OCR Text |
Show EMERY COUNTY PROGRESS, CASTLE DALE, UTAH Capt D.LPn s Cimarron Ocout National Topics Interpreted by William Bruckaxt rather of Tf Tf rnp n L.rayne PSSSS Col. Coppmqer VimM' the Camp of the Boomers f --gffffl- XXTITl fS It QKUHONU WAR-CHIE- F. y BBMPB record badly. For Instance, one of them calls him Daniel L Payne and says of Daniel Boone. Bobbs-Merrl- ll suppose that his kinswoman would name her son "David." Payne's boyhood was spent much like that of any other youngster of the pioneer days In Indiana and by the time he had reached young manhood he, like thousands of others, felt the urge to "go West" So in 1857 he moved to Kansas territory and settled on a farm north of new-bor- n Atchison. Kansas civil war of Its men of Missouri nd it is was then in the throes of a own between the pro-slave- and the Kansas Jayhawkers probable that Payne, like his future who was destined for fame as "Buffalo Wend, BUV had his first fighting experience then. At any rate when the Civil war opened, he enlisted in a Kansas regiment In the Union army nd served in d. until 1863 it when he was Shortly afterwards he was elected to the Kansas legislature, where he served with ome distinction, and at the close of his term oe was made postmaster at Fort Leavenworth. In 1867 Indian raids in Kansas became so men-Min-g that the War department called upon Governor Crawford of Kansas to raise a force of wiunteer cavalry to with the regular ray in subduing the hostlles. Payne was commissioned captain of one of these troops which erred with Gen. George A. Custer and the Seventh cavalry in Kansas and Oklahoma during next two years. Sutton says that Payne was ""the Battle of the Washita on November 27, when Custer destroyed the camp of Chief alack Kettle of the Cheyennes and, if he was, he ay nave bad an escape there from death which overtook nIm 14 years later, almost to a day. was evidently during this period in Payne's jareer that he acquired the sobriquet of the umarron Scout," although his services in that did not seem to have been as outstand-- 8 as Buel and those who followed him would ve us believe. At least, Custer in his "My Life e Plains" (first published In the old Gal-- J Magazine in 1872-7-3) does not mention Payne ' nor Is ne listed amon8 tne scoats . fominently mentioned In any of Mrs. Custer's dealing with her husband's Indian cam- ShaVV'Callf0raIa Joe'" "Wild BU1" HIckok' and several others are referred to . by both the general and Mrs. Custer, bat nCf if e' whlcn leads t0 the suspicion that the tat!on of the "Cimarron Scout" was In- bUlU P by WritCrS Wlth dime D0Vel tendencie Bue1, ,n recordlng the rescue of women captives, Mrs. Morgan and ."!.. Hi.. so vvnite. from the. a oramauc lue -- ueyennes, tens shn. ... ... iry or the KnhctWo0MStanCe' - f0F ld the Bafety of nIs command ,f the concentrate against him. So the k 8 "a consultatlon with Captain payne WhSe JudEment the entire command Placed th reliance" and says, "Captain, e haV 80t t0 sen(1 word t0 Ft Hays at once' ome o m"St act 88 corler to notify our ds r Ur posltlon8 and to carry the good lews ih the tW0 Iadies are ln Whir safety with ns" fines th lpn Payne aKrees t0 male the trip, dehostllp fener? I frl-- eSCOrt of 50 men wh,cn Custer offers "ri1 take Jack Cowan nnd Cnar f"aMay8: le, lny PurPse is to set out from here in out nfteen minutes." Then the three inPn Dari,.? away- - counted on mules and leading les Which nf ommn- "Pflrrlpd 1 RTW1 Wtion" 8 serles of drilling experiences, 'ncludin K Fort Ra by nostIle Kiowas, "reached bew ?r-- 8 ln one hundred hours, the distance Before reaching Hays Payne KmllCS had to r tobacco ln his eyes to keep from nim of Is oni- - In re- ports soon to appear, that there be more stringent regulation of the railroads, It la to be noted that seven-foo- Ind, on December 30, 1836. Since this was only a few months after Crockett had died gloriously at the Alamo in Texas it seems reasonable to assurance Eastman, federal Control ' to mend "" that his mother was a cousin Fred E. Sutton of Kansas City (author of "Hands Dp!", published by In 1927), who was a follower of Payne, says his mother was a first cousin of Davy Crockett and that he was born In Fairmont, B. NtW Idea on railroads. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON B WAS the "Father of Oklahoma,' yet, except for giving his name to one of its original counties, that atate has done very little to honor Capt David 1 I. Payne. True, In 1929 there was a M 111 proposal to remove his body from Wellington, Kan., where he died Just SO years ago this month, and rebury him In Oklahoma City as a part of the program celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the ODenimr of Okla homa territory to white settlement But this was not done because the citizens of Wellington declined to permit the removal They pointed out that, insofar as Payne had made Wellington his home for several years and had died there, it was perfectly fitting that Wellington should be his last resting place. Moreover, they suggested that his grave is In a beautiful lection of Prairie Lawn cemetery where there is plenty of room for a suitable memorial if Oklahoma wanted to erect one. Evidently that suggestion was not acceptable, since the only marker at Payne's grave is a t monument, giving a brief account of his life, which was paid for by popular subscription and erected a few years ago by the Wellington G. A. R. post to take the place of the original stone