The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1893-03-17
THE LAND QUESTION.

THE LAND QUESTION.
Awake to the Fact That They Are in tho
Rear OF tho Procession.
The other day Senator George g.
Vest. of Missouri, in the course of his
upon the Cherokee strip bill
said:
Another word. Mr.. President, and I shall have
done with what little 1 have to say about the
Indian question. as to which the people OF Mis-
souri, are intensely interested. There is ono
important with me as TO tho
opening up of this Cherokee outlet and which
does not appear upon the face OF this legisia-
tion. am greatly in hope in fact am san
guine, that the result in this case with refer
ence to this Cherokee outlet will teach the In
dians and half-breed Indians OF that country
what must be the inevitable result OF the Ques-
tion which is now awaiting solution in the near
future as TO their system of tenure in common.
II they cannot learn from this additional Illus
tration the absolute and irresistible tendencies
Of attrition between the two races, II they
cannot learn that they must accept the newt
able, and upon just and equitable terms remove
the exceptional conditions that now exist In
their country with relation to the people OF the
United States, then their case Is absolutely
hopeless. The time is upon us-not coming.
but upon us when the people of the western
states for their own self preservation cannot
Tolerate without attlckinS IL the system tna5
now prevails in the Indian territory. We have
by all Just and lawful means to 70
move those conditions
Mr.. Vest is reckoning without his host
and, as in the case of the anti-option
bill, misrepresents the sentiments of
his constituency and speaks without
the sanction of due authority. He is
woefully ignorant of the trend of eco
nomic thought and does not discern
the signs of the times. But n few
own state voted for a platform which
demanded that a tax, equal to the full
rental value be levied upon all unused
and unoccupied lands. Henry George,
not long ago, received 6S, 900 votes in
the city of New York upon the same
platform. In many states both demo-
Gratis and republicans unite in de-
manding the abolition of alien
land ownership, while in Texas, the
legislature, which is overwhelmingly
democratic, has passed law limiting
the ownership of land by domestic or
alien corporations to such a quantity
as is absolutely necessary for the trans
action of their business In November.
1892, there were more than million
voters who entertained the views eX-
pressed by Congressman John Davis, Of
Kansas in a recent number of the Adj
vocate, as follows:
We must free the lands of the country from
capture b. the purse OF the monopoists. Tho
homes OF ouc people and the heritaycs OF oui
children must not be exposed to the depreda-
tions and spcliations of the money power Of the
world Land must not be treated as n common
.t,1., ,,,f fto, VII
must move in the direction of that happy day,
when the poorest man will have and hold his
small home free from the invasions of the sher-
in and the tax collector, and when occupation
and use' will be recognized as necessary in
gradients in title to land
The ownership of the lands of tho
people, in common by the people, usa
and occupancy being the only valid
claim to title, is the most imperative
step in the direction of freeing the
masses from abiect servitude to the few
In his message recently delivered before
the Cherokee council Chief Harris had
the following to say in regard to allot
ment and intruder questions:
To the Indian the holding of land In severalty
is new system, but it is urged upon him as the
one necessary step to his highest individual
prosperity and his civilization as a race. This
is the system Of the people Of the United States,
where IL h!S been practiced for more than O
hundred years. Under this system their people
have entered as homesteads or at n nominal
price hundreds OF millions of acres of public
land and one might expect among SO thrifty
and enterprisny people an earthly paradise,
where every nan, at least every farmer. en-.
joyed himself under his own wine and fig tree"
Do we find il so: Far from it. More than half
of the people o: the United States engaged In
agricultural pursuits are ianiles5, and their
cnp ia IN IRE land q home.
less. The source of the supply TO meet
the growing demand the extinguishmcnt
of the Indians title is now exhausted,
and the people OF the United States
are now entering the threshold OF u
period when the aggregation OF The lands in the
hands OF the rich through mortgages will be
greatly accelerated and the countless number
of the homeless be enormously increased In
the light of recent statistics this system has
proved a failure 50 far providing homes for
the r1sjorty OF the people OF the Unitei States
is concerned and its wisdom IS being seriously
ques STONED by some OF the best thinkers Of the
times Tie people OF the United States have
no year Of jubilee 70 look forward to. when
there will pc q redistribution of the lands: but
when the lands shall be accumulated in tho
hands OF the rich. when the rentals shall be
increased until the laborer can exc out only q
miserable existence, and when the burden can
be borne no longer, the system will be wiped
out in revolution.
The tnerOkfC system DrefuS no mllllOualreS,
no land syndicates, no mortgage sharks. Land
is not degraded to the level OF speculation.
Every citizen. however poor or humble, with .
little energy and by little physical labor. can
have a home of his own to shelter wife and
children He is not ever looking for a place to
rest ard to exist It is TO be deplored th3t
some of our pccp,c, deluded by their fear OF a
change in our government, or actuated tn their
greed wish TO change their land tenure
and adopt that OF lands in severalty.
This experiment Is now on trial among
the Indians to the west Of US, in the new Hrri
tory OF Oklahoma where one Indian is sand
wiChed on a quarter section between two white
men, and he is 10 be CIVILIZED into a brother and
citizen by contact The resui. Is easily fOre'
seen: his white neighbors will eventually own
his lands, and his children will be outcasts in
the country their fathers once owned Prudence
dictates that we await the trial OF this expert
ment and profit by their experience
To M mind, the wisest provisions made by
our fathers for their p5sterIty was the decica'
tion OF the use only of the lands and the inter
es. on the invested funds to each succeeding
generation Taey were not set apart for our
benefit only. but have been gwen to US IN trusi
to use and enjoy and to transmit unimpaired ts
those WHO may come after US. The oxnership
of our lands in common il the foundation upon
which our natural existence rests: destroy this
common ownership and the bond that holds us
together as q nation IS destroyed. Tho fee sim
pie title in the naiion. based upon an act OF
congress, as II is, has proven the bulwark oI
the national citadel and has successfully with
stood the assaults of our enemies within and
without 1t rests upon the same basis as does
the private lands Of citizens everywhere in ths
United States and cannot be desirov ed by leg,
islation IN congress without doing violence Il
vested rights and unsettling the tenure bJ
which private lands everywhere in the slab.s.
are held
Senator Vest should wake up and ID.
quire where he is at" There il
more likelihood of the Cherokee system
of land tenure in common being adopt.
ed in the United States than there is OF
the Cherokees accepting the system
which has resulted in accumuiating che
wealth of the nation in a few hands
As high as $4,000. 900 of gold in
single year has recently gone across iiis
ocean from this country TO I'LL EnSlist