The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-08-07
SENATOR GORE
j REGRETS ACTION
(Contiaued from page One.)

curtain. known as 'the governor"
sCuatted himself In a chair before the
committee and. brushing the flies off
his head with a large handks rchter,
gave his testimony. a long time
ago. he said, many of the ChOctaWs
protested against the big fees that
would be allowed aader the MeMur-
ray contracts j, myself, sent a pro-
; test 10 the secretary Of the interior.
Just before the adjournment % the
last Congress, George w. Scott came
20 my house and asked me 10 sign
letter. i refused 10 do so. Then ne
came again and told me he wanted
me 10 write a letter 10 the secretary
OF the interior Withdrawing my pro-
test against the McMurray contracts
~When 1 said / would not do that,
Pc said he was authorized 10 agree 10
give me One-fOurth of the profits II
did. Yes he said, we are going TO
get a 10 per cent fee out of il. and you
viii get oue-fOurth of the tenth. Now,
You sign the letter and il viii be a
great bargain. 1 absolutely refused
70 do it, and he went away"
"A good many of your tribe did sign
the contracts with McMurray, dldn
they?" asked Congressman c.. b. Mil
Ter.
Losing Faith ia Government.
yes. they did that because they are
losing an faith in the government.
They have lost all faith in government
officials and IN their tribal officials,
too. It's because they have been given
60 many promises and the promises
have not been kept. The government
promised il would sell the land and
distribute the profits in 1906. 1t has
not done so yet. The Indians are be-
coming disheartened over the govern
ment's promises. and that's why they
signed the contracts. They thought
Il would be better 10 get some of the
money than none at an
"Are they in a hurry 10 get money!
Yes. they certainly are. They need
g. They are poor, for they have been
living on promises for 50 long
why 40 you Indians have so many
lawyers
because we want 10 get the
money
"Can you estimate how much your
tribe has paid out in attorneys fees
IN the last ten years.
Our tribe in that time has paid out
about $500. 0OO.'
Among the developments Of today
were:
Denial by senator Curtis.
Senator Curtis told of having been
summoned TO the White House TO dis
cuss with President Taft and vice
President sherman the merits or inc
McAiurray contracts. President Taft
had expressed the belief that the 10
per cent fee was too high, and his
visitor agreed with him This. the
senator thought sufficiently retuted
the imputatiOn that he was interest
ed" in The land deal. The senator
knew McMurray for years, and had
never known of his attempts 10 m
1luence legislation
Senator Curtis also testified that he
also knew of no animOsity existing be-
tween himself ana Senator Gore, eN-
eept that Mr. Gore had remarked that
Curtis was meddling too much in Ok
lahoma affairs by fair means and by
foul
Congressman G. l.. Creager OF Ok
lahOma attacked the testimony preVi-
Ously given by HamOn, whom he ac-
cused OF having suggested that he
might obtain an interest" in the con-
tracts. This HamOn denied. HamOn
had asserted that before the confer
ence at Washington Creager had called
him up on the telephone and made the
appointment. Creager. in a long cir
cumstantial narrative Of riding on
street ears. meeting at a restaurant
and going TO the Occidental hotel, en-
phatieally declared that Hamon had