Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-04-04
INDIAN DEPRECIATION CLAIMS.
Information Which Affects Thousands
of Citizens.

Every dismissed Iudlan depreciation
case, il just, should be paid, and VIII
be, for "where there is right, there Il
a remedy"
Under the act of the 3d OF March,
1S01-the Indian depreciation act
the supreme court, on the I'd of March,
1895, holds "that the clause lin amlty
with the United States is not the
equivalent of treaty relations. That
the statute means a state of actual
peace at the time of the depreciation,
and a taking or destruction OF prop
erty in time of Indian hostilities,
even though treaty Of peace was ac-
tually existing, ,deprived the court OF
claims Of jurisdiction.
This decision shows the disinclina-
tion of congress to pass laws to main
tain the rights of the pioneer who
staked his all to defend the outposts
of settlement. The court is not to
blame for this defective, misleading
and unjust law, which 1t is TO inter-
pret. The families whose husbands
and fathers have been killed, the
daughters and wives violated, get
nothing at all under the law, hence 1t
is as little as could be expected that
for devastated homes and property
they should get something.
Under this act, If sufficient num-
ber of Indians brandish the toma-
hawk and scalping-knife and massacre
the settlers, 1t is war, and under the
law a sufficient number Is free pass
port to every Indian engaged in 1t to
steal, burn and devastate without
costing him or the tribe one cent!
mark the distinction ! When at war,
they are not liable for destruction OF
property. In other words, when they
massacre the settlers wholesale, they
are not in "amity," and are given all
the plunder they may take as boun-
ty for their devastation
The effect of the law is to brlbe or
pay them with free plunder to become
butchers and devastators, and the
settler is held responsible by the laws
If he attempts to get private redress
or revenge. This is a sample of the
Justice meted out to those who eX-
tended our civilization they are now
deserted by the government for which
they gave their lives and fortunes, in
many cases, to defend; the govern
ment telling the settlers that the In
dians would be held TO their treaty
promises to pay for the depredations.
Could the murdered settlers but rise
from their graves they would behold
how the government they fought for
has deserted their families left to its
care; whose deplorable desertion has
rendered them truly pitiable. Yet
the government is now congratulated
by the economists upon the amount
which this decision saves.
If the government had acted as n
faithful trustee for the claimants
there never would have been any
necessity for the passage Of the depre-
dation law; for spoils of war in the
shape of lands were taken at differ
ent times from the Indians for the
avowed purpose TO llquidate these
depredations, although this was not
In letter set forth In the treaties.
Now to pay for the property of the
pioneers, the government in every
Indian war levied tributes in the
shape Of lands as price of peace,
thus taking an empire, as IT, were, at
sundry times, all over the west and
southwest, out Of which lands il was
understood by both Indians and set
lers that just claims would be liqui-
dated. But after getting possession
of these lands the government now
repudiates its solemn agreement to
pay for the depredations, because, IT.
said "the Indians were not in amity."
Thus retaining, through this tricky
subterfuge, the price of the settlers
lost property, in lands, and now, after
a half century, persist in continuing
to keep these claimants out of their
part of the proceeds OF these lands Tor
their money yaluel which the In
dians believed and the settlers under
stood were taken to pay the losses the
whites sustained in the war. If not
taken to pay them, then what were
the lands taken for ?
1t may safely be said that congress,
In the near future, in the general ad.
Vancement of intelligence, cannot
avoid holding with Wheaton and
other advanced writer's on interna-
tlenal law, that il is utterly impos-
siole for Indian wards or minors to
become belligerent while being
chastised for their raids; or, in other
words, the United States cannot be in
an actual legal state of war with
wards; then, II the Indian tribe
could not lawfully become belliger-
ehtS, they must be considered as
always having been in amity with
NNana