The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-08-19
IS HOLDING BACK
REAL TRUMP CARD
Unpublished Report of Expert
on Indian Affairs in Chair
mans Hands
MANY CORRUPTIONS
ARE POINTED OUT
Shows How Red Men Were Be
ing Used by Others
for Personal
Gain.

trump cara, unplayed, It was learne8 ~
to-day, Is in the hands of Chairman 4
Charles Henry Burke (RepubIican.
South Dakota4s of the House commits
tee now investigating the Senator G0re u
which involve in a general
way lands worth hundreds of millions
of dollars.
This card is sensational unpuplisl- @
ed report made by an expert Of this n
Department, ]. w. Howelis "
upon conditions surrounding the mak-
ing up OF the citizenship rolls. OF the sS
five civilized tribes. There 10 great
interest among those on the inside II
as TO whether Burke will ever play the
trump.
The report was made after per-
sonal investigation of methods. OBJ III
tanning in Oklahoma for admitting ~
citizens the Indians of the five tribeA Il
making them participants in the great
land Jack pot the remainder Off,
which some- day Is to be divided afuUHg 4
them. and the methods OF those al
ready admitted, and their counsel, to
keep the others out"
Howell was called at last session az
Congress before the House Committees
on Indian Affairs to tell of these facks
a
sion," and Howelfs testimony was not Il
made public. The full report mad1
by Howell to James r. GARFIELD, then
Secretary OF the interior upon this
subject was laid before the committeo
at that time.
Ridiculous IanlitaaOns.
Howell. 1t was learned to-day, AS-
serted that ridiculous limitations, u
to time, were placed on the Dawes
r<r,Y tee ~ to
dian claims, This rendered an ado.
Quate consideration or each Indtan
case impossible. He showed how Con~8
gress further legislatsd to restrict the
membership Of the rolls. and gavN t4s
- hearsay that a member OF tho
Dawes commissaon. Arohibald Mc1ESn-
hon, recommended the passage ok tisos
law restricting the mem bership. He
Ayerred further that Congress COM
PEELED the commission to base ~ d.
cisiop upon the tribal rolls to the a.
cluaiQa Of all tha United States gov-
ernment rolls. when the oomminnfon
Itself had reported. according to How
oil. that these tribal rolls were befn9
used Is football far Jurisdiction and
personal reasops' by the tribal Au-
thorittes,
Howell produced evidence OF ma
grant cases the utter disregard Of the
Fights Of the Indian claimants for cfti.
senshtp, Seven hundred aud foFty~
az worthy OF admission. or at least
further investigation.
he preSontod to the committee In
formation confirming the activity -
Mansfield. McMurray 4 Cornish, tho
Oklahoma attorneys involved In the
Gore -chAraasT In heepin8 the rum
closed against a. many Indians a. poa.
sible,
Got , Per Gent,
They entered into a coutin9en3
Contract" said Howell, Eat 3 fee 81
2 per cent Of the total value OF each
allotment, which they might defeat,
That contract was predioated on the
theory that m allotment war worth
$4,000, have heard it stated that
they would have received about tl.s
500, 900 on that contract II they hads
received the full amount. The cttf@
xanship court allotted them S760,Qo0.s
As an evidence OF the manner III
which the cases were handled. Hovelf
testified;
I'VE have made calculations to ana
out just how mach time tho Dawsa
commission really had tunder the aot
Of 1880 In which to take up sach casa
and we find that for each person there
was less than one minute
A second act passed In 1898 uerrnit.
ted the Dawes commission - 01inat@
nate persons wrongly enrolled. but dtd
not permit the addition OF persora
wrongly excluded. This Was the s.ra.s
stgjcttve'' act. .ss
It was about this time that Mans
field, McMurray and Cornish were srs-
ployad by the Choctaw and Chicka~
saw nations to eliminate" and a..
crease the roll.
Act oS 1900.
Then came the act Of 1909. reports
ed to have been recommended BY onns
of the Dawes commissioners Th56s
act made perfect for jurisdfctiOna1
purposes, the imperfect and defectfxS1
rolls. made by careless and corruu1
tribunal officials. which rolls were III.
sparingly condemned by the DaweS%
commission In its early reports.
Apropos OF the seemingly jncunairfxa
ency OF these rolls by the Dawes cona~S
mittee and the reported recomnuendnra
ton alleged TO have been made Ia<G&g
by Mckennon In favor Of using thsf
as basis for decisions, Howell Stafe
to the House committee that he NSs
of the impression that the per1onu41
OF the commission had been chnn0S&$
somewhat between the periods ~ co.,
domination and recommendation IA
Next, came the act sf l90s. FKi1tef&
limited the time for the Ming Of r34fs
zenship applications and wiped 4.o0&&
names Off the rolis. M
1t Is firmly believed here that 1xnSslS51
ellis investigation made at TINA whMi
no one was on the defensive. produco1
many facts unobtainable at this uM50>S
Before the House COMMITTEES How
ell testified:
Il filed my report with Gari30<
March 3, 1909, and he went ont
office March 4. He did not take az
action. but wrote letter stating th1
| I had filed my report. and fhAf
would be on file In the departSnG
subject to the inspection OF the Co..
mittee at any time they wished "a o.
it, SSS
1t ID known that since then r
OF the report waA Put IN 8u4
| hands. At the interior Depaxtn4
II filed ~ "conddsnt1al.s an& I'll
available to The public, s|3