The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-03-01
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tt-ssi4s ease 4glgp gesesss#e 04
ane as.as vvefs possi9ly
Arie-.4 lbe Iuoyement lhat has 9s
started 81 the homes NE ,asas e
tions ARE stautllus on the aisn
ground ms ahc government is ia !,
certain extent fuauins It's wards OF "a
larger price holding that instead of
paving the Indians 50 per acre for
the same that they should be given
the opportunity To take advantage of
the rise in that land These Indian
associations At long range realize but
little what hardships enc encounters
on the reservation in going out there
and living the time allotted by the
government, and the small price they
pay for the land is large enough in
comparison to the hardshipS they
have TO endure, and then to take
the chances of having their claim
contested, True, some spectators
do get in to spoil the ideas of the gov
eminent. but that happens in abouC
every case. In referring to the high
prices of land, the Indian ~associa-
lions do not take into consideration
by their efforts to improve the land
and the cuontry aus the prices to
become higher. If the lands re
NAMED in the possession of the In
dians forever they would never be
any more valuable. The Boston
Transcript is especially grieved over
the situation and pours forth the fol-
lowing plea to protect the lands from
being sold so cheap:
Suppose that through some at pres
ent inc~onceiVable national or polit-
ical catastrophe the New England
states should revert to the condition
of abandoned farms, and that
body in Washington pretending to act
for the benefit of the survivors of our
population should put up Worcester
county, a tract of about a million
acres, to be sold for their benefit.
There are all kinds of land in Wor-
ceSter county, apart from the
ufacturing investments making it one
of the busiest workshops of the
world-rich meadow land, good
farming upland, forest land as we'll
as the scraggly pastures character
istic of some parts of New England.
Surprising, now, our congress in its
alleged wisdom and good will to-
ward its wards should fix a uniform
and arbitrary price for all this land
land a low one, in fact limiting the
price to IS per acre)-what a monu-
mental piece of injustice, fraud and
robbery would be committed! Vet
this is precisely what is proposed to
be done in legislation now pending
in the congress of the United States
Oh. R. 2O527 and S. 661S). 1t pro-
vides for the sale of possibly d mil
lion acres of the tribal lands of the
Rosebud Indians, South Dakota.
The Boston Indian Citizenship
committee, cooperating with the
Philadelphia Indian Rights associa-
ton, is doing what it can to obstruct
the passage of this measure, which
seems imminent unless public atten-
ton throws a broad light in time up
on those engineering the transaction
in the furtherance of a gigantic land
grab. 1t is clear that the wards of
the nation are entitled to the value
of the lands whatever that may be,
and that any fixing of an arbitrary
maximum per acre is on the f1ce of
it in violation of good faith, as it is
manifestly against common sense.
Every fair-minded mar will at once
agree that such lands should not be
sold for less than an appraised value
properly determined, or else under
sealed bids. The danger is at pres
ent that the matter will be rushed
through and closed up before it will
be possible on account of the rigors
of winter to institute any examina-
ton of the land. Postponement is
the least that can be accepted by the
friends, we will not say of the In
dians, especially, but of decency and
of the good name of the government.
These Rosebud Indian lands lie in
Gregory county and Trip county,
south Dakota. New lines OF rail
road have just been constructed
through them, extensions of the Chi
cago & Northwestern, and more are
coming as the land is developed. A
recent article in the Forest City Press
of South Dakota states that the
price of lands taken up two years
ago in Gregory county has advanced
rapidly until they are now selling
at from $40 to $50 an acre" This
is the milk in the cocoanut; it is
the difference between SIS and the
$40 to $50 that the lands are SELL
ing for at retail that some wholesale
syndicate hopes to gather in. 1t APP
pears from the same paper that in
this tract there is very little rough
land and that the soil is a rich black
loan with some timber, ash, elm
and boxelder, along the creeks; and
that hay a be baled without Gull
tivation on thousands of acres. A
fat prize surely-this million of
acres at IS.
Pierre has had rather an exciting
time this winter with the legislative
session and a big fight on among the