NEBRASKA. 



505 



has disposed of land by deeding 41,050*33 acres ; 

 leased 556,675-19 acres,"and disposed of 67,577*11 

 acres by contract. 



There has been a long controversy over the 

 ownership of sections 16 and 36 in that part of 

 the State known as the old Ponca Indian reser- 

 vation, now in Boyd County. The State claimed 

 that it should have indemnity lands in lieu of 

 those lost by reason of the selection by Indian 

 allotment of school lands in the Ponca reserva- 

 tion, and selections of such lands were made in 

 the county ; but the Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office refused to give the State the lands 

 selected, on the ground that no grant was made 

 to the State of sections 16 and 36 in place for 

 school purposes under the act extending the 

 boundary line of the State by Congress in 1883, 

 and that as no grant was made to the State of 

 sections 16 and 36 in place, no indemnity should 

 be allowed for lands lost in place. 



Under this decision, the United States Land 

 Office allowed homestead entries, not only upon 

 sections 16 and 36, but also upon the indemnity 

 selections in Boyd County. Appeal was taken 

 to the Secretary of the Interior, the claim of 

 the State was allowed, and the lands in question, 

 amounting to 14,975 acres, were awarded to 

 Nebraska. In addition to this confirmation has 

 been made of the claims of the State to 30,918 

 acres of indemnity lands in 4 other counties. ' 



At the meeting of the board in August the 

 question of forfeiture of school lands by pur- 

 chasers in arrears in their payments came up. 

 About 3.000 have failed to make the payments 

 due. In view of the crop failure and the general 

 emergency, the board decided to waive the right 

 of forfeiture until after the next harvest. 



The Drought. Great distress was caused by 

 the partial failure of the crops in 1893, and their 

 total destruction in a large part of the State in 

 1894, in consequence of the long-continued 

 drought. The southwestern part of the State 

 suffered severely. Local aid was given in various 

 districts and counties by affording work on pub- 

 lic improvements to the needy ; and the Gov- 

 ernor reorganized the relief commission of 1891, 

 which was active in soliciting and distributing 

 aid. More than 4,000 families were under its 

 care in December. Contributions were sent 

 from other States, amounting in all to about 150 

 car loads, 50 of which were coal, and the re- 

 mainder flour, grain, etc. The railroads gave 

 free transportation. Oregon sent several car 

 loads of provisions through the Chamber of 

 Commerce of Portland. A car load of corn and 

 North Carolina rice was contributed by the At- 

 lantic Coast line. Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa 

 also gave generous assistance ; and at the close 

 of December a movement was begun to collect a 

 train load of corn and meat from the South, mak- 

 ing up the train at Atlanta. 



Irrigation. An article by S. D. Cox gives a 

 table of the irrigating ditches and canals already 

 in operation in Scott's Bluff and Cheyenne Coun- 

 ties, in the western part of the State. The water 

 is from the North Fork of the Platte. In 31 of 

 these ditches 266 miles have been finished at a 

 cost of $418,000. The number of acres under 

 ditch is 143,100. The depth ranges from 1 to 

 8 feet, and the width on the bottom from 4 to 

 48. 



The Law on Maximum Freight Rates. 



This law, known as the Newberry Taw (see "An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia " for 1893, pp. 503 and 505), has 

 been before the courts more than a year. 'The 

 decision in the Federal court was that while the 

 act was constitutional on technical grounds, the 

 Legislature, in reducing the rates for local traffic 

 29 per cent., attempted to take the property of 

 the roads without just compensation, it being 

 shown upon evidence that the reduction was be- 

 low a reasonable compensation for the service 

 rendered. Consequently the injunction was sus- 

 tained without prejudice to future action should 

 circumstances change so as actually to reduce 

 the reasonable charges for transportation by the 

 roads to the figures indicated in the act. 



Lawlessness. The treasurer of Holt County, 

 Barrett Scott, was accused of dishonesty in the 

 management of the money under his care, and 

 an investigation was made. He set out for Mex- 

 ico, but was brought back and tried, the amount 

 embezzled being fixed at $32,000. His bonds- 

 men were sued, but the suit was dismissed on a 

 technicality. On the night of Dec. 31 he was 

 taken from the carriage in which he was riding 

 with his wife by a band of masked men. His 

 fate was unknown till Jan. 19, 1895, when his 

 body was found in Niobrara river. There was a 

 rope around his neck, and he had evidently been 

 hanged and then thrown into the water. 



Labor Interests. Labor circles were excited 

 by the decision of Judge Dundy, given in Janu- 

 ary at Omaha, reducing wages on the Union Pa- 

 cific system. The reduction affected employees 

 in all departments, and amounted to nearly 10 

 per cent. On the other hand, organized labor 

 gained a victory in the decision of Judge Cald- 

 well at Omaha, April 5, that the receivers of the 

 Union Pacific had no right to cut the wage 

 schedule down arbitrarily without notifying em- 

 ployees, declaring that there is no equity in re- 

 ducing wages below what is reasonable and just, 

 in order to pay dividends and interest. 



There was great excitement at Omaha about 

 April 20, when a part of the "Industrial Army" 

 was at Council Bluffs, over the refusal of the 

 railroads to carry them free across Iowa. Several 

 thousand laborers left work and, forming in line, 

 marched across the bridge to Council Bluffs with 

 the intention of aiding the army. A train was 

 captured for the use of the army, but as Kelly 

 refused to take it and issued an order to his 

 men to start forward on foot the excitement 

 subsided. 



A mass meeting of the unemployed was held 

 at Lincoln, April 22, to recruit a company for 

 the army. A train was captured by the Indus- 

 trials, and recaptured by Federal troops at Ogal- 

 lala ; 250 of the Comrnonwealers were taken pris- 

 oners. They were supposed to have seized the 

 train with the idea that they would be arrested 

 and taken to Omaha for trial', and thus be carried 

 300 miles on their journey. 



During the railroad strikes in the summer the 

 strikers undertook to stop the packing-house 

 business in South Omaha; they attacked the 

 employees on their way to work and stoned the 

 dummy train at Sheely, which was used to carry 

 the men to and from South Omaha, on Aug. 8. 

 State troops were sent to the place, and orde 

 was restored. 



