| Show g L i THE CATTLE QUESTION I i I The case of the cattlemen in the Indian I r Territory is attracting much attention and I I already is being discussed as a party I t fact that question This arises from the 1 t j many of the most prominent men engaged in it were at the time the ifl leases were made Government officials and no doubt Government influence i i was used to secure these leases No doubt the cattlemen in the Indian Territory have always taken advantage advan-tage of any doubts as to their rights I and have presumed upon the credulity of I the public and have expected to create a I i sympathy in their favor To a certain J extent they have succeeded When I f President Cleveland made his order to if I remove all cattle from the Indian Territory i t 1 within forty days no effort whatever was made by the cattlemen to comply with the r order but they telegraphed to Washington wanting to know if the order could not be modified and were answered in the most r positive terms that no modification would l I be made The cattlemen still gave no I heed to the order presuming that the Government would not enforce its order but allow them to continue as they had 1 been doing Trusting that the Government Govern-ment was not in earnest but was merely playing a game of bluff the cattlemen sent a delegation to wait upon the President I Presi-dent This delegation contained among others Senator Cockrell and Representative Representa-tive John M Glover and when they met the President Senator Cockrell intro 1 duced Pollard who Representative presented i pre-sented the President with a memorial in I behalf of the cattlemen The memorial r in the first clause set forth this somewhat I astonishing fact NI i Louses were in every case made with the knowledge of the then Secretary of the Interior In-terior and were submitted to him and received I re-ceived from him every sanction except the formal and technical ailix of Ins signature and seal II From this the only inference that can be drawn is that Secretary Teller gave the entire proceedings his personal sanction sanc-tion and only refrained from affixing his official signature and seal because he must have doubted of the legality of any such transaction The duty of the Secretary Secre-tary was plain in the matter If he believed I be-lieved that the leasing of the lands of the I Indians in the Indian Territory was right and legal he should so have said officially II official-ly and acted accordingly If on the other hand he entertained grave doubts as to such matters so grave that he y refused tp give his official sanction to the leases he should have forbidden the leasing of the land In either case he should not have shirked responsibility If the cattlemen have gone into the Indian In-dian Territory wrongfully and knowingly then upon them should rest the loss and inconvenience of moving their cattle at an inauspicious time Their memorial stated that the cattle could not be moved in herds containing more than 300 and that each herd would require twelve men and sixty horses Surely this is a much larger force than is usually required out West to move 300 head of cattle Moreover a herd of only 1 300 head is a very small herd about three or four times as small as herds in this Territory Their machinery must be very cumbersome in the Indian Territory Terri-tory The delegation certainly presented their case to the best advantage themselves them-selves They say Thero are other features of the subject which commend themselves to Executive consideration among which is the fact that rentals for nil these lands have been paid to the 1st of November this year No amount of diligence will enable us to gather up nil the cattlo during the time allowed nnd the result must be that the uncollected portion will bo left on the rango unprotected by their owners and subject to depredations by the Indians In conclusion we respectfully state that this memorial is directed not against the policy which has been adopted but against the time which has been allowed us to conform thereto We only solicit that measure of protection to our property which is accorded to other established interests The enforcement of the present order can only result in great injury to ourselves as well as to others with whom we have business t busi-ness relations Vo therefore respectfully ask for such time to remove our cattle ns the above facts show to be indispensable The delegation asked everything and 0 offered nothing As the President remarked re-marked to them they were in Washington Washing-ton twelve days after the order had JJeen issued and that time precious time had been lost They made requests nnd expected I ex-pected the Government to make concessions conces-sions They endeavored to do nothing trusting that Executive clemency would bo enlisted in their favor The conduct con-duct of the cattlemen has been such as to entitle them to no sympathy If an honest earnest effort had been made to comply with the order of removal remov-al it is more than probable that such time would have been given the cattlemen cattle-men to remove their stock without loss but no such effort was made The pub t lie peace and safety were to be endangered t endan-gered that men who had wrongfully gone into the Indian Territory might be maintained main-tained there No consideration was m given to those things by the cattlemen or their representatives The public will be inclined to think and hold with the President when he said If your interests led you out of the Territory j t t Terri-tory instead of iu I cannot help but think 1 you would find some way oat iu the specified time t I wish yon would cooperate and take hold and try to get the cattle out He recognized that some loss and inconvenience in-convenience might arise from enforcing the order but he very plainly intimated J that the order would not be harshly enforced en-forced if an honest effort were made to comply with it when he said to the delegation dele-gation as they were about to leave I If any indulgence is shown it must be an I application in specific cases with an evidence evi-dence that an effort has been made to comply com-ply with the order w j I The cattle men have the power then I to make the case easy or hard as they t t I themselves t < shall < choosg L I |
