But
what is of far more Importance, a good
market can be reached for anything that is
grown in Georgia, and the prices obt lined
after paying all expenses leave a profit to
the producer Ca as much be said for the
lands that are now beiag so eagerly yht
in the wild westa-by the boomersa That
question is answered by the cries of dis.
tress Of the farmers of Kansas, Nebraska
and the Dakotas. They cannot get more
than Is cents a bushel for their corn-a
price that does not pay the cost of growing
it. Those who are seeking homes in the
new lands of the west are making mis-
take. If they win come south they will
find what they want.