Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-07
RECEIVER APPOINTED
FOR ILLINOIS TOWN

Louis XIV once gave away 5000 acres
of land, including a goodly part OF
what is now the city Of East ST. Louis,
Ill. 1t was high noon of the day of the
grand monarque. His echoing drum
beat rolled from the gulf of Quebec III
the north down to the gulf of Mexico
in the south. That truly great and he
roic character, though marred with
some blemishes to serve as flaws in
the diamond, could turn from warlike
empires and serious affairs of state to
crack joke with courtiers. When old
Marshal Conde, infirmed by many VIC
torious campaigns, was toiling pain
fully up the long staircase at Versailles
palace one day the king put his head
out of the window to cry: Don't hurry
yourself, my cousin. One who carries
so many laurels can not walk fast"
This was both magnanimity and wit, a.
rare combination. 1t was something
of a joke, too, when Louis gave to the
frontier settlement of Cahokia 5000
acres Of land to which he had no more
clear title than Bob Ingersoll used to
say the devil had to the real estate with
which he sought in vain to tempt the
Holy one. 1t was the way OF kings
and the Bourbon monarch may not
have seen the point of the joke in the
grant, even when 1t decreed that the
land should remain the common land
of the town Of Cahokia forever" That
was the point of the joke, as we, living
nearly three centuries later, can plainly
see.
The point of the joke cracked In
Paris has just come out in an action at
Belleville praying for the appointment
of a receiver for the town of Cahokia.
This is in itself a serious action. The
joke is not on Cahokia, but on the dead
king of France. 1t has been long
time coming. For generations after the
grant was made 1t seemed that the
word forever was not in vain. The
common lands of the old French settle
ments on the other side of the river
were held to be sacred and inviolate.
They stood as relics of an old past
among pushing, crowding, progress
Sive people afflicted with land hunger
and seeking every means of adding to
| landed possessions. In the first consti-
tuition of Illinois the perpetuity of the
laws and customs of the French settle
ments was guaranteed. One generation
after another handed down these laws
and customs unbroken to posterity-
| The men selected to administer the
great trust of the common lands OF
Cahokia were plain, honest men, lead
ing simple lives, and SO far uncor-
| rupted by the craze for riches that they
| would not betray a trust.
The growth of a great city immedi-
ately opposite the Cahokia common
lands and the rapid increase in the
population Immediately surrounding
them increased their value to a figure
never dreamed of by the king who
turned them over to the primitive COM
munity by sleight of hand. Yet still
the community held its birthright, and
still the men charged with the keeping
of that birthright were faithful to their
charge.
1t may be a century since covetous
eyes were first fixed upon this COM
munal possession. We may be sure
that efforts toward private acquisition
were not long delayed after the annex
alton of the Louisiana territory, and the
accelerated movement into the Illinois
country of the Americans. the land
hungriest people of all time. And we
know that, in the first constitutional
convention of Illinois. some efforts
were made toward defeating the IRON
clad guarantees against alienation
upon which the delegates from the
French settlements insisted.
These efforts found little support, and
in the next constitutional convention
they found but little more. In the
third the subject seemed to have been
forgotten and it was not long after
that when bill opening the way to
alienation Of parts of the CahoSia COM
mon lands was passed in the Illinois
legislature. The opportunity soon found
the man In the person of a Cahokia
supervisor. who sold large part of
his peoples inheritance, in what is now
the south part of East st. Louis, and
failed to account for the money he re-
ceived A recent judgment against his
official bondsmen having led to the
withdrawal of the bondsmen of the
present Cahokia supervisor, and his
consequent disqualification for Office,
the movement for a receivership is to
make an accounting to the old town of
Cahokia. which Is seen to have been
robbed of an inheritance which. IL now
intact and honestly and capabiy man
aged would yield splendid revenue.
The kings gift to Cahol<ia was to stand
forever" But what is a king to an
American land hunter and real estate
investor ?-St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
%S%--
The window of the Bartlett Music COM
pany displays The Herald's auto-piano.