The Tomahawk., 1903-11-13
j JUDGE MORRIS
SURPRISED.

his name, in an interview with a
Duluth News Tribune reporter
last week, expressed surprise that
the act provides for the payment
of the expenses Of the cutting OF
the reservation pine timber from
the Indian fund, and he said:F i
can hardly credit it, but it the
word cutting appears in the bill
in the connection mentioned, it
was certainly an in-advertance and
no such thing was intended. 1t
was intended that the Indian fund
should stand the expenses only OF
estimating the pine, classification
of the landsand sealing OF the tim
Der for the Indians. The cost OF
cutting the pine would naturally
fall upon the purchasers, and In
dian Commissionr Jones is doing
the right thing. as INDICATED BY
the dispatch to the News Tribune,
in trying to carry out the spirit of
the law. If it is expressly stipu-
lated in the contracts that the pur-
chaser shall defray the expenses
incident to cutting the timber,
there will be no trouble. | have
a copy of the bill at hand. but |
can hardly believe that the word
cutting got into the bill in the
place described. In the absence
Of copy OF the bill, | assume that
the word has been discovered az
blamed. l am sorry that it is SO
but am glad that the commissioners
is finding way to overcome the
error and sell the pine as it was
intended it should be sold.
The attacks that are being made
|on the bill, however, are done with
a view of gaining time and to get
the Indian pine as cheaply as pos-
sible, The men who are engaged.
or who have employed others to
do it for them, are hoping to de-
feat the spirit Of the Morris bill
and get the Indian pine for less
than it is worth. They are selfish
and unscrupu!ous, and would de-
feat any bill possible that promises
to give the Indians approximately
what their property is worth.
Some of the opponents to the Nor
ris bill told me that they would
withdraw their opposition to the
measure if l would substitute open
bids for sealed bids. but that was
to my mind, vital feature of the
law for it promised to defeat the
plans on the partof the prospective
purchasers to effect a combine to
hold the bidding. down to a low
level.
1t seems a great pity to me that
t h Indians should have such
great difficulty in getting their
rights. / hope they will get them
under the Morris law, and if they
don't it won't be because / have
n O t tried to protect their in
terests."
This most remarkable admis-
sion by Judge Morris, and it is a
confederation of our suspicious
that the Morris act was drawn up
by some one who knows more
about logging operations than the
Judge, and who probably intend
ed just what the act provides in
connection with the expense Of
these operations.
If the Judge had really framed
the act or looked after it's provision
more closely than he evidently did
during the several times that he
reintroduced it in Congress, it
seems hardly probable that its
most important provision would
have escaped his notice as he now
claims it did.
The trouble is that the Judge,
who knows absolutely nothing
about logging and other opera
tions connected with numbering.
probably fell into the hands of a
certain clique which wishes to
shape Chippewa matters to its own
advantage, and which has not a
particle of regard for the Indian