EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 7, 1886_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I return without approval Senate bill No. 2281, entitled "An act
granting to railroads the right of way through the Indian reservation in
northern Montana."
The reservation referred to stretches across the extreme northern
part of Montana Territory, with British America for its northern
boundary. It contains an area of over 30,000 square miles. It is
dedicated to Indian occupancy by treaty of October 17, 1855, and act of
Congress of April 15, 1874. No railroads are within immediate approach
to its boundaries, and only one, as shown on recent maps, is under
construction in the neighborhood leading in its direction. The
surrounding country is sparsely settled, and I have been unable to
ascertain that the necessities of commerce or any public exigencies
demand this legislation, which would affect so seriously the rights and
interests of the Indians occupying the reservation.
The bill is in the nature of a general right of way for railroads
through this Indian reservation. The Indian occupants have not given
their consent to it, neither have they been consulted regarding it, nor
is there any provision in it for securing their consent or agreement to
the location or construction of railroads upon their lands. No routes
are described, and no general directions on which the line of any
railroad will be constructed are given.
No particular organized railway company engaged in constructing a
railroad toward the reservation and ready or desirous to build its road
through the Indian lands to meet the needs and requirements of trade
and commerce is named. The bill gives the right to any railroad in the
country, duly organized under the laws of any Territory, of any State,
or of the United States, except those of the District of Columbia, to
enter this Indian country, prospect for routes of travel, survey them,
and construct routes of travel wherever it may please, with no check
save possible disapproval by the Secretary of the Interior of its maps
of location, and no limitation upon its acts except such rules and
regulations as he may prescribe.
This power vested in the Secretary of the Interior might itself be
improvidently exercised and subject to abuse.
No limit of time is fixed within which the construction of railroads
should begin or be completed. Without such limitations speculating
corporations would be enabled to seek out and secure the right of way
over the natural and most feasible routes, with no present intention of
constructing railroads along such lines, but with the view of holding
their advantageous easements for disposal at some future time to some
other corporation for a valuable consideration. In this way the
construction of needed railroad facilities in that country could be
hereafter greatly obstructed and retarded.
If the United States must exercise its right of eminent domain over the
Indian Territories for the general welfare of the whole country, it
should be done cautiously, with due regard for the interests of the
Indians, and to no greater extent than the exigencies of the public
service require.
Bills tending somewhat in the direction of this general character of
legislation, affecting the rights of the Indians reserved to them by
treaty stipulations, have been presented to me during the present
session of Congress. They have received my reluctant approval, though
I am by no means certain that a mistake has not been made in passing
such laws without providing for the consent to such grants by the
Indian occupants and otherwise more closely guarding their rights and
interests; and I hoped that each of those bills as it received my
approval would be the last of the kind presented. They, however,
designated particular railroad companies, laid down general routes over
which the respective roads should be constructed through the Indian
lands, and specified their direction and termini, so that I was enabled
to reasonably satisfy myself that the exigencies of the public service
and the interests of commerce probably demanded the construction of the
roads, and that by their construction and operation the Indians would
not be too seriously affected.
The bill now before me is much more general in its terms than those
which have preceded it. It is a new and wide departure from the general
tenor of legislation affecting Indian reservations. It ignores the right
of the Indians to be consulted as to the disposition of their lands,
opens wide the door to any railroad corporation to do what, under the
treaty covering the greater portion of the reservation, is reserved to
the United States alone; it gives the right to enter upon Indian lands
to a class of corporations carrying with them many individuals not known
for any scrupulous regard for the interest or welfare of the Indians;
it invites a general invasion of the Indian country, and brings into
contact and intercourse with the Indians a class of whites and others
who are independent of the orders, regulations, and control of the
resident agents.
Corporations operating railroads through Indian lands are strongly
tempted to infringe at will upon the reserved rights and the property of
Indians, and thus are apt to become so arbitrary in their dealings and
domineering in their conduct toward them that the Indians become
disquieted, often threatening outbreaks and periling the lives of
frontier settlers and others.
I am impressed with the belief that the bill under consideration does
not sufficiently guard against an invasion of the rights and a
disturbance of the peace and quiet of the Indians on the reservation
mentioned; nor am I satisfied that the legislation proposed is demanded
by any exigency of the public welfare.