The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-05-06

or because few CherOkeeS demand /;
few concessions.
The entire history of government lane
purchase from the Indian race shows the
latter each year TO more keenly ap
preclate the effect environments of civil
cation have on realty values, and thu
! Cherokee, more than any other Indian
holds this as conviction. That the es
innate of values will increase rather
than diminish is certain. The future has
no lower price for the Cherokee strip.
In fighting for and against the opening
of this land, the government, the Chero-
kee nation, cattle barons, honest sol
tillers, and the double dyed knaves have
spent much money and time. Com
mission has followed commission, lobby
work has gone on without end; veal
after year the bayonet and boys in blue
have evicted the boomer element. And
what is the result? At last the Chero-
/ KEGS agree to sell and the
government is found reluctant al
| the eleventh hour. A failure tc
! Tatify the commissioners acts would be
an act of bad faith on the part of the
government Above all things the plains
need artificial forests, and the quickest
way of obtaining them is to give the
white man and his spade "a few chips in
the game"
j. c. Lamb, full-blood Cherokee, has
many enthusiastic followers in his efforts
to bring about allotments of all Cherokee
holdings. Should he succeed before the
the treaty is ratified, we would be treated
to the interesting spectacle OF
the Cherokee nation trying to
allot the strip. Then the present price
would not buy one end of it. There has
been more money spent in efforts to get
possession of it than is now necessary to
obtain possession in fee simple.
The governments annual expenditure
on the Indians since 1916, has been ST.
696. 6j4 in excess of the amount neces-
white settlement.
The surest and most lasting method OF
reducing this annual drain Is to so ar
range Indian holdings as to make them
profit bearing. The simplest way to
accomplish this is to turn all lands which
they can not individually occupy into
interest bearing paper-a carrying out
of this policy would suggest the speedy
purchase of the Cherokee strip. Annual
shipments of range cattle to these lands
as grazing grounds afford cattle baroDS
an. opportunity for cheap beef making
that unsettles markets and works hard
ship on all small producers. The sooner
the avenues of cattle speculation give
way to beef producing that accom-
panies agriculture, the sooner markets
will equitably adjust demand and supply.
Some years ago the entire West was
swept by realestate excitement, the
storm center seeming to be Western
Kansas. Excitement dethroned Judg-
ment, and speculation took the place of
investment. Resulting from this, we
pass the Western Kansas border, and
find thousands upon thousands stranded
and waterless prairies under ralnless
skies. 1t is to the Strip these people are
looking and seasons delay to them is
serious thing.
Thus, this treaty provides for the re-
secession of article % of-66 treaty, by
which the United States holds the right
to locate friendly Indians on these lands;
but this is no hardship on the govern
ment, as there will be no occasion for
locating any Indians. Among the 200
distinct tribes living on the 40 reserva-
tons, containing 5000, 900 acres of
land, there are fewer than 260, 900 lndi-
ans. So it will not be necessary to
locate any of them on the Cherokee
strip.
Some objection is made to the proposed
reopening of old accounts between the
national and Cherokee governments.
The general government has been the
bookkeeper, and it is poor accountant
who is afraid to review his own records.
There is some small fault found with
that portion of the treaty which extends
certain landed privileges to seventy-tive
who claim settlement in the |
is it wisdom or justice to eX- |
clude 254, 300 homeseekers for another
season, in order that seventy-five overly |
shrewd Indians may be undone.
The leaving of vast areas under terri |
torial government is not American. |
Statehood is the embodiment of Ameri-
can sentiment. and there is no absolute |
without it. Ere long |
Oklahoma will be admitted as a state
and her present area, if only that now
occupied by whites be included, is |
but 17,451 square miles, making a
1esirably low rate of taxation an inn
That the strip must event
lally comprise portion of this COM
is apparent. That within
It's confines must be established a tax
paving populace is evident. That the
purchase price will never be lower than
at present seems automatic. "For the
general welfare" a clause which so
many of both parties delight in hiding.
it appears the Indian commissions
negotiations should be ratified by con-
5ress.
Let this dignifed burlesque on justice
cease. This thing of periodically filling
the strip with musketed biue-coats to
eject few weasen-faced old men, help
ess women, bright-eyed children and
faithful yellow dogs is afarce on Amer
can citizenship" and public domain"
THE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION.
The charge that much OF the strip is
20 lily adapted to agriculture as to make
grazing the chief occupation can best be
answered by the following figures. The
estimate based on official records of five
stations on the north, three on the east,
wo on the south, and one on the west,
show a geometrical decrease in precipi-
alton as the Rocky Mountains are APP
)roached. as well as an arithmetical in
,rease dependant on the proximity TO
he Gulf of Mexico. The conditions
the climate of this region are
uch as to make possible the accurate
OF the moisture annually
)recipitated on any gwen point, and 1t
nav not be ill-timed to compare this
With other localities.
THE CHEROKEE STRIP.
Inches.
OutnWeSt corner .-.........-...-.-.-.......s-
sort beast corner.
Outneast corner. ...............,..,,.,...J