Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-14

Of this lease in the interest OF the citi-
zens Of our state, or that congress take
action to declare this improvident ana un-
Just lease void. and secure for the Usage
nation the just and reasonable compensa-
lion that other owners are receiving"
The letter In fun follows:
Text of the Letter.
To Honorable Theodore Roosevelt presi-
received a letter from Frank Pierce, acting
secretary, Interior department., dated Oc-
ing for an Exclamation as to the oil lease
on the Usage lands, had been referred to
his department.
at all satisfactory. II. contains practically
nothing in conflict with my complaint. l
agree that in 1895 the democratic admins
ton made a lease to f. b. Foster on the
entire Usage nation for ten years at 10
per cent royalty. At that time the nearest
known oil production was about 700 miles
from the Usage nation, so that the Foster
lease in 1895 was a rank wildcat propo-
sition and, OF course, the usual pioneer
during the ten years, the field was de-
veloped and found to be unusually rich,
ample reward for those developing it.
BY 1905, Foster had transferred his lease
to the Indian Territory Illuminating OIL
company a well known sub OF the Standar
OIL company.
wide Territory Affected.
Development showed that oil covered
CSC, 900 acres, being the east portion of the
Usage nation, also extending north into
Kansas. east into Indian territory, and
south into Oklahoma, and the whole area
Is known as the richest oil country in ex-
istence at this date. The remainder of the
Usage nation was barren.
Congress- gave you the power to fix the
consideration that the Usage people should
receive, as their part of the oil value after
the expiration OF the ten-year lease. Il
was we'll known to you at that time what
the sublessees were paying for small tracts
In the Usage nation and adjoining lands in
the Cherokee nation, as the Cherokee leases
passed through the Interior department and
their approval and the royalties and bon
uses received by the land owners were a
matter OF record and approval in the In
terror department records. 1t is scarcely
possible that with these records before you,
bonus and one-sixth royalty was much DC
low tho average compensation to the land
owner. Indeed. in many instances, cash
we're received by the landowners.
Case of LannOn Family.
A few cases found in the Interior de-
partment records are as follows:
TIL Lannon family, 700 acres, Cherokee
ton, Interior department lease, made in
1903, cash bonus $4,000; royalty one-eighth.
We have eight or ten similar leases where
bonuses substantially as large as the
above and royalties running at one
Sixth in S cSsrrs your our the subordinate IS@,a1 o,t,cs oft
49, "a Sa0f d. W az AhNAoA OAAiNO ~
Muskogee, on orders from the Interior de-
partment, this morning refused TO permit
accurately, but they arc subject to your in
vestigation, and you will find. no doubt.
that the Lannon lease was only an average
lease.
And numerous other leases adjoining the
Usage nation give you the opportunity to
know that a bare one-eighth royalty, with
out any cash bonus to the Osages, was a
gross outrage on that nation.
Congress no sooner gave you the author
ity to fix the amount of compensation than
you for an opportunity to be heard and pro-
duce evidence, which they could easily have
produced, showing you that a cash bonus
of $7,O00,W0 and one-slxth royalty would be
indeed a moderate compensation to them.
Claims OsaEes Not Heard.
You neglected to give the osages any OPP
portunity whatever to be heard. The fact
that $4,000 acres of rich oil land was the
stake that the Standard OIL company was
playing for, and the land owners denied
the right to be heard is something that
will require a more lucid explanation than
Mr.. Pierce has seen fit to give.
Any practical business man is ready to
recognize that $4,000 acres in one tract OF
land is Of far greater proportionate value
than the small tracts OF a few hundred
acres each, and, therefore, the greater sur
prise that you should nave fixed a royalty
without any cash bonus) much lower than |
the Individual land owners were securing
on small tracts. There were no such i'm
provident leases being made in that whole
combined field.
Mr.. Pierce suggests in his letter to me
that as a matter OF fact II was not known
at the time that the Standard OIL company
was the real party in interest. I submit to
you that the very fact that Messrs. Guffey,
and Senator Depew. we'll known
Oil representatives, with others
of the same odor, making . personal appeal
to you for this low royalty to the land
should have been ample evidence
that the Standard OIL company was tho
real beneficiary.
VIII Ask for Cancellation.
It was the same Senator Depew who in
duced you to grant the Prairie Oil and Gas
company franchise over the protest OF Sec
rotary Hitchcock less than one year before
time; and In this one transaction you
gave the Standard OIL company a donation
from the property OF the Usage I6dians Of
more than enough to pay the famous
SIS, 900, 900 fine.
/ shall insist upon the cancellation of this
lease In the interests OF the citizens OF our
state, or congress take action to declare
this improvident and unjust lease void, and
secure for the Usage nation the Just and
reasonable compensation that other owners
are receiving.
Marvellous as IT may seem, the differ
ence between the royalty you fixed for this
new lease, and the average amount received
In the balance OF the oil field, by land own.
ers controlling their own property, is fully
equivalent to a net loss OF $4,000 to each
and every member of the Usage nation, and
whether this gross injustice to our people
accomplished by your lack Of con-
OF In any other way, the author
lNNna or the 0fnta ~ hA-.. --sHF