Show THE MINERAL LAND LEASES Apparently the stir aroused over the Ulntah mineral land lease Is not going to subside with the defeat of tho lease itself caused by the alertness and timely action oC Senator Kearns In gaining the assistance oC the Senate to stay the hand of the Interior Department De-partment Senator Rawllns following the lead of his Junior colleague has secured the unanimous adoption of a resolution calling upon the Committee on Indian Affairs lo make a far reaching Inquiry and full report upon the whole range of subjects relating to Indian land leases It will probably take a long time to get out lhlH report First and naturally oC greatest Importance Im-portance In dealing with tho Ulntah lease Is the determination of what If I any title the Indiana have to valuable val-uable minerals within their reservations reserva-tions and what the respective authorities author-ities of the Indians and the Government Govern-ment are In leasing or otherwise disposing dis-posing of such minerals We take it that If 1 any law or treaty stands In tho way ot absolute Government Govern-ment control of mineral lands within the boundaries of the reserve such measure or measures will be speedily abrogated by Congress It can be done not only without Injustice to tho red men but doubtless to their considerable con-siderable profit The Indians arc not miners Agricultural pursuits and the drawing of annuities BCCIII to be the limit of their Industrial artivHy Thpy have done nothing to bring to light the hidden wealth of gjlaonltc asphaltum and oil known to abound beneath their lazy heels and these riches arc valueless value-less 1 to them except as unseen Idols to bs jealously withheld from the hands of the while man Therefore any remuneration re-muneration the Government for the surrender of the mineral areas In the reservation would be clear profit for the Indians Tho second tuul third clauses of the Rawllna resolution calling for an inquiry in-quiry into the status and history of past leases the methods used to gain the consent of the Indians thereto and the persons Including Federal officials who were interested parties in the transactions should In tho light of recent developments bring forth some spicy revelations The letters or Allotment Allot-ment Agent Harper published yesterday yester-day prove that the Indian service will command a share of the Investigation No doubt the seemingly innocent application ap-plication for a square mile of mineral land l in the t Ulntah reserve has started a movement which will revise lhc sys lem of Government supervision of Indian In-dian reservations and what is betler l reduce the area of these vast domains now tenanted exclusively by red men to an acreage no more than Is necessary neces-sary for an Industrious twentieth century cen-tury Indian to earn a living on By the time the investigation is over we could wish it were long before the Senate will concur with Senator Kearns in his plan to throw open the surplus lands of the Ulntah rcscrvallon to public settlement and other reservations reser-vations will also no doubt bo made of some benefit to the people |