Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/307

 GROVER CLEVELAND 255 ances threatened to break out between the Chey- ennes and the Arapahoes in Indian territory, Gen. Sheridan, at the request of the president, visited that country in order to study the cause of the troubles. He reported that the threatened out break was the result of the occupation of Indian lands by cattle-owners who leased vast areas from the Indians at a merely nominal rental. The legal officers of the government decided that these leases were contrary to law and invalid. The president thereupon issued a proclamation warning all cattle companies and ranchmen to remove their herds from Indian territory within forty days, and en forced the order, notwithstanding their strenuous objection. In his message at the opening of the first session of the 49th congress on December 8, 1885, Presi dent Cleveland recommended increased appropri ations for the consular and diplomatic service, the abolition of duties on works of art, the reduction of the tariff on necessaries of life, the suspension of compulsory silver coinage, the improvement of the navy, the appointment of six general Indian commissioners, reform in the laws under which titles to the public lands are required from the gov ernment, more stringent laws for the suppression of polygamy in Utah, an act to prohibit the immi gration of Mormons, the extension of the principle of civil-service reform, and an increase in the sal-