Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1885 — President Cleveland’s Proclamation. [ARTICLE]

President Cleveland’s Proclamation.

Says the Indianapolis Sentinel-' “This administration has shown that it will be a terror to illegal trespassers upon Indian reservations anA the public c omain. Following closely upon the heels of his refusal to grant the cattle kings longer time for leaving the Indian Territory with their herds,the President has issued a proclamation giving notice to land-grabbers that they must “git.” After reviewing in detail the complaints of wouldbe settlers of Government lands against the cattle kings and land sharks who unlawfully occupy millions of acres of Uncle Sam’s real estate, the President says: “Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do hereby order and direct that aiy and every unlawful inclosure of the public lands, maintained by any person, association or corporation, be immediately removed, and I do hereby forbid any person, association or corporation from preventing or obstructing by means of such inclosures, or by force, threats or intimidation, any person entitled thereto from peaceably entering upon and establishing a settlement or residence upon any part of such public land which is subject to entry and settlement under the laws of the United States, and I command and require each and every officer of the United States upon whom the duty is legally devolved, to cause this order to be obeyed, and all the provisions of the act of Congress herein mentioned to be faithfully enforced.”

“This means business. It means that the wire fences must go; the cowboys with their intimidation must go; the fencing in of stock ■water must go. It plainly indicates that our President intends reform complete and effectual in ridding the public domain of the sharks who have extended their dominion and power over vast stretches of territory, excluding therefrom actual settlers, who can be the only authorized homesteaders and purchasers of such lands. Under the ‘ast and preceding Republican administrations wealthy syndicates absorbed Western lands by species of excuse and fraud so glaringly wrong that the the attention of the Interior Department was frequently called to it. But instead of trying to suppress illegal occupation, the Arthur administration closed its eyes to complaints, slyly winking the while to the powerful monopolists who flourished under this quasi-acqui-esence by ex-Secretary Teller and his subordinates in their outrageous land-grabbing schemes. While Secretary Lamar and his Commissioners have been quietly unearthing such frauds as the Louisiana Backbone steal, the unwarranted opening up of the Winnebago Reservation to settlement, the illegal leasing of lands in the Indian Territory, the outrageous occupation of the public domain by wealthy individuals and companies, and applying the proper remedies for undoing these wrongs, the Republican press have been engaged in the small business of criticising Mr. Lamar for having lowered the Interior Department flag to half mast on the occasion of exSecretary Thompson’s death, and in calling him absent minded. Verily the organs are hard run for ammunition. The are being rapidly forced to the wall by the exposures of their party’s crookedness, and as there is no excuse nor palliation for the grievous wrongs practiced by Republican officials for over a score of years they are placed in the humiliating po ition of making their ffght on personalities or engaging in the contemptible business of trying to uphold

the rascal in their stealing and plundering methods. I' is a purifying process the Democratic administration has begun and is executing. Thieves who have fattened off the public crib and pastured on government lands for twenty-four years are told that they must go. There are no extenuating circumstances for them to plead availingly as excuse for longer stay. Presi lent Cleveland’s firmness is as invincible as his purpose is wise and judicious. The people commend and will uphold him in his rigid determination to purify every branch of the public service, nor can their attenti n be diverted from the good work really being done at Washington by any such cry as “stop thief” or other false alarm raised by the organs in orer to turn public attention from Republican rascalities. If the mills of the gods grind a little slowly, the grist turned out is large. Such a stirring up as affairs are getting in the Indian and Land Bureaus was sadly needed and shows that the drawers in those pieces of Government furniture were full of nastiness and corruption which had been accumulating for ages. The overhauling will be complete and healthful.”