Omaha daily bee., 1897-01-04
INDIANS AND FREE HoMEsTEADs.
senator PIntt VIII Present n Minority
Report on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3.-Senator Platt will
on Tuesday present the minority report of
the senate committee on Indian affairs in
opposition to the free homestead" bill which
heads the senate calendar. The report op-
poses the bill on the general grounds of the
vast expense its adoption would entail upon
the government Commencing with the year
1889, he says the government has purchased
33, ,252 $40 acres of land from the Indians,
agreeing to pay $25, ,261, ,937 Tor it, besides
SO 900 900 set apart as a trust fund for the
benefit of the Indians of the great Sioux
reservation.
"If." says the report, "all the land already
opened to settlement upon Indian reserva-
tions heretofore ceded shall be taken up, the
sum to be paid therefor by the settlers will
be $35, ,S53 006S6. This bill proposes to re-
lease the settlers from the payment of this
sum"
The report calls attention to the fact that
IL provided in tho acts bearing upon
those settlements with the different tribes Of
Indians that settlers should pay sufficient for
the lands to reimburse the government for
money paid the Indians.
Several million acres of land are embraced
Tho bill as 1t passed the house applied only
to lands in Oklahoma but by the amend
ments made by the senate committee the
provisions OF the bill are extended to all
ceded lands. the amount being more than
three times that contemplated in the bill as
it passed the house.
All lands on Indian reservations thus
opened for settlement have been paid for
By the government before the opening OF the
same except In the case of the Cherokee out
let, where payment was to be made in in
stallments and the sum OF 81 $780, 900 still re-
mains unpaid, and in the case of the Great
Sioux, Chippewa and Colville reservations,
where the Indians are TO be paid as the gov
ernment shall receive the money from set
tiers upon disposal of the lands. Another
amendment proposed to the bill in effect re-
quires that the government shall, upon re-
leasing the settlers from payment of their
obligations, pay the Indians for these lands
the sum per acre which by law is now to be
paid by the settlers.
If" says the report "this amendment
should be adopted and the bill pass the gov
ernment would be called upon to pay in the
future, including the amount net yet due on
the Cherokee outlet purchase, sum approx
imatlng S15,O0O,OO
The report Gala attention to the fact that
negotiations are pending for the acquisition
OF otner Indian lands which are being con-
Quoted upon the policy that the government
shall be reimbursed for its outlays.
Referring TO the origin OF the bill, Senator
Plat SAYS in his report: The excitement
which proceeded the opening OF lands in Okla
homa will be still remembered, as viii the
mad rush scarcely controlled by government
authorities TO secure these lands upon the
well understood condition Of payment for the
same in addition to compliance with the pro-
vision OF the homestead laws. In every ap-
peal mcde tG congress for the opening OF the
lands OF thcsc reservations the argument
that the government ought not to be put to
the large oNpcNse Ot payments for the re
llnguishmcnt OF their tltio was answered By
these who advocated AMI insisted upon the
passage Of bills for that purpose by saying
that II was understood the government
should be reimbursed by the settlers"
Continuing, he argues, 1T Is probaHl
not too much to say that not one of the
agreements mado with the Indians eedinR
,hor lands would have been ratified and not
an act opening them for settlement would
have been passed II II had not been thor
oughly Understood and agreed that the set
Tiers upon these lands should reimburse the
government for the amount expended by It
10 obtain them. The obligation OF the settler
20 pay the government the price stipulated
Is as definite, we'll understood and binding
as the obligations OF any government debtor
While We do not question the policy OF our
hOmestea laws. we insist that IN relation to