to go or settle thereupon. It had also been made necessary to use a part of the military force of the United States to remove intruders who had succeeded in getting into that country.

When I assumed charge of this Department it was alleged that certain individuals, associations of persons, and corporations were in the unauthorized possession of portions of the "Oklahoma Country," and also that certain other persons and associations were preparing to enter, occupy, and settle upon said lands.

The matter was considered; and the President, on the 13th of March, 1885, issued his proclamation, warning all persons then upon the lands, and those intending, preparing, or threatening to enter and settle upon the same, that they would not be permitted to enter upon that territory or to remain thereon if already there.

The parties claiming the right to enter these lands, alleging them to be public lands, argue that the United States must have understood the treaty with the Seminoles and Creeks, while the meaning and intent thereof was freshly in their mind and knowledge, as restoring the lands to the public domain, since by act of Congress of July 27, 1856 (14 Stat., 294)-passed in the same month that the treaties were proclaimed--a right of way with a subsidy of land was granted the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company over a route described which passed through the "Oklahoma Country." They claim that by authorizing the use of a portion of the land for railroad purposes the United States admitted that they could be used for other than Indian purposes, and that this must have been conceded by the Indians, who failed to object to its appropriation for railroad purposes.

This argument would hardly have been advanced if the advisers of these parties, or the parties themselves, had carefully read the concluding clause of section 2 of the granting act, which is as follows:

The United States shall extinguish, as rapidly as may be consistent with public policy and the welfare of the Indians, and only by their voluntary cession, the Indian title to all lands falling under the operation of this act and acquired in the donation to the road named in the act.

For the purposes of this act the Indian title to that portion of the "Oklahoma Country," through which the railroad was proposed to be run, has not been extinguished. The railroad has not been constructed upon or extended into that territory, and consequently it has not acquired possession nor the right of possession of any portion of those lands under that law.

In the case of the United States v. D. L. Payne, tried in the district court of the United States for the western district of Arkansas, Judge Parker cited the decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of Wilcox v. Jackson (13 Pet., 266), "wherein it is held that whenever a tract of land has been appropriated to the public use it is severed from the mass of the public domain, and subsequent laws of sale are not construed to embrace it, though they do not in terms except it." He also 6287 1--3

refers to the case of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Road v. The United States (2 Otto, 733), which affirms the doctrine in Wilcox v. Jackson, and holds further that "this doctrine applies with more force to Indian than to military reservations." Judge Parker then adds:

I think, therefore, from the authorities I have cited, and from the language of this section, that there is no doubt that, this act of Congress has not changed the land in controversy from the condition of a reservation.

Notwithstanding the rulings of the Interior Department, the procla mations of the Executive, and the solemn adjudications of a Federal court of competent jurisdiction over the parties and over the subject matter, upon a clear statement of facts on both sides of the question, all holding that these lands are not a part of the public domain and are not subject to pre-emption and homestead entry under the general land laws of the United States, but on the contrary that they are a part of the Indian Territory, that they are not unappropriated lands, but lands dedicated to specific purposes, yet it is to be regretted that repeated attempts have been made to make forcible entry and possession upon said lands.

It has become generally known throughout this country that this large tract of land, fertile, well watered, and with its mild climate, is unoccupied, and that it has continued in this idle condition since the treaties of 1866. It is therefore not surprising that a large class of hardy, industrious people, residing in more thickly settled States, are eager to acquire homesteads upon it.

The respectful petitions of many peaceable and law-abiding citizens from numerous localities throughout the country requesting that it be opened to settlement, no less than the threatened unlawful invasion of the land, have had the effect of inducing consideration of the subject by Congress, which, at its last session, enacted the following provision of law, viz:

That the President is hereby authorized to open negotiations with the Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees for the purpose of opening to settlement under the homestead laws the unassigned lands in said Indian Territory ceded by them respectively to the United States by the several treaties of August eleventh, eighteen hundred and sixtysix, March twenty-first, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and July nineteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; and for that purpose the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated; his action hereunder to be reported to Congress. (23 Stat., 384.)

This provision of law refers not only to the lands ceded by the Creeks and Seminoles referred to above, but also to lands ceded by the Cherokees, the status of which is considered herein under the title "The Cherokee Outlet."

