The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-19

re I. a Disgrace to the coun,rv md the Age

! tho alleged advantages and the evils OF this
| GrotesGue mode OF dcvo;ing tho public domain
to cultivalors Of tho soil. II we allow for ey.
erything that could possibly bc said In lis
favor, the performance is n disgrace to the
| civilization OF the age. It must be remember.
ed that this ia a very modern experiment. no,
| In Keeping with our past land history o. the
| political traditions Of tho Government. II
! was a contest in which gamblers. Spectators.
| roughs aud professional dealers in inchot te
| titles had every advantage. and tho honest
| bona flie agrlculturist. /! any such wcro there.
| had no chance Fortunately these eyroti-
| ments originated in and were confined to
| Oklahoma. In whose mischicvous brain this
| unbusinessliko method originated when tho
| first fragment otthat Territory was opened. IS
| not wotth inquring into. 1t was border
ruflan conception. in full keeping with tho
frauds and chicanery that lay at the bottom Of
the whole enterprise. Bad at first. it grew
worse Mt every repetition. That its repetition
should have been possible IS disgrace to tho
Government
What were tho facts In the case? Inst
Saturday some 20O.OOO reople. moro or less
engaged in personal struggle for first foot
hold a strip OF country some 90 miles
wide by 1856 milos long. adjacent to and south
OF the Kansas border. west Of Arkansas River
The tract was painted on the old mnps as par t
OF inc treaJ American Desert About It
the ponderons Indian photograph School
craft. more than half century ago. wrote:
This is sandy region. with tufts Of
buffalo grass. interspersed with cactus
plum bushes. and sage brush. cursed by
alkali aud bad water A region which
seems to say to even irrcpressible Yankee
enterprise: Thus far shalt thou como and no
further. Indeed II seoms to have been de-
signed by Providence as the future home Of
the Indian"
Oklahoma. "the homo OF tho red man" It
was ironically christenel when plans were
laid for making it the home OF tho white
man. 1t was conveyed BY patent in fec simple
to the Cherokee Nation for lands east of the
Mississippi more than fifty years ago, under
the act OF May. 1881. Meanwhile States and
great communities have grown up around il.
Land adjacent was held at ten twenty, or even
nifty dollars an acre. Il was discovered
to be not half 30 bad as schoocraft had
thought it was. and. therefore, insult
able for the home Of the Indian. Three
railroads. which were part OF the systems OF
the most powerful corporations OF the country,
pushed across Tito Texas. Attempts had been
made to open to white settlement the whole
Indian Territory. patented or not and foled
In that, policy was inaugurated to accom-
pllsh In detail what could not be done in the
"
parently magnificent prospect for land and lot
speculation. by thrustng in one hundred
thousand people in q day. The clamor
for opening did not come SO much from
actual agricultural settlers as from specu-
lators. who wished to make a few hundred or q
few thousand dollars in a few days or weeks.
These clamorers were reinforced by far moro
potent set OF allies. railroad corporations, who
wished to increase the business OF their roads.
The Creek job furnished these parties the
opportunity OF opening about 100000 acres.
lying little west of the centre OF the Indian
Territory. These lands had been actually
coded TO the United States by the treaty OF
1866. but for u low price. for Indian settle
mont. A scheme was Matched up between tho
Creek lobby. the railroad corporations and
the boomers to open it to white settlement.
Tho Greeks. or their agents, by consenting to
this arrangement were to get several millions
m ore for the change to white settleme nt." 1t
was curious but adroit plan. When opened.
1t would adJoin no white settlement in State or
Territory. Indian reserved lands. most OF
them held by patent from the United
States. were all around It. This pigmy
Territory Of Oklahoma. about the size
OF one or two good counties. became like the
wooden horse the Greeks sent into Troy. Tho
boomers aud SPECTATORS had specialized in
now able to insert in the bill to open the coun-
try sundry startling innovations in the land
laws and customs Of tho United States. For
merry towns originated with the inhabitants |
OF Territory. and were usually conceived and |
laid out after the country was settled County |
seats were located by vote. and contests for |
their site originated with the settlers After !
they got into the country. II Territorial Leg
islatures attempted to locate them. even tenn |
porarily. the proceedings usually came to grief. |
A policy was now inaugurated by which the |
interior Department was practically to locate
county seats. and to send men in advance to
survey and plat them. Zach town lot was to
be subdivision. liable to he s1natted on and
to be paid for at a fixed price $50 as town
ot. In this way. under officers OF the Interior
Department, towns were located and county
seats and land offices fixed before the opening
n before the people were there to have any
ioico in 1t. 1t is easy to SEQ that such u
scheme would suit tho spectators and boom
'rs. but it is difficult to comprehend how such
IN nti-Democratc plan could have passed
congress. Four years ago it became
aw and Oklahoma was opened This
scheme. 1t was supposed. had been ap-
,lied TO the Cherokee Strip. but as it
vas attempted to be- done by general and
'ague amendment a special bill was enacted
his Oklahoma town site plan to tho Strip. The
lrst opening was pat through Congress by tho
lnlted leverage OF tho Creek Job. the rail-
Dads. and the boomers Then followed the
pening in the same manner OF the Cheyenne
nd Arapahoe land. In this way the expert |
'ame OF land grabbing was inaugurated. The
occupation Of the boomer" became trade
he old-fashoned settler on tho frontier, with |
lis OK wagon, his COW driven by little girl or
10Y. chicken coop at the back Of the wagon.
nd splnnin. wheel projecting from tho
irty canvas cover became tradition. The
oomor had little In common with him. tho
alter being dealer In inchoate titles and q
peculator in futures. lie Is not seeking a
ONE. for he will be foot loose. and ready for
very opening gotten NJ on this plan. He is
lere interloper who slueezos himself be-
ween the Government and the actual settler.
10 deirauds both. lie has no intention OF re-
lRinlng on tho land, Cultiyating and paving