Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-06-27
For More Than 80 Years Government
By Long Distance Has Retarded the
Development of Okla. Indian Lands

For moro than thirty years Okla
1oma has suffered from the evils of
long distance government. >omc sec
,tary of the interior appointed from
ohio or Vermont and some commits
Houcr of Indian affairs appointed
from Washington or New Hampshire
IuyC been set Iu authority over 20 peo-
nlo as numerous as the population OF
Kansas.
And IN not single instance has
here been "a secretary of the interior
,r commissioner of Indian affairs
who had the remOtCst conception of
The problems which confronted them
n oklahoma, to say nothing of prob
'cms i'm other Indian reservations.
Take the present situation for in
stance Mr.. Lane, the secretary OF
he Interior comes from California,
alto Sells, the commissioner Of Indian
lffairs. comes from Iowa,
The only time either of them ever
saw an Indian reservation was from
me windows of a Pullman car.
And yet they have attempted to set
lie questions which have been the
serious work of a lifetime with men
righ~on the ground. They have un-
dertaken in less time than two years
to finally dispose of a problem which
has worried and puzzled every secre,
tary Of he interior and every com
missioner of Indian affairs for more
than twenty years, and every one of
them gave it up as a bad job.
The trouble is and the trouble al
WAYS has been that the Indian ques-
ton is too big a thing and too com,
pliCated a thing to be settled in four
years, and just about the time a sec
rotary of the interior thinks he has
mastered the rudiments of the situa-
ton along comes another administra-
ton and another secretary Of the in
terror, and the thing has to be done
I'll over again.
Oklahoma's Wishes Ignored.
In no case have the wishes of the
people Of oklahoma been considered,
Apparently each recurring admins
tratiOn acts upon the theory that the
people of Oklahoma are iuterlOper7
md have no right to be here and
ought to be summarly elected. 1t is
recorded that when Ethan Allen
Hitchcock was secretary of the inter
or he very buutly told j. H. Evans
o. citizen of Tulsa representing scv-
raj millions Of dollars, you people
nave no business in Indian Territory
why don't you get out2' And it took
0hc better part Of two years for Mr.
Evans to convince Mr.. Hitchcock that
ne did have a right to be here and
a right to do business here and that
he was entitled to the protection OF
the interior department. That was
the attitude Of all the secretaries of
he interior before Mr.. Hitchcock and
that has been the attitude of every
secretary Of the interior since Mr.
Hitchcock. BY some neCrOmanCy
they have all come TO believe that
the Indian is a poor downtrodden Citi-
zen, that his lands have been stolen
from him and that the strong arm
f the government is needed to keep
him on his feet. OF course the fact
that the reverse is true has no effect
whatever on the minds of the heads
Of the departments And the further
fact that the Indians themselves have
appealed to congress to be relieved OF
the guardianship Of tho interior de-
partment appears absolutely without
force. The department keeps right
along making laws just like 1t knew
what it was talking about, and the
men who have stakcd their fortunes
and spent their time i'm the develop
lltIll VI lll' NbulAlN - WIN liAN' u ais
formed it from a wilderness into one
Of the greatest states in the union
are told to go away back and sit dowr
until the Indian Rights association OF
Boston. band OF theoretical fat
heads shall have first told the de.
partment what ought to be done fol
the protection Of the poor Indian.
Evadcd the Truth
In the matter of the recent ruling
respecting the future of leases in the
Usage reservation, the secretary Of the
interior and the commissioner of In.
dian affairs absolutely refused tC
take the word Of the producers OF
oklahoma for anything. but the order
was dictated by few full blood
Osages who cannot speak English anC
few halfbreeds who are the smooth.
est politicians in the United States
and have repeatedly demonstrated it
A hundred million dollars worth o.