The unlawful combinations above referred to have rendered it, in my judgment, unwise to appoint this commission. That which gives security to life and property is the spirit of law. Nothing is more dangerous, more fatal to rights of property and personal safety and

public order, than a spirit of lawlessness. The manifestations of the latter danger should be checked at all times, until the rule of law becomes the daily rule of conduct for our people.

The lands reserved for the accommodation of the Indians are undoubtedly much larger in extent than is needed for their wants and accommodation. There can be no harm in recognizing the gradual current slowly tending in the direction of civilized occupation and use of the Indian Territory, as the Indians themselves become consolidated upon fewer residential points; but rapacity and lawlessness will not abide the gradual and gentle method of change, and seek by violence and forcible invasion to displace law and treaty and the sense of obligation to both, and ride roughshod into possession of the lands of the Indian reservations. Will it not be a lesson-valuable there and valuable elsewhereto show to such transgressors that their way is hard, and that nothing will render the Indian occupation more permanent, or postpone the change in the use of these lands longer, than the attempts to invade and by force to obtain possession and enjoyment of them? The outlaws and depredators who imagine they can override the law and violate treaty obligations with the Indians will discover the impossibility of success when they find themselves confronted by the law of the land, strengthened by the civil and military arm, and backed by the moral sentiment of a just people.

PUBLIC LANDS.

During the last fiscal year the public lands disposed of and their pro ceeds, as shown by the report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, are as follows:

Public sales...

CASH SALES.

Private entries.

Pre-emption entries

Timber and stone land entries

Desert-land entries...

Mineral-land entries.

Coal land entries..

Town-site entries

Excess on homestead and other entries..

Abandoned military reservations

Total....

MISCELLANEous.

Homestead entries (original)

Timber culture entries (original).

Entries with military bounty land warrants.

Entries with agricultural college scrip.....

Entries with private land-claim scrip (Supreme Court).

Entries with Valentine scrip

Entries with Israel Dodge scrip...

Acres. 3,098.76

473, 023. 84 2, 311, 296. 71 139, 301.93 928,250.06

35, 215. 02 3,675, 19

60.34 17, 209.75 1,318.89

3,912, 450. 49

7,415,885.53

4,755, 005. 57 26, 833. 18

961.83 7,944. 37

400.00 477.88

In addition to the foregoing the following final entries, the areas of which have previously been reported in the original entries of the respective classes are appended:

Commuted homesteads (section 2301, Revised Statutes).

Commuted homesteads (act June 15, 1880)..

Final desert-land entries

Final homestead entries.

Final timber-culture entries

Total area previously reported

Acres.

929, 155, 53 198,288. 22 190, 984. 30 3,032, 679. 11

90, 300.66

4, 441, 407.82

In addition to the foregoing, and not included in the total areas of current sales, entries, and selections, are pre-emption, homestead, and miscellaneous filings, viz:

Pre-emption filings..

Miscellaneous filings

Total......

47,946

4,898

52, 844

The area of land embraced in these filings aggregates 8,000,000 acres.

The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office shows that the public surveys made during the year embrace the following

The total area of surveyed lands up to the 30th of June, 1885, is 969,469,347.50 acres. That unsurveyed is estimated at 845,360,390.50

acres.

ORIGIN AND EXTENT OF PUBLIC DOMAIN.

On the 10th of October, 1780, the Congress of the Confederation, by resolution, provided for the reception of lands to be ceded by the sev eral States to the United States, and for their disposition for the common benefit of the United States.

In pursuance of this resolution, as patriotic donations for the common good, cessions were made by several of the States to the United States, by which the western boundary of the nation was carried from the eastern line of Ohio to the Mississippi, including an area of 259,171,787

acres.

Thus on the 1st day of March, 1781, the public domain originated. On the 30th day of April, 1803, by the purchase of Louisiana from France the boundaries were carried to the Pacific Ocean and the mouth of the Mississippi. By subsequent purchases, the last of which was Alaska, the whole of the lands acquired reached an area of about 1,814,829,938 acres; 668,526,683.53 acres of this has already been sold and conveyed. About 176,000,000 acres more will be required to satisfy land grants to railroads and private land claims.

The Alaska purchase, which in the estimate represents 369,529,600 acres, is largely unexplored, and its actual area and capacities are comparatively unknown. If these be subtracted from the whole area, the residue of land subject to future disposal would be about 600,772,654.41 acres.

Excluding Alaska, about three-fifths of the public domain has passed out of the ownership of the Government. The remaining two-fifths embrace a very large proportion of desert and mountain lands, unfitted for habitation.