The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-08-28

equate punishment of the persons engag-
| ed in it. a favoIite method for securing
/ the leases is to have the Indians ap-
preached by merchants who by ofering
! their wares in exchange can secure the
most favorable terms from them, and the
understanding is quite general that when
! control Of a piece of land is once secured
by means of leasing it win be held by
some means until it can be purchased at
the Iessee's own figures.
The surplus lands belonging TO the In
dams in the territory are worth many
millions and Secretary Hitchcock and Ms
advisers understand perfectly how great
a temptation they are 20 designing men.
The territory is throughout a garden spot
and farmers are going into it in great
numbers.
It is estimated that there are now fully
half a million white people in the terri
tory. Among them many combinations
have been made to control the disposal
of the lands.
The secretary himself discovered that a
number of Office holders, many of them
outside of his own department, were
stockholders and officers in nthese com
bines, and he Immediately made known
his disapproval of this system. Former
Revenue Collector Cobb, on finding that
the department did not consider member
ship in one Of these companies compatible
with the holding of a government position
resigned his official place to enter on a
business career
The object in sending a man from pri-
vate life to inquire into conditions is to
make the investigation still more search
ing. still more disinterested, and to give
the finding more complete credence with
the public at large. The secreIary's in
structions to this agent, when secured,
will be to go into all phases of the situa-
tion without favoritism on the one hand
or fear of public clamor on the other. He
takes the position that while it is necessa-
ry and right to protect the Indians it is
neither necessary nor right to punish in
nocent officials.
Two members of the Dawes commission
who We're absent from Indian Territory
on their annual leaves of absence when
the charges were made by the Indian
rights association have been recalled for
the purpose of meeting the criticisms pub
Ished against them Indian Inspector
Wright who has been a trusted employe
of the government for twenty years will
be expected, like the others, to give his
attention to the inquiry.
The secretary realizes that while there
may be short coming on the part of some
Of the officials, there are. on the other
hand, many men not employed by the
government whom ne designates as graft
ers'' and by whom any official who may
oppose their designs is certain to be made
the subject of harshest censure. The
secretary announces his determination
to protect officials who are doing their
duty against the schemes of all such
people.
Several officials who already have been
detected in questionable transactions have
been summarily dismissed, while the res
ignations of others have been requested.
The secretary takes the position that it
does not promote the public interest to
publish the names of dismissed officials.
These dismissaIs and others occurred
before the Indian rights association had
called attention to Irregularities in the
territory and most of them were the re-
suit Of personal Investigations of the sec
retary.