CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



177 



tlino- other Indian tribes thereon, and had been appro- 

 priated to that purpose. The land remaining and 

 available for settlement consisted of 1,887,790 acres, 

 surrounded on all sides by lands in the occupancy of 

 [ndiun tribes. Congress had provided no civil gov- 

 ernment for the people who were to be invited by my 

 proclamation to settle upon these lands, except as 

 the new courtj which had been established at Musco- 

 gee, or the United States courts in some of the adjoin- 

 ing States, had power to enforce the general laws of 

 the United States. 



In this condition of things I was quite reluctant to 

 open the lands to settlement. But in view of the fact 

 that several thousand persons, many of them with 

 their families, had gathered upon the borders of the 

 Indian Territory, with a view to securing homesteads 

 on the ceded lands, and that delay would involve 

 them in much loss and suffering, I did, on the 23d 

 day of March last, issue a proclamation declaring that 

 the lands therein described would be open to settle- 

 ment under the provisions of the law on the 22d day 

 of April following, at 12 o'clock noon. Two land dis- 

 tricts had been established^ and the offices were open 

 for the transaction of business when the appointed 

 time arrived. 



It is much to the credit of the settlers that they 

 very generally observe the limitation as to the time 

 when they might enter the Territory. Care will be 

 taken that those who entered in violation of the law 

 do not secure the advantage they unfairly sought. 

 There was a good deal of apprehension that the strife 

 for locations would result in much violence and 

 bloodshed, but happily these anticipations were not 

 realized. It is estimated that there are now in the 

 Territory about sixty thousand people ; and several 

 considerable towns have sprung up, for which tempo- 

 rary municipal governments have been organized. 

 Guthrie is said to have now a population of almost 

 eight thousand. Eleven schools and nine churches 

 have been established, and three daily and five 

 weekly newspapers are published in this city, whose 

 charter and ordinances have only the sanction of the 

 voluntary acquiescence of the people from day to day. 



Oklahoma City has a population of about five thou- 

 sand, and is proportionately as well provided as 

 Guthrie with churches, schools, and newspapers. 

 Other towns and villages having populations of from 

 one hundred to a thousand are scattered over the Ter- 

 ritory. 



In order to secure the peace of this new community 

 in the absence of civil government, I directed General 

 Merritt, commanding the Department of the Missouri, 

 jto act in conjunction with the marshals of the United 

 States to preserve the peace, and upon their requi- 

 jsition to use the troops to aid them in executing war- 

 rants and in quieting any riots or breaches of the 

 peace that might occur. He was further directed to 

 use his influence to promote good order and to avoid 

 any conflicts between or with the settlers. Believing 

 ;hat the introduction and sale of liquors where no 

 legal restraints or regulations existed would endan- 

 ger the public peace, and in view of the tact that such 

 iquors must first be introduced into the Indian reser- 

 vations before reaching the white settlements, 1 fur- 

 aer directed the general commanding to enforce the 

 aws relating to the introduction of ardent spirits in- 



the Indian country. 



Ths presence of the troops has given a sense of se- 

 arity to the well-disposed citizens, and has tended to 

 estrain the lawless. In one instance the officer in 

 nmediate command of the troops went further tha^i 1 

 eemed justifiable in supporting the de facto raunici- 

 al government of Guthrie, and he was so informed 

 nd directed to limit the interference of the military 

 ) the support of the marshals on the lines indicated 



1 the original order. I very urgently recommend 

 hat Congress at once provide a Territorial govern- 

 lent for these people. Serious questions, which may 

 t any time load to violent outbreaks, are awaiting the 

 istitution of courts for their peaceful adjustment, 

 he American genius for self-government has been 



VOL. xxx. 12 A 



well illustrated in Oklahoma, but it is neither safe nor 

 wise to leave these people longer to the expedients 

 which have temporarily served them. 



Provision should be made lor the acquisition of title 

 to town lots in the towns now established in Alaska, 

 for locating town sites, and for the establishment of 

 municipal governments. Only the mining laws have 

 been extended to that Territory, and no other form of 

 title to lands can now be obtained. The general land 

 laws were framed with reference to the disposition of 

 agricultural lands, and it is doubtful if their operation 

 in Alaska would be beneficial. 



We have fortunately not extended to Alaska the 

 mistaken policy of establishing reservations for the 

 Indian tribes, and can deal with them from the begin- 

 ning as individuals with, I am sure, better results. 

 But any disposition of the public lands and any regu- 

 lations relating to timber and to the fisheries should 

 have a kindly regard to their interests. Having no 

 power to levy taxes, the people of Alaska are wholly 

 dependent upon the General Government to whose 

 revenues the seal fisheries make a large annual contri- 

 bution. An appropriation for education should neither 

 be overlooked nor stinted. 



The smallness of the population and the great dis- 

 tances between the settlements offer serious obstacles 

 to the establishment of the usual Territorial form of 

 government. _ Perhaps the organization of several 

 subdistricts with a small municipal council of limited 

 powers for each, would be safe and useful. 



Attention is called in this connection to the sugges- 

 tions of the Secretary of the Treasury relating to tho 

 establishment of another port of entry in Alaska, and 

 of other needed customs, facilities, and regulations. 



In the administration of the land laws the policy of 

 facilitating in every proper way the adjustment ot 

 the honest claims of individual settlers upon the pub- 

 lic lands has been pursued. The number of pending 

 cases had, during the preceding administration, been 

 greatly increased under the operation of orders for a 

 time suspending final action in a largo part of the cases 

 originating in the West and Northwest, and by tho 

 subsequent use of unusual methods of examination. 

 Only those who are familiar with the conditions under 

 which our agricultural lands have been settled can ap- 

 preciate the serious and often fatal consequences to the 

 settler of a policy that puts his title under suspicion, 

 or delays the issuance of his patent. While care is 

 taken to prevent and to expose fraud, it should not be 

 imputed without reason. 



The manifest purpose of the homestead and pre- 

 emption laws was to promote the settlement of the 

 public domain by persons having a bona fide intent 

 to make a home upon the selected lands. Where this 

 intent is well established and the requirements of the 

 law have been substantially complied with, the claim- 

 ant is entitled to a prompt and friendly consideration 

 of his case. But where there is reason to believe 

 that the claimant is the mere agent of another, who is 

 seeking to evade a law intended to promote small 

 holdings, and to secure by fraudulent methods large 

 tracts of timber and other lands, both principal and 

 agent should not only be thwarted in their fraudulent 

 purpose, but should be made to feel the full penalties 

 of our criminal statutes. The laws should be so ad- 

 ministered as not to confound these two classes and to 

 visit penalties only upon the latter. 



The unsettled state of the titles to large bodies of 

 lands in the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona 

 has greatly retarded the development of those Terri- 

 tories. Provision should be made by law for the 

 prompt trial and final adjustment, before a judicial 

 tribunal or commission, of all claims based upon Mexi- 

 can grants. It is not just to an intelligent and enter- 

 prising people that their peace should be disturbed 

 and their prosperity retarded by these old conten- 

 tions. I express the hope that differences of opinion 

 as to methods may yield to the urgency of the case. 



The law now provides a pension for every soldier 

 and sailor who was mustered into the service of the 

 United States during the civil war and is now suffer- 