marker which recorded the fact that he was a captain of Company P of the Tenth Kansas infantry. So Payne continues to sleep la Kansas soil and it Is not wholly inappropriate that he should. For, as a citizen of Kansas, he won his first fame as the "Cimarron Scout" long before he became the "Father of Oklahoma." The state of Indiana also has a claim upon this frontier notable, for he was born in the Hoosier state. As for other details of his early life, there is a dearth of reliable information. J. W. Buel included a sketch of Payne In his "Heroes of the Plains" and later writers, evidently depending upon Buel for their facts but adding embroidery of their own, served to confuse the With Washington. that Joseph Okah oma 4 . "Pawnee Bill" falling asleep." It is possible that Payne may have had some of the adventures with Indians which Buel and the other writers attribute to him at this time. But one is Inclined to doubt some of the details of this yarn, In view of Custer's simple statement that after the rescue of the two white women, the Kansas volunteer troops "marched back to Fort Hays where they were mustered out of service." But whatever Payne's record as an Indian fighter was, politics next occupied his attention and in 1870 he was elected to the Kansas legislature, at the same time holding down a Sedgwick county claim. In 1872 he was nominated to the state senate but was defeated. However, he was consoled for this by being appointed doorkeeper of the house of representatives in Washington, a Job which he held until 1879. While there he made the discovery, as he believed, that the lands ln the western part of Indian Territory, which had been ceded by the Creek Indians to the government for occupation by the other Civilized Tribes and by freedmen, ln reality belonged to the public lands of the United States and were therefore open to settlement He had seen the richness of these lands during his Indian campaigning with Custer and white men he resolved that the should possess them. So be formed the "Oklahoma Colony" and for the next five years devoted most of his time to that project "He was a born orator," says Sutton, "and he became the evangelist of that promised land, going np and down the border, preaching that it was a sinful waste for that rich soil to be held for a few Indians who would not till It while so many farmers were eager to go in and possess it and improve it Many thought him a Creamer and a crank but he knew that every colony that went and was expelled stirred up the agitation and hastened the day when the land would set-bac- k land-hungr- y be opened." The principal opposition to Payne's project came from the cattle barons, who were using the land for free grazing, and they had sufficient Influence with the federal authorities so that, Oklaevery time Payne led his "Boomers" into and to arrest sent were federal troops homa, evict them. Despite studious efforts to keep the matter out of the civil courts where the issue could be tried on the merits of the case, Payne succeeded several times in getting It into court, more where he won out and started back once to try again. newsTo aid In his project Payne established a most unusual careers the of one had which paper Grace E. in the history of American journalism. the at University Ray of the school of journalism Oklahoma of Oklahoma In her history of "Early: about it Newspapers" has this to say by "The Oklahoma War Chief, establishedOklaof his David L. Payne as the official organ illegal in its homa Colony, was, like the colony, turbulent and a had operation, and consequently and mainestablished was It existence. uncertain of farthering tained solely for the purpose the opening of advocating Payne's policy The first issue was pubTerritory to settlement on January 12, 18Sd. Kansas, Caldwell, at lished issues in succession two published moved from town was tteSne place, for it line, as Oklahoma-Kansa- s the o town along was which move his colony to Payne was forced ,1 officer feden by pursued almost constantly -- The War Chief was issued weekly, more or and style, and some-Hmless regularly, but its size perceptibly as,!t changed Its name, JTvPd . Sometimes it was entitled a SomrchlVf and sometimes the SS War Chief. . S Okla-nom- conversations Washington lately have Included a new Idea respecting governmental relations with businesses coming under direct federal regulation. The discussion eems to center about some Idea concerning the obligation which government owes whatever business It regulates and whose profits It limits. The talk one hears in many places is to the effect that If the government, or any government, lays down rules which "prohibit a business from reaping the profits that accrue In good years, by the same token it onght to consider some form of compensation to that business In the periods of depression through such as we are now passing because It has refused to permit that business to create a huge layer of fat upon which It can feast In the bad years. Advocates of such a theory, of course, have Immediately found opponents. In other words, two very definite schools of thought have developed and although the question Is nowhere near a solution nor Is It likely that the forthcoming session of congress will even approach an answer, one can hear arguments pro and con on the point most anywhere the subject is broached. The proponents of the theory that the government owes an obligation to those businesses