Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-04
The Presidents Direction to
Secretary Hitchcock.
PRACTICE TO CONTINUE
CONTRACTS WITH THE DENOMIN-
ATIoNAL SCHOOLS.
Passage Urged of the Lacey Bill, Au-
thorizing the Allotment Of Annui-
ties in Severalty.

President Roosevelt has sent a letter TO
Secretary Hitchcock on The subject of au-
thority for granting contracts for the edu-
cation of Indians in UNCONVENTIONAL schools.
The President says that inasmuch as the
legal authority exists to grant the request
Of the Indians, unquesiionabIy they are en-
titled by moral right 10 have Their moneys
used to educate the children at the schools
they choose. The President direc,s that the
Interior Department commune the practice
unless Congress directs otherwise or the
courts hold that the decision of the De-
partmcut of Justice 10 tbs effect is wrong
The President also urges the passage of the
Lacey bill, authorizing the allotment of an
nuitics in severalty 20 the Indians in the
same way as their land is allotted The
letter follows:
The Presidents Letter.
White House. Washington, D. c., Feb
ruary 3, 1905.
To the Secretary of the Interior:
Il have received from you tine letter of
the commissioner of Indian affairs of jan
uary II. 1905, in relation to the inquiries of
the Hon. James s. Sherman as to the au-
tiority for granting contracts for educa-
iion OF Indians In UNCONVENTIONAL schools.
This letter of the commiss- oner of Indian
affairs asks that the general questions
raised in Mr.. Shermans letter of January
~ be united with the special question
raised by the commissioner in his letter of
January 81 and presented to the President
for submission TO the Attorney General.
The letter of January u concerning
the payment of claim filed in the office of
Indian affairs in connection with the con-
tract with st. Labre's school on the Tongue
river reservation stands by itself and will
be submitted to the Attorney General for
his consideration and report.
AS regards the general question, 1 have
received from the Attorney General, under
date or February =, letter, a copy of
which is enclosed. Early in 1902 petitions
on behalf of various Catholic and Episco-
pal schools were brought TO my attention
by certain ecClesiastics and laymen, who re-
uuested the Interior Department to dis
tribute the rations and annuities through
the mission schools of their several
churches when the children were in the
care of those schools. The Attorney Gen
eral decided that this request Illegal
and could not properly be granted.
New Question Raised.
over Il year afterward the request was
made, originally on behalf OF certain Cath
ole schools in 1903, also on behalf of a
Lutheran school in 1904. that where there
were Indian moneys held in trust for the
Indians by the Secretary of the Int, ior,
the interest on these Indians moneys being
distributed among the individual Indians
or in such other ways as the Secretary of
the Interior might direct and where GER
tain Of the Indians petitioned that the mon
eys so distributed TO them should be used
Tor the support of the particular denomi-
rational school which they desired their
children to attend this petition should
be granted The question raised was. OF
course, wholly different from that original
~ raised on behalf OF the Episcopal Church
and of the Catholic Church. This new re-
quest was submitted to the Department
OF Justice, and the department declined, as
set forth in the ccompanying report that
the prohibition of the law to the use of
pubic moneys for sectarian schools did
not extend to moneys belonging to the In
dams themselves and not to the public, and
that these moneys belonging to the In
dams themselves might be applied in ac-
cordance with the desire of the Indians for
the support of the schools to which they
were sending their children, There was, in
my Judgment. no question that, inasmuch
as the legal authority existed to grant the
request of the Indians. they were entitled,
AS matter of moral right, to have the
moneys coming to them used for the edu-
cation OF their children at the schools of
their choice.
Practice to Continue.
Care must be taken, OF course. to see
that any petition by the Indians is genuine
and that the money appropriated for any
gwen school represents only the pro rata
proportion 10 which the Indians making the
Pc ution are entitled. But il these two con-
'h'!ons are fulfilled, Il is in my opinion lust
AKA right that the Indians themselves
s-vu!d have their wishes respected when
they request that their own money-uor the
money of the publ;c-be applied to the s1p-
port of certain schools to which they de-
sire to send their children. The practice
VIII be continued by the department un-
less Congress should decree to the contrary
or. OF course. unless the courts should de-
eide that the decision OF the Department
of Justice Is erroneous.
The Lacey Bill Urged.
ut is. however. greatly to be desired that
the bill introduced by Representative Lacey,
and providing for permission to allot these
annuities in severalty TO the Indians, exact
iy as Is now done with land, should be
enacted into law. Its enactment and adj
ministratiOn would prevent the raising of
any question of this character. for each in
diNidual Indian would then be left free to
use the money to which he Is entitled out
night on his own initiative, instead of hay-
ing IL used for him by the Secretary of the
Interior in consequence of his petition L
earnestly hope that Congress will at once
enact this bill into law.
The special case of the st. Labre's school
stands by itself. the question being whether
The contract entered into is one authorized
by the hnding of the Department of Justice
IN January, 1904, or whether ii is one Of
those cases forbidden under the decision of
the Department of Justice of January, 1902
The Attorney General will speedily report
the category in which this case comes
THEODORE ROOSEVELT"