Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1898-06-02
UNDER CARPET BAG RULE.

There are many good reasons
why there should be some radical
changes in the administration OF
government in the Indian Terri
tory, but perhaps none better than
that under the present rigime the
country is under what is designa
ted "carpet-bag" government. The
younger generation, and perhaps
many older people, know little or
nothing OF what the oft used and
sometimes abused term carpet
bag" means.
The term originated in the south
during the first years after the
close of The great civil war. The
time and the occasion was the re-
construction of the southern states
which had seeded from the union
and the majority OF the voters
thereby disqualified from voting in
the election Immediately succeed.
ing the declaration of peace in
April, 1865.
The resultant effect was that men
from the loyal states of the north
were appointed by the administra-
tion at Washington to come down
south and administer the govern
ment till the state governments
were reconstructed and the regular
machinery of government placed
in running order.
just how unsatisfactory this
state of affairs was to the people
of those states can never be de-
picted by the pen OF man. Those
who lived through that period and
suffered the penalty of disfran-
chisement alone can appreciate
just what carpet bagism" really
means. The insolent, domineer-
ing ard hot headed incompetents
that in some instances were in.
trusted with positions of dignity
and trust were painful TO contem.
plate. 1t is good for the world
that that awful time is only a
memory, and we rejoice that we
live in a broader and better eraand
the repetition of the scenes of the
latter sixties can never be re-enact-
ed in free America-at least OH SO
large scale.
That the shadow of those dark
days are in some measure now
passing over this territory is occa-
stoned largely by the peculiar en-
vironment of the Indian Territory.
The conditions here are anomo-
tous, and similar conditions exist
nowhere else in the domain of the
United States. This country now
presents the remarkable spectacle
of half a million people without
the privilege of seif-government,
and in no case allowed to name
the pettiest officer who rules over
them. We are under the jurisdic-
ton of the federal courts. The
four United States judges who now
preside over the courts are practi-
cally autocrats. Without saying
one word against the public char
acter of either, it can be trutbfully
asserted that neither of them have
anything in common with the
people of De Indian Territory,
who had no voice whatever in their
selection. These four judges ap-
point their own commissioners,
who constitute the lower or justice
courts. The same four Judges
jointly constitute the appellate
court of the territory. Thus these
four men control the judiciary Of
the Indian Territory. To the
thoughtful citizen this state of
affairs calls up long train of mis-
ciyings. 1t is un-Ameriean in
principle and will prove to be un-
safe in practice. The tendency to
the abuse of unlimited power in
hands of the individual is univers-
al. The iron grasp of the unfetter-
ed hand of the political autocrat
never brings contentment and peace
to a people who are able to govern
themselves. and the experiment
now being tried in the Indian Ter
ritory is no exception TO the rule.
The persistence and determine
ton with which a certain element
in this city is endeayoring to force
:-1~norafad o;t.. r~o,,,~,,oo,