which It has regulated within an Inch of their lives contend that Investors which means the public who own shares of stock are being discriminated against by their own government Their claim is that a business cannot survive unless It is enabled to store away profits of the good years against which It may draw when the prolonged economic The result Is, depressions strike. according to this argument, that unless the fat is stored away after the manner of the bear ln preparation for winter, investors can expect only to see their savings destroyed from time to time, and this with the sanction of their own govern- ment In opposition to this new theory of relationship between government and business, one hears the usual li denouncements War Chief inMDurrunq forCapt. Payne "In one of Its Issues the publishers stated that they had been having trouble ln getting paper and supplies with which to print the paper. This issue was printed on brown wrapping paper, and was smeared with grease. Whether it had been printed on some paper in which the bacon and other supplies had been wrapped, or whether it was stained with grease after being printed Is a matter for speculation. But the result was a newspaper that was scarcely legible. The two inside pages were blank, indicating either that there were other shop difficulties besides the shortage of paper or that the camp was forced to move before the entire edition had been printed." Payne had made many visits to Washington to argue his case before the federal authorities but without success. After his last visit in 1884 he returned to Wellington, Kan., strengthened his colony and again entered the territory. Ha was arrested again by the soldiers and taken to Fort Smith, Ark., but there the court, presided over by Judge Isaac Parker (the famous "Hanging Judge" of those days) said it wonld have nothing to do with the case. A week later Payne was in camp In Indian Territory opposite Fort Smith, badly crippled with rheumatism and suffering other Illnesses caused by bad treatment at the hands of his captors (or so he alleges ln some of his letters which are preserved by the Oklahoma Historical society). On September 7 he wrote from Fort Gibson, "This makes three days here do not think they will undertake to hold us longer than five, . . . They may yet take us to Fort Scott . . . One thing seems evident now and that Is to keep ns up in the Territory until the Court at Wichita adjourns they do not want us to get before that Court now." From which it will be seen that Payne was just being "pushed around" by the authorities who were loath to bring the Issue to a court test Two months later he was ln Wellington again and there on the morning of November 28 he died quietly while sitting at breakfast ln the Hotel De Barnard. Of bis death Sutton says: "His friends believed then, and I believe yet, that he was poisoned by those who opposed the opening of Oklahoma. His death filled the Oklahoma boomers with resentment focused public attention upon the opening of the territory and hastened It. The first opening came soon thereafter. Moses led the Israelites to the edge of Canaan, but died just before they went in to possess it So Payne led his Oklahoma boomers through a wilderness of struggle and was permitted only to view the promised land. He will live in history as the Father of Oklahoma." Payne's work was carried on by some of his followers, notably Capt W. L. Couch, CoL Samuel Crocker, Captain Cooper, Sidney Clark and Maj. Gordon W. Llllle ("Pawnee Bill"), who came to be known as the "Big Five." They lived to see Oklahoma thrown open to settlement by proclamation of the President and to take part In the "big run" of April 22, 1889. But of all these only one survives today "Pawnee Bill," "Chief Little Bear," the white chief of the Pawnees, who is spending his declining years ln peace and comfort at his buffalo ranch, "Blue Hawk Peak" near Pawnee, Okla. C br Western Kewipapw Volga. of the sins of the railroads and the public utilities, but one also hears complaint that If the federal government should embark upon a policy of compensating those businesses which It regulates, it might be placing a premium on mismanagement and even It is ardownright crookedness. gued likewise that the federal government must not use taxpayers' money in this manner nor that It should employ the policy of compensation, as that amounts to a subsidy. At any rate a new field has been opened. On each side are to be found vigilant and virulent defenders and from this time it Is made to appear that congress Is eventually going to be compelled to decide how far this regulation of business can properly go. From all of the arguments here, it would seem that each side has solid ground It may be upon which to stand. possible that from this controversy something in the way of a new economic policy will develop. The Roosevelt administration has gone farther than any other ln history ln Its regulation of business, and there are those who believe that a reaction Is due. If that be the case, then It appears logical at least that the two opposing forces may bring about a compromise that will be favorable to genera business, which is subject to regulation, and enable those who place their savings in stocks or bonds of such utilities to fee reasonably secure about some sort of annual return. Solution of this question of equity between the government and the businesses which Solution it regulates Is