TIVE MANSION, _February 28, 1895_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 8681, entitled "An act
authorizing the Arkansas Northwestern Railway Company to construct and
operate a railway through the Indian Territory, and for other purposes."

The contemplated route of this railway, so far as it is disclosed in the
bill, would run from a point in the southwestern corner of the State of
Missouri, across the northeastern corner of the Indian Territory, to
a point in the southeastern part of the State of Kansas. This route
necessarily runs through the lands of the Cherokee Indians or through
the small reservations of the Quapaws, the Peorias, the Ottawas, the
Wyandottes, and the Senecas.

There is no provision in the bill requiring the consent of the Indians
whose lands are to be thus traversed.

There is no provision requiring the entire line to be located and
approved by the Secretary of the Interior before the work of building
is commenced.

The bill provides for compensation to individual occupants or allottees
by a process of appraisal by referees, with the right of appeal to the
district court held at Fort Smith, in the State of Arkansas.

In the case of allotted land or land held in individual occupancy by
the Indians great care should be exercised in interfering with their
holdings. Their land is given them for cultivation and with a view of
making them self-supporting and industrious citizens. If their land is
invaded and cut up by railroads, the purpose of allotment is in danger
of being defeated. Money compensation is of but little use to them, and
no amount can compensate for the disturbance in the cultivation of their
lands and their consequent discontent and discouragement.

These considerations, it seems to me, emphasize the necessity of the
exact location of the entire line of the contemplated railroad and such
control over it by the Secretary of the Interior as will enable him to
avoid as much as possible interference with individual Indian occupants
and other difficulties.

This supervision and regulation of the line can be done with much more
safety and effectiveness in considering the entire line than it can be
done in sections of 25 miles each, as is provided in the bill.

The United States circuit and district courts for the districts of
Kansas and the district of Arkansas and such other courts as may
be authorized by Congress are given concurre