The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1912-04-16

different sessions of congress by Con-
gresham Eddy, but failed to get con.
sideration until Mr.. Steensrson took
hold of it soon after his first election.
The honor of the United States was
pledged to the Indians to pass the
Stevenson act" giving them the ad-
ditional eighty acres. That promise
was the consideration for the ratiflca-
ton of the Nelson act, under which
more than 1000 900 acres Of land was
coded, and no one can justly criticise
congress for enacting the law, but q
great deal of criticism can be laid
against the administration of it by the
department..
Administration Of steenerson Act
The commissioner Of Indian affairs
now admits that these provisions Of
the act were so violated that there
are four or five hundred Indians en-
titled to additional allotments who
cannot receive them because there is
not enough land togo around. There
was ample authority in the department
to cut down the additional allotments
to forty acres of agricultural land.
and they could have reserved from
allotments all the pine timber for the
common benefit of the tribe; but they
saw fit to so administer the act that
the valuable timber was not only un-
equally disposed of, but four or five
hundred Indians entitled to additional
allotments were left without POSSIBLE
ity of securing even part Of the same.
The Allotment Incident.
In recognition Of Mr.. Steensrson's
services the Indians held a council
and elected him member of the
tribe. They also decided he could
have an allotment on the reservation,
and the old chief wanted to give him
his own allotment. Mr.. Stevenson re-
fused at the time, in the presence and
within the hearing of thousands who
had gathered to witness the ceremo-
MES, but later he was visited by a
delegation of Indians who explained
that a refusal to accept the gift
would be regarded, according to In
dian usages, as an insult to the tribe,
and he consented to sign an applica-
ton on the condition that II anything
came of it he would return the value
of it to the tribe by establishing a hos
pital, or in some similar way. The
Indian council proceedings proposing
the enrolment of Mr.. STEVENSON were
certified by the Indian agent to the
secretary of the interior and he held
that the White Earth band alone
could not authorize the enrolment,
but that it required the favorable &C.
ton of all the Chippewa bands of Min
nesota, and as soon as Mr.. Stevenson
was notified of this he requested that
his application for allotment be with
drawn and nothing more was done
with it. The facts in regard to this
episode were extensively published in
the newspapers throughout the district
at the time and were referred to in
Mr.. Steenerson's official biography.
Mr. Stevenson has been elected to
congress three times since and the
whole matter was forgotten by nearly
everyone until now resurrected for po-
litical purposes. This Is all there is
to the allotment matter The news
paper reports of the Graham investi-
cation have sought to create wrong
impression by insinuation and infer
ence, SO that many good people got
the idea that Congressman Steener-
SON received an allotment and sold It
for $4,000, and 1t Is proper that they
should be set right on that point, for
the insinuation is utterly unfounded.
or course Mr.. Steenerson's political
opponents will question his sincerity
in stating what he expected to do
with the allotment II he got It.
That is politics.
But Mr.. Stevenson has record Of
thirty years of honorable dealings with
the people OF Northwestern Minneso-
ia that will not be forgotten; dealings
that will stand the test. Thirty years
during which he has fought for the
laborer, for the farmer, and the small
business man, as against the more
powerful railroad and other corpora
tons: and he has fought for the
rights Of the Indians against tho
bureaucrats at Washington, who are
eating up the Indians funds. in the
same way that be fought for the lusn-
berjack ana the Iaborer.as q attorney.