Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01
SENDS SHARP LETTER
Gov. Haskell of Oklahoma
Takes President to Task.
LEASES OF INDIAN LANDS
Claims That Rates Obtained Are
Insuficiently Remunerative.
CALLS FOR CANCELLATION
Threatens to Appeal to Congress IN
less Action Is Taken by the
Chief Executive.

! Haskell tonight gave out the following
letter for publications:
81 Guthrie. Okla, October 81. 1905.
! Hon. Theodore Roosevelt President,
! Washington, D. c.:
l Sir: In September l called your atten-
ton to complaint at the renewal of the
oil lease on $4,000 acres of Usage Indian
tribal lands. You ignored the matter.
On October 5, having further pressure
I for investigation of the unjust character
: of that lease, and having ascertained
! from that the Osages being our citizens.
! it was my duty beyond question to de-
/ mand of you the CHIEF guardian of
( these particular lands an explanation as
! to what good reason, il any, there might
! have been for the renewal of the lease at
conditions fixed by you. l, on that date.
I made the formal demand of you in writ
ing.
October o. the Acting Secretary of the
! Interior, writing, as ne stated, on
count of your having referred my letter
I to him. his explanation was that you had
! nothing to do with the lease, except fix
! ing the compensation that the land own
I ers were to receive. | was not satisfied
! with the answer, because that was the
very thing objected to, namely, the
! grossly Inadequate compensation to the
land owners, which was the real COM
! plant
Rejoinder to the President.
! On October II. l answered you. refer
! ring to the Interior Departments eX-
! PLANTATION. and stating to you:
II (a) That you had refused to give the
! Osages an opportunity to produce evil
! dence before you to show the amount of
! compensation justly due to them as the
! land owners;
(b) That the oil field. of which their
I lands were part, was an established,
J rich. producing field. where royalties and
! bonuses to land owners were established
by long practices and precedents.
! (c) That among the lowest averages the
! Osages were at that time entitled to at
! least $7.O0O,OOO cash bonus and ne-sixth
; royalty
td) That the Indian Territory Illumi-
! mating Oil Company. a sub of the Stand
! | ard Oil Company. as the assignee Of the
original Foster lease, was. by subletting
this same Usage property to operating
! companies receiving much more as
I bonus than the Osages would receive as
! 1.-THE owners of the land on one-eighth
basis.
(e) That against the original judgment
! of the Department of the Interior. and
! upon the request of Messrs Quincy
| Barnsdale Senator Depew and other
! we'll known agents of the Standard Oil
Company, you had granted an extension
I of the lease on this $4,000 acres of land
! | at the grossly inadequate compensation
! of one-eighth royalty and not one cent
of cash bonus.
! Pursuing my duties to the Usage In
; dams, as citizens of our state. l request
I ed that you cancel that lease to the end
! that the Usage Indians might have an
! opportunity to receive by competitive bids
I or otherwise an income from the oil
; values of their lands. which they could
! readily obtain equal to the average OBJ
ltained by the adjoining land owners TO
I the north, east and the south OF their
Z lands.
: Deemed Insolent by Root.
i Il am today in receipt OF the follow
/ ing letter from your Secretary of state:
/ &c. N. Haskell,
il Governor of Oklahoma.
| your letter of October u, 1908. to
\ The President of the United States, and
\ signed by you Governor OF Oklahoma.
\ has been referred to the Department of
4 State, which is charged With the conduct
/ of correspondence between Ihe President
\ and the chief executive OF me several
4 states
| The character of this communication.
which | understand to be mainly false
and which / perceive to be wholly lnso-
lent is such that l am forced to regard
| il as a device to attract from the PreSi-
dent for the purpose of a personal con-
troversy a degree of notice which your
! self would not receive personally. Re-
spect for the state of Oklahoma, upon
which YOU have inflicted the injury of
signing such letter over your title as
governor, leads me to acknowledge It's
receipt. The substance of the communi-
cation precludes any further official no.
tice of it.
(signedl ELIHU ROOT
Hits at the President.
| regret that my duty forces me. Mr..
President, to decline to nave this gross in
Justice to 1000 citizens or our state dis
posed of by side-stepD;nsy or evasion.
Your Secretary of State says l am in
solent" Mr. President, If honest adher-
ence to my duties is insolence, then let 1t
be insolence, but that absurd statement
from your Secretary of State will not be
accepted as substitute for fifteen or
twenty million dollars que 10 the Usage
Indians.
Mr.. President. your Secretary of State
saws my demand is a device to attract
from the President for the purpose of a
nersonal controversy degree of notice
which l could probably not receive per-
| sonally.
Mr.. President. it is immaterial to me
what construction your Secretary OF State
decides to put upon my demand In his at
tempt to shield you. l do not seek promi-
nence, but I do seek justice for the
OSageS. and shall not permit the otdhuaIu
Oil Company to benefit to the extent OF
1fteen or twenty million dollars honestly
due to the Osages SIMPLY because i, is
friend of yours.
Indeed. Mr. President, this expression
from the Secretary Of State is ludcrOds,
in view of the tact that you, some two
weeks ago. descended from the dignity
that your predecessors had established
for the high office of President and
sought to carry me down with you to the
level of petty precinct politics..
This effort to f1uctuate from the highest
| respect in the land to the lowest practices
has never been equaled in the extent of
L it's fluctuations of his watered stock on
i the market. 1t is possible that your as
tute Secretary of State might have ad-
| yised YOU at that time to your own adj
vantage, as his twenty-six years expert
ence at his law office In Wall street
where he las guided the greatest cor
| norations of the land with his advice,
would doubtless then have saved you.
from the humiliation that your reckless
i