The Washington times., 1911-02-20
Vast Plan Rob Indians Charged Manpuao and Special Interests

| the law a provision that hereafter
Indian money shall be paid out ac-
cording to law.
Fee Claim to Congress,
"The CoIviIle Indians in Washington
had a claim for about $1,500,000
against the Government, because the
Government had taken lands right
fully belonging to the Indians. In
prosecuting this claim, various at
torneys were engaged. and they Sc
cured settlement. The lawyers
wanted about 20 per cent of the
amount, but the court of claims al
! lowed them only 100000. The law
yers disagreed about the division of
the fee, and 1t was tied up by legal
proceedings.
Finally the clever idea occurred to
! some of them, of getting Congress to
allow them, more, and so appeared a
claim for $4,000 additional fee. This
| provision to give an increased fee,
afte rthe lawyers had been given $C0.-
| 900, was put on in the Senate; the
! House conferees stood out against it,
| considering 1t an outrage. The ad-
ditional fee of course would have
come out of the money due to the
Indians under the old settlement for
| the disputed lands. 1t has been re-
garded by the House conferees as
simply taking that much money from
| the Indians and donating 1t to a group
of influential lawyers who happened
| to want it. The House leaders have
| insisted that they would rather let
the Indian bill fail, than see such
/ a project succeed.
This case illustrates the attitude of
these Indian lawyers toward their In
LaL clients. The average lawyer for
| Indians seems to regard his employ
| ment as an opportunity to get some
thing in the name of the Indian and
then keep just as much of 1t for him
helf as possible This grabbing for
huge fees is one of the most grievous
wrongs imposed on the Indians: The
Indians do not really choose their own
attorneys; the attorneys are practically
appointed for them, through favor and
manipulation. Fees amounting to three
quarters of a million dollars, in such
cases, have from time to time caused
protest in Congress, but in most cases
the lawyers get away with 1t.
Case of the Utes.
Let me tell briefly of the treatment OF
the Ute Indians on the big, rich Unitah
reservation in Utah. About 1904 a law
was passed to allOt these Indians indi-
Vidual holdings, and open the surplus
lands, after the Indians had all receiv-
ed allOtments. under the homestead
laws. Without surveying the entire res
ervation the allotment was made. Each
Indian got his 800 acres of land, but it
was allotted in such fashion that he
might be getting the bottom of a lake
or the top of a mountain. And then the
Indian was required to live on his allOt-
ment. He must support himself, too.
That being utterly impossible in many
cases, there was a serious outbreak of
the Indians. Starvation confronted
many of them, and they left the res
ervation looking for homes on the pub
lie domain. Troops had to be called
out; the Indians were rounded up and
taken by a fearful winter march to Fort
Meade, S. D. They were finally taken
back to the reservation; many had died,
and all had suffered fearfully. Now a
suit for SIS 900 is pending against the
Government on account of the tribe to
recover value of lands illegally taken
from them.
the Indian appropriation bill over
which the conferees are now deadlock
ed. The reminder is in a provision that
patents shall issue to hOmesteaders on
these same surplus Ute lands. who have
been unable to remain on the lands be-
cause of lack of water. on payment of
81 % per acre.
why do people want to get home
steads that have no water. and are not
irrigated? The presumption is that the
lands are valuable for minerals. If they
are mineral lands they are not subject
TO homestead entry. Who Is furnishing
the money to help these homesteaders
get and hold lands that they admit they
cannot farm because there is no water?