The Fight for the Indemnity Belt

A dispatch published Monday regarding the restoration of the indemnity belt to the public domain will serve to warm the hearts of many settlers. For years, the settler has been looking with wistful eyes into the large tracts of land held for the enrichment of a corporation whose stockholders were living in brown stone fronts on the Atlantic board. It is remarkable that in a free government there should be such an arrogant authority that could come along and say to a man that he had no rights the corporation was bound to respect. In this Territory, the same arrogant authority has for fifteen years been asserting the power of eminent domain over the homes of innocent settlers, who have been instructed that they held only at the will and pleasure of this authority. At the last election, the issue was squarely made and popular rights triumphed. The restoration of the indemnity belt to the public domain is a victory for the independent voters of this Territory. Within ten days, much of this land can be taken by preemption or timber culture entry. The Northern Pacific has filed for over 400,000 acres in this Territory, but it cannot show a loss of 12,000 acres to justify these claims. To people living in the indemnity belt, the advice is to be in readiness to assert Government right upon the land parties desire to hold.