Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-28

that the Kaweah colonists have been suffer-
ing unjust and cruel persecution at It's
hands; that they have been forcibly driven
out of their homesteads by the military.
The plain fact, however, is that the colo
nists neither owned homesteads on lands
claimed by the Government, nor have they
been removed from any lands upon which
they had settled; nor have they as whole
any legal claim whatever to timber lands IN
the reservation. The land which it was al
legged was owned by the Kaweah Co-opera-
tive Company turns out now to be no better
than myth. And this fact the majority OF
the colonists themselves, to their bitter
disappointment and utter disgust, have at
last discovered.
As regards the alleged claim to timber
lands in the Giant Forest, the real facts are
these: About i've years ago some ~ penuc
rious schemers, covetous of the good luck OF
California millionaires, cast their wits
about and perceived that the Giant Forest
was a great natural monopoly, containing
the accumulated wealth of many thousands
of years, but reserved intact from the
greedy hands of man by reason OF its mac
feasibility.
FILING CLAIMS ON LANDS.
So they rushed one day to the Land Office
and filed on claims under the provisions OF
the timber land act. The Government
thought fit to interfere, presumably in the
interest of private individuals as against
Spectators. And the land was in the
meanwhile withdrawn from the market
before the time for the fulflment OF the
conditions of title expired. Not needing
Government interference the penurious 4O
formed themselves into what they styled
climber pool, and next conceived the idea
of a cooperative company, which was to
construct a road to the forest and bring
the timber to market. A company that was
to feed itself, clothe itself and work tor
nothing till the time arrived when 1t could
refund itself from the proceeds of the lum-
ber-a time when all alike, timber poolers
and cooperative company, were to become
millionaires So as preliminary to tins
good luck, the timber poolers sold lands
which they did not own to cooperative
company which was not yet in existence
And finally this imaginary cooperative
company, by some mysterious process OF
Transformation, under the influence OF The
magic wand OF the Kaweah'bosses turns up
as the Kaweah Cooperative Company: own
ing 20, 900 acres of land in the Slerras
THE CoLoNIsTs WERE DUPED.
These are Just the real facts in regard to
the timber claims. But it is not for mo-
ment to be presumed tnat the members as d
whole were in the least cognizant of them
The dubious title to the lands and the
crooked transactions with the timber pool
have all along, till quite recently, been
kept profound secret from the majority of
the members. Had they known them they
would never have become members of the
colony. For all errors, injustice and
crooked deeds committed in the name of
Kaweah Colony the bosses alone are re-
sponsible. And it is but just and right
that the world should know it. 1t can be
unhesitatingly averred that the majority at
least have simply been unwilling dupes
An impartial review of the cooperative
experiment at Kaweah yields but one con-
clusion, namely, that not only are the persons
who conducted the enterprise men un-
worthy of the cause, but that they must
have been besides either heartless scoun-
drels or numskulls of low grade.