Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1891-06-04
The Kaweah Case.

In0 A0"CAn CaSCs
In 1885 number of persons started
cooperative colony in Tulate county,
CAL, on government land that had been
opened to settlement. They intended to
build civilized settlement on the plan
of share and share alike, and vote and
vote alike, men and women. They
meant simply to try the cooperative in
stead of the competitive plan Of civiliza-
tion. They had no views" either long
haired or short haired, beyond this.
They were decent, law abiding people,
mostly married, who paid their taxes
and took care Of their families.
The able bodied men Of the colony
went first, and after complying with the
government requirements for settlers
proceeded to build road and otherwise
improve the property they had signifed
their intention of purchasing from the
United States. When they offered pay
ment for the land they had settled on,
however, it was refused by the land Of
fee at Visalia. A telegram had been re-
ceived from Washington that their lands
had been withdrawn from entry, after
they had been permitted to enter them,
that is, on the ground that there were
fraudulent entries and erroneous surveys
in that locality. The colonists say in
their own behalf that they knew there
was no fraud in the land they had en-
tered, for they had satisfied themselves
on that point before locating. They pro
ceeded, therefore, with their cooperative
colony, relying on the good faith of the
government that in due time the lands
would be theirs by clear title. s...
Time went on. The colonists i'm
proved their lands, planted orchards and
vineyards, erected sawnill, started a
school, library and gymnasium, and
looked forward to prosperity after some
years of such hardship as pioneers must
necessarily endure. The Tulare County
Times, which has no connection with
the Kaweans in any shape, says of them
in recent number:
Inc ClClZcQS OF V1Sal1l anu Oh lulaTo county
look upon the colonists as a desirable class Of
emigrants, as they behave themselves and
have shown by the work already done under
such difficulties that they are Industrious,
hard working people. They settled on the land
in good faith, and the government ought to
fulfill the promise mado when it invited them
to take up the land, and issue patents to them.
1t is very likely. that if the matter was left to
the authorities of Tulare county tho colonists
would get a title to their lands within twenty
four hours. The people here do not look upon
it as crime for man to file upon government
land, pay his debts and live soberly. What
other crimes the colonists have committed we
are not informed.
The particular charges brought against
the Kaweans at present are that they
have been cutting timber on government
lands; that they have been destroying
the big redwoods in the government
Sequoia park, and that they have set
tied on lands within the limits of the
Sequoia park. To every one of these
charges the colonists offer a flat denial,
and avow the falsity thereof can be
proved. So far from destroying the red
woods, they have repeatedly, by night
and day, extinguished forest fires kin
died by careless hunters. Moreover, can
a man with an ak cut down and handle
a tree sixty feet in circumference? Furth-
ermore, their road has not yet been built
nearer than within five miles Of the gov
ernment park where the redwoods are,
and the lands they have settled and made
valuable are not anywhere included in
the park. The preservation of the red
woods is as dear to them as it can be to
anybody else. For every tree Of any
kind that they cut down they plant an
other. This is one Of their rules.
+ Secretary Noble has rendered a de-
cision adverse to the Kaweans recently.
They believe that he has been misin-
formed by a combination that has an in
terest in prejudicing him against them,
namely, a great lumber trust that de-
sires to crush them, first, because they
can furnish lumber to the trade cheaper
than the trust is willing to do, second,
because it hopes in time to get their
lands itself. For this reason they earn
estly pray the honorable secretary of the
interior to suspend his Judgment until
he further investigates the case.
If the Kaweans are in the right it will
be pity and shame to destroy thei1
colony. Cooperation in its various
forms is looked on as the solution Of
many of the terrific economic problems
that now confront society. If the IA
weans by their experiment can throw
any light on cooperative methods, and
as long as they are honorable, law abid-
ing citizens, by all means they should be
permitted to go on with their colony to
the end. They ought to be helped in.
stead of hindered.
About tho CeMaa.
President Francis A. Walker, super
intendent of the tenth census, writes for
Tho Eor,,,,, n 1oo1>or m TY~;&o1 C&o4oe