Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-23
cock In unmeasured terms as an enemy OF
the territory and an arbitrary tyrant.
Who Attack the Secretary.

VINO Attack the secretary.
You can find somebody In every hotel. IN
every bank. In every store. in every place
where people congregate. who Is not only
willing but anxious to tell you that the
Secretary of the Interior is an enemy of
the white race and is doing everything In
his power to prevent che development of
this territory; that he is standing in the
way of progress: that he is placing re-
strictions upon enterprise; and that the
white population are crushed under his
tyrannical heel. The ioudest talk of this
kind Is heard In the Offices of real estate
agents and land SPECTATORS, and among
that class OF men you also find the most
urgent and eloquent advocates of statehood.
1t was a real estate agent who invented
the noble scheme of boycotting the mer-
chants of st. Louis because Secretary
Hitchcock Is a resident of that city. They
also pay the expense of sending committees
around to seek assistance in securing his
removal from Office.
If the people OF Indian Territory want to
be admitted as a state they should punish
their own swindlers and protect their own
Indians, instead of compelling Secretary
Hitchcock to do it. l have not seen a sin.
gle word from any person-from any clergys
man or editor or banker or merchant-in
disapproval or regret concerning the at
tempts of the land sharks to swindle tbs
Indians in the cases 1 have mentioned. No
board of trade or other commercial organb
cation has passed resolutions approving Nh
Hitchcock'S course. No minister of Jesus
Christ In this territory. so far as | have
heard has publicly commended him for
shielding these Indians against the land
spectators and other swindlers. On the
contrary. l have heard clergymen accuse
Mr.. Hitchcock of delaying the Develop
ment of the territory" and preventing
progress" by protecting the Indians against
swinders.
Is public sentiment in this territory
against efforts to protect the Indian against
the white man, is II misrepresented by
the silence of the newspapers. the pulpit
and the commercial organizations2 1t
would be well for Congress to look Into this
question before passing the statehood bill.
Let us hear from the good people who con-
stitute the overwhelming majority or the
population. Let them denounce and dis
credit those men who are trying to rob the
Indian and show some evidence of a public
conscience in this question.
No Sympathy With Land Grabbers.
Mr.. Jackson, one of the most prominent
citizens of the territory and a leader OF the
Muskogee bar, assured me that there Is no
public sympathy for the land grabbers he
admitted that the reports of their transact
tons had given the territory bad name
and had stood in the way of its admission
as a state. and he was emphatic in his
declara ton that an overwhelming majority
of the people We're anxious for the pro"
lection of the Indians as Secretary Hitch-
cock or any other man; that when the state
control affairs and could be trusted to pro-
tect the interests OF the Indian citizens and
promote their welfare.
ION the Sth of March,, said Mr.. Jack.
son, 1.-The tribal governments go out of ex-
istence and a new order Of things prevails.
But unfortunately everything Will be IN
chaos unless Congress enactS some sort OK
legislation before that time. We have got
to have full outfit of political machinery.
We should have a constitutional convention
before March; we should have had one last
winter to frame a constitution TO be SUBJ
mitted for the approval of Congress, as has
been done with other states. Nearly every
body favors union with Oklahoma, and pub
lie sentiment In Congress and throughout
the United States is SO strong on that sub
ject that it seems useless to go through all
the trouble of organizing a territory first
We think that Congress ought to make one
job of II and act promptly at the opening
of the next session, so that there shall be
no interval between the dissolution of the
tribal government and the establishment OF
state government. We are convinced,
also, that we can frame own constitu-
ton better than anyone else, for we know
the condition of affairs and the needs Of
the territory, and have plenty of men
capable of doing the work. Almost every
state in the Union Is represented here by
thinking men who have studied this ques-
ton thoroughly: who are familiar with the
constitutions of other states and are i'm
pressed with their good points as applied to
our situation. We are convinced that we
have the sympathy of the people of other
states and cannot see what objection can
be raised against statehood"