not Not Simple as simple as It may mperflclally appear. For example, the question is put forward whether it is possible to evolve any method of measuring, even roughly, the extent of the public obligation. It is likewise necessary to determine in advance of a final answer to the question, whether the past inequalities and past treatment of public utilities is the factor to be considered. There is a question whether the government is openly to assume a direct voice in the management of properties which it regulates if there is a compensating arrangement to protect lnestors in those businesses. Then, it goes into the question of government ownership or government control of private industry. Some of the advocates f this, program of compensation ca'l at tention to the public necusSlj for mnSntennnce of service, such s the rnllropds siipply, for example. In thP ...v-- nr t)P railroads and ship p ping, with perhaps the addition of the growing aircraft industry, it I admitted that there is a wiillngneu on the part of those lines of commerce to aid the nation ln time of war. Should the government engage la distribution of taxpayers money to offset deficits ln the lean years, opponents of the policy say that we should be beaded for an even greater bureaucracy than has been set np to accomplish recovery under the present administration. Obviously, many business men will not be in favor of further extension of bureaucracy. They have had their fill of bureaucracy under the codes.. The form of assistance is another problem. If it were not ln th form of a money payment direct to the businesses concerned, then the subsidy must be worked out on another basis. ' It has been suggested that the regulations themselves might be used to enable some returns not now available. One theory advanced was that the regulations should be flexible and that In the lean years there be some relaxation of the restrictions so that the regulated business might proceed more freely ln operation. Another thought beard is that there should be consideration given to competing businesses such, for example, as Is the condition between the railroads and the highway users. It Is of record, of course, that trucks and busses and privately owned vehicular traffic use national and state highways, built out of taxpayers' money and they do so with the very minimum of taxation. The railroads, as competitors of these lines, have no such beneficent attitudes displayed toward them by the government which, at the same time, has been bearing down with Its regulations. f 1,1 t H ! f As one looks backward upon the campaign of 1934, the methods employed by the Both Partie two major par- Show Weakne$a ties a p p e a r worthy of examination. Observers ln Washington, I believe, are of the opinion that the campaign developed an outstanding circumstance, namely, that the Democrats lack defensive ability and the Republicans have shown an utter inability as an offensive party. In all of the debates and the s forthspeeches and the statenf-'tcoming from candidates on either side, there Is proof of the conclusion Some political above reached. writers in Washington and some political lenders take the position that when the Democrats were put to the necessity of laying down a fresh program, they failed on the Job. They gave the Impression of politicians running largely on momentum. The minority party, If such the Republicans may be called, was wholly unable to take advantage of known vulnerable points in the Democratic armor. The net result was obviously that there was much haranguing and much ln what should have been real national Issues, but nothing came of it. The campaign, therefore, has demonstrated ln my opinion the need for a strong minority party whether that party be Republican or Democratic. The party In power necessarily is on the spot because It 1 charged with the responsibilities of government It is the function of the minority party to criticize and offer counter proposals. The most astute politicians see that condition and. I believe, are at a loss as to what it means for the future. I h i 8 li mud-sllngln- g The federal communications commission, one of the new agencies set up by the Roose-Fav- or velt adminlstra-Merge- rt tlon as a permanent part of the nation's regulatory structure, is preparing to ask congress for an amendment of the communications act of 1934 enabling It to approve mergers. Of course, the particular problem Involved ln the communications program Is the question of mergers of such gigantic corporations as the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph compnnies and some of the radio companies. The implications and the potentialities of this movement however, go much further. It Is too early to attempt a forecast of congressional opinion on the communications proposal but it is an opportune time to consider what may happen, if congress should approve this step toward creation of single businesses for single lines of service In this country. It is regarded also as interesting to examine the effect upon tit country If it were to be subjected to a well regulated monopoly of alt the business In that line such a has occurred in the case of the Bell Telephone system. Some members of the commission and its staff feel that a merger of the large telegraph companies, ,for Instance, would result in establishment of a more closely knit network of telegraph lines and offices than now existi. C. Weatem Newspaper Cnloa. , |