Evening star., 1913-11-17
ALLEGATION Of FRAUD
UPON INDIAN minors
Bureau Head investigating
Conditions. in Affairs of
Five Civilized Tribes.

Inc serious state or Affairs which.
IL Is alleged. has resulted In the In
dian minors Of the Five Civilized Tribes
being feeced out of their property b.
inscriptions PERSONS condition
which Commissioner Sells OF the Indian
bureau has set out to correct-is pointed
out in the annual report on these
tribes In some cases. according TO
the report. judges have been lax in
the performance of their duties: IN
other cases jurisdiction has been
lodged in one county and the property
in the other making il difficult for the
courts to ascertain the facts necessary
to enable them TO properly safeguard
the interests Of the Indian minors.
Benefited by Cooperation.
Through the cooperation of field
clerks. according to the report. minor
Indians have been greatly benefited.
many hundreds of thousands of dollars
being saved TO them in collecting short
ages under guardian bonds and in
having improper charges disallowed.
Also a considerable acreage Of lands
fraudulently sold has been recovered.
Following the removal OF restrictions
from the lands of many of the Indian
minors. the report states. many parties
who sought to secure these lands either
controlled the appointment of the
guardian or conniyed with the guardian
to purchase the land at grossly made
quate prices. the difference between the
purchase price and the. actual price OF
the land being the profit realized by
the guardian and the purchaser.
Other Instances Cited.
In other instances parents who We're
appointed guardians of their children sold
their children's allotments and dissipated
the proceeds. This work discloses many
instances where parties desiring to lease
minor allotments secured the appointment
of themselves or employees as guardians.
and by so controlling the Ian gsought they
were able to profit TO a conside; able eN-
tent i'm subleasing lands. in some in
stances. for many times the amount paid.
Many of these leases provided for the i'm
provement of the land in lieu OF cash
rental None of the improvements were
made Many complaints lodged with the
field clerks are f.om unrestricted In
dians, who upon attaining their majority,
find that their allotments have been sold
and the funds dissipated BY the guar
t dian, leaving them penniless.'
| The efforts of the authorities TO better
| the conditions affecting the property OF
| Indian minors have been hampered to a
great extent by inadequate statutory pro-
oAeC pioSSooic, Sds tat ASPoiN oot. oiA
| the other hand, there seems to be a
| more united ef-ort on the part of the
| state officials to prevent the clouding OF
| restricted titles and the robbing Of minors
| and incompetents.
Results in Saving.
/ The combined efforts of the tribal at
| torneys, field clerks and the state officials
| to require a more strict accounting I'm re-
| gard to guardianship cases of funds
reaching the hands of guardians have
| been quite successful and have resulted
| in the saving of many thousands of dol
lars to the minors and incompetents.'
The rather bulky report is a compre-
| hensive review of the activities of these
richest Indians during the year. The
| work of allotting the lands up to date is
| shown. and the monetary activities OF the
! tribes are given I'm detail.