On one occasion, for example, Congress passed a bill to sell to settlers about half a million acres of Indian land in Oklahoma at one and a half dollars an acre.

I refused to sign it, and turned the matter over to Leupp.

The bill was accordingly withdrawn, amended so as to safeguard the welfare of the Indians, and the minimum price raised to five dollars an acre.

Then I signed the bill.

We sold that land under sealed bids, and realized for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians more than four million dollars--three millions and a quarter more than they would have obtained if I had signed the bill in its original form.