Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-30

May 6.
 THE POETAEATOMIES AND UTES The harassing Indian question comes to tn front again through the action of forty-on Pottawatomie Indians who have addressed al appeal to the House Committee on Indian Af
 fairs, asking for an investigation of certain
 specific charges sworn to by them. Thes,
 Indians hold their lands in severalty, and have
 not the power of alienating them, yet they
 charge that they have been despoiled of then
 by forged deeds; that by means of fraudu-
 lent letters of administration a combination
 of thieves high in position have collected their
 (the IndiansO annuities and other moneys
 from the Government; that administrations
 have been taken out on their estates as if
 they were dead, their funds collected and
 ''swindlers, standing security one for another,
 have Equandered them ;" that guardians have
 been appointed for their children while they
 (the parents) were still alive that an appeal
 was made to the late Commissioner of Indian
 Affairs, but he refused to redress their wrongs.
 And the petitioners further say that the con :
 duct of the Commissioner was so unreasonable and suspicious that it is their deliberate jude-
 ment that he was member of the gang that despoiled them. They now appeal 'from corrupt officers to Congress, the great foun- tain of public justice" The prayer of these petitioners should be granted, and 1t should be shown how their lands, which are inalienable under the. treaty made with them, have been useful also in showing the weakness of the allotment plan, in favor of which so much has been said.
 The experience of the Pottawatomies in holding Cor rather not holding) lands in sever alty will doubtless be used as an argument against the ratification of Secretary Schurz' agreement with the Utes, to which there seems to be much opposition. The Colorado delegation, as is well known, were never friendly to the bill embodying the Secretary's plan, because it does not in specific terms provide for the entire exclusion of the Utes from the State. The negotiations with the Utes were carried on by Secretary Schurz without conferring with the Colorado delega- tion or with the. Indian committees of the two houses of Congress. When the result was known the Colorado men were angry because WAN SSSASthAy much, and now the Indian committee of the House is out of humor because he conceded too little. Governor Pound, a member of the committee from Wisconsin, and who might be supposed to represent the moderate West ern idea as to what should be the government policy toward the Utes, says there is a decided opposition to the bill in the committee. The from New Mexico and Utah are opposed, as matter of course, to any ar which will thrust so unwelcone an element of population as these Ute Indians upon their territories. There is strong sen- timent in the committee that the Utes as there is sufficient arabls land there for their subsistence. There is also, he says, feeling of dissatisfaction at the methods em- ployed by Secretary Schurz in bringing about this negotiation, which, it is claimed, was all together too much in the nature of star chamber proceeding, and may not, therefore, reflect the wishes of the Indians on tho sub ject of their removal. More than this, the agree to take lands in severalty traversss ground which the committee is considering and concerning which legislation is now pend ing in the shape of one or more bills on the calendar. This being the state of the case, the Ute branch of the Indian problem does not seem at all sure of speedy solution, which Is diseouraeing