The National tribune., 1901-04-18
The Interior Departments Ten
tative Plan for Opening the
Indian Lands.
BASED ON BIBLICAL PRECBDENTS
Some Objections to the Plan Already
Noted.

in the Kiowa and Wichita Indian resel
vations in Oklahoma, soon to be opene
to homestead entry, Is receiving most care
1ul attention from the officials of the In
terror Department. Desirable lands sub
ject to disposition under the HOMESTEAD
law can no longer be found in large quan
titles except when an Indian reservation
is opened, and then they are eagerl,
sought. So many inquiries are mad
about the KioWa and Wichita lands tina
it is manifest there will be several time
as many applicants as there are tracts.
1.-The Wichita reservation Will be EN-
braced in separate Land District, witt
a Land Office at I'll Reno. Deducting th
lands allotted TO Indians and reserved 10
school purposes, there will be 3,l22 tract
of 160 acres each to be disposed of Il
homestead claimants. The greater por
tion of this is fine land, but some OF
is not of sufficient value to .Lstify com
plying with the homestead law to obtan
title to If.
THE Kiowa reservation will be in an
other Land District, with Land Ofict
near Fort Sill. Deducting the lands al
Iotted to Indians and reserved for schoo
and other purposes, there will be 1881
tracts of I60 acres each to be disposed
of to homeSteaderS. These are general!
good lands, but this reservation contains
a greater percentage OF poor lands than
the Wichita.
claims which could be taken in the two
reservations, even if all the lands were de.
sirable, is 13.4T3. The indications are
that there will be easily 10000 applicants
Some of these are doomed to diSappolnt-
ment. There are not enough lands for all.
The two reservations may be opened al
the same time, but the opening of each
will be as separately conducted as il they
were a thousand miles apart. The law
does not require them to be opened at the
same time, but to do so will divide the
crowd of applicants and simplify the task
of the land officers. The opening of the
Kiowa reservation must not be later than
Aug. of the present year, and it will
take until near that time TO complete the
allotments to the Indians.
None of these lands can be obtained
as free homes. They must be paid for
by all claimants at the rate of Sl.25 per
acre at the time of submitting final proof.
The law also requires hve years actual
residence, cultivation, and improvement,
except that honorably-disc soldiers
are given credit for the time of their ser
vice in the army.
The two reservations viii be opened by
proclamation of the President, and a re-
cent act of Congress declares that ito
avoid the contests and conflicting claims
which have heretofore resulted from open
ing similar public lands" the proclama-
tion shall prescribe the manner in which
these lands may be settled upon, occu-
pied, and entered, and that no person
shall settle upon, occupy, or enter any OF
them except as prescribed in the proclama-
tion, until after the expiration of 60 days
from the opening. The purpose of this
new statutory provision is clear. At the
opening in Oklahoma in 1889 there were
on an average two applicants for every
desirable tract, and at the opening
in 1893 there were more than three
applicants for each tract. AT these
openings the prospective claimants
began assembling at the borders Of
the lands to be opened at least 80 days
before the opening, and the crowd of am
bilious homeseekers grew until, in the in
stance Of the Cherokee Outlet, they num-
bered over lis, 600. While waiting for the
opening these people lived as best they
could, some sheltered by tents or wagon
covers, others not sheltered at all, and all
encountering degree of exposure and dis
comfort which was endurable only by
those of rugged physique, Injured to hard
ships. They were not permitted to be-
come familiar with the land to be opened,
but were held in check at the border by
the military until cannon and musketry,
distributed at intervals along the line, an
nounced the arrival of noon of the open
ing day. At this signal the great crowd
surged into the new country in a mad
denfng race for land. Not only were there
more claimants than lands, but the vary
ing character of the lands intensified the
struggle for the better tracts. The par
Elephants in these openings had come from
every section. The majority were hon
est hOme7seekeTs, but spectators, bulies
and boomers were noticeably present.
Some of the participants were young and
strong; others old and of failing strength
Some had been soldiers and bore evil
dence of having withstood their share of
exposure and hardship in days gone by.
Some had running horses, trained for the
occasion; others had ordinary farm horses,
already well exhausted by the trip across
the country from distant States. Some
had money with which to buy good horses
for the race, and others, being destitute,
or nearly so, made the run on foot. The
man who most needed a home frequently
had the least chance. Whether it be
called horse race or Jest OF physical
strength or endurance, the participants
did not have equal chances. When night
came nearly every desirable tract had two
and in some instances 10. rival claimants
upon it, each asserting that he was the
first settler. These conflicting claims re-
suited in long, veXatiOuS and expensive
contests, some Of which are still pending
10 the Land Department. Some were so
hotly Iaged that the courts in Oklahoma
were deluged with prosecutions for per
jury and with suits to prevent one claim
ant from forcibly dispossessing another
before the determination of the contest.
Instances arose, owing to the topography
OF the land or the presence Of timber
where several claimants reached and
claimed the same tract at almost the same
instant, each honestly believing that he
was the prior claimant. Last Saturday
q contest of this sort was decided by the
Secretary of the Interior, where three
claimants with their respective families
had been living upon the same tract and
prosecuting land contest for eight years.
If either had ceased to live on and culti-
vate the land his claim would have been
lost, so all three complied with the law.
The one who wins by the Secretary's de-
clsion has dearly paid for his land, and
the others have given eight years Of their
lives to fruitless litigation.
Two Commissioners Of the General
Land Office, Of opposing politics, and two
Secretaries Of the Interior, of like differ
ence in party associations, recommended
that when further lands should be opened
Congress should enact laws to prevent the
unseemly rush which occurred at these
openings and TO avoid the almost endless
litigation. Congress, at the recent session,
took the view that the former objection
able methods ought not to be repeated at
the kiOwa and Wichita openings. The
horse-racing plan was generally con-
demned. Different plans were suggested
by Congressman. but the one generally fa-
vOred, and especially advocated by Repre-
sentative Lacey, Of Iowa, Chairman of the
Public Lands Committee, and by Repre-
sentative Stephens, of Texas, Is the meth
od by which seats in the House OF Rep
resentatives are allotted TO members at the
beginnings Of each Congress. The names