Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1913-01-18
Discrimination Against the Csage Indians in Favor of
 Standard Oil Charged.
UP TO COMM I T T F E
seven Members of the OSagc National Council Removed Without
 Cause.

Washington, Jan. l1.-C Charges that Secretary of the lntcr.or Fisher is using his office 10 ,aelp the Standard Oil Company get oil leases in Okla- homa worth millions of dollars. dis CT minating against he independent oil companies and hndcring the Osage Indians getting a fair price for their holdings, are now on file with the House Committee on Indian Ar ia IFS. and the committee Mill holI q meeting tomorrow morning to deter mine whe ther a thorough probe will 1 be ordered.
 T3e charges were flied at a uibal council of the Indians and endorsed by the members of tae tribe. 1t is charged:
 That on January ?, 1912, without notice and wi bout any opportunity to be heard or tho'dt Eelng advised that any charges were preferred against them, seven members of the Osage National Council were r9mov- ed from office by order of the Sec- retary of the Interior, which action on the part of the interior department we charge was for tae purpose of in timidating and coercing the Osage TT be of Indians into executing the kind and character of oil and gas leases desired by the Secretary of the Interior, regardless of whether they met with the approval of the Osage tribe of Indians or not, and o persons to whom the secretary seems over anxious to deliver oil and gas leases.
 ''The bidding was not a fair com retit on and considering the choice and selsct land being obtained the bonus and royalty offered was wholly inadequate and unfair to the tribe, by reason of which fact the Osage trlb- al council rejected said bids.
 "That the principal bid for ga d leases was the Gypsy Oil Company, which is general known and recig- nized to be the producing branch of the Gulf Pine Line Com 2any. Tine Secretary of the Interior seemed de- sirous of having the b ds of Ehis company approved, that on the day said bids were opened telegram Wal sent from the Department, commend ing them in .he very highest terms.
 ''In addition to this the Department officials at Pawhuska caused to be circulated among members of tho tr be a petition asking the council to approve of said bids which peti- ton was not understood by the sign CTS, but which was circulated only in the interest of the Gypsy Oil Company and in conformity with the des res ot the Secretary of The Interior to in duce the Osage Tribal Council tC leasV to that company without sui ficient consid d|eratit0n tire very best II and gas lands.
 We charge that the secretary o the interior is using the power con ferred upon him by the above section to coerce the Osage Tribe of Indian:
 into executing the kind and charac
 ter of oil and gas leases he desirei and to persons whom he favors. "We desire further to say that thf ' funds of the tribe are being Squand cred and misused; that much none. z is be ng used in the running and thel ' gaining of the Osage agency, nor 1 than is necessary; that the same i \ being appropriated by the Secretar ' of the Interior without first obtain ' ing the requisit on of the Osage Fri X bal Council, contrary to law and with \ out the council being advised as { ' the money so used and expended o
 of the purpose for which it it eS \ pended"
 1 The land in question amounts
 more than 100000 acres in the yves Z half of Osage county, Oklahoma. Tn < Standard Ol Company has paid th z Indians 3S cents barrel for the 0 : and sihie Independents offered
 cents a barrel.