The Tomahawk., 1917-04-05

ercise of his discretion, concluding
that the expenditure OF the Slo5,OOO
appropriated by Congress is necessary.
not for the benefit of the Chippewa
Indians, but for the benefit OF the
United States Indian service. 1t was
never the intention of the law makers
that statutory positions filled by Civil
Service employees and paid for out OF
the public funds should be made de-
pendent upon the discretion OF the
Secretary of the Interior. Nor was it
the intention of Congress to change the
positive existing law providing for the
payment of all United States employees
| appointed through the Civil Service
out of the public moneys and to divert
| trust funds of the Indians for the pur-
pose of paying the United States en-
| ployees.
1t is unquestionably within the
! power of the Secretary to use the in
| terest money as he may conclude will
most efficiently promote the interests
of the Indians in the maintenance OF
| a system Of free schools in their midst
and for their benefit, but the interest
money cannot be diverted or used for
! any other purpose, and the school sys-
| TEN thus created and maintained is a
| separate, special and distinct school
system, local to the Chippewa Reserva-
| ton in Minnesota and is not and can
not lawfully be made a part OF the
Indian school system of the nation
and covered within the Civil Service
| of the United States. 1t is likewise
unquestionably true that the Secretary
can use 100000 of the $185,0O0 for the
| payment of salaries of employees lin
| the Indian Service in Minnesota but
| the positions thus created are special
| and limited exclusively to the Chip
peWa Reservation and cannot lawfully
| be made part Of the general Indian
| service of the United States and
| brought within the. provisions of the
Civil Service law, which embraces the
entire Indian service Of the United
| States. The Indian Service in Mime
sofa is a separate and distinct service.
1t is separate and apart from the In
| dian service of the United States. It
was designed to augment and supple
the United States on the Chippewa
| Reservations. 1t cannot be brought
within and made part of the Civil
Service of the United States even with
express authority from Congress, I'M
less the employees, together with the
entire costs of administration are paid
out of the public moneys. Congress
has 10 power to pay the employees OF
the United States with. trust funds of
the Chippewa Indians. A novel stu
alton would arise if this were other
wise. A person appointed to a posi-
ton in this special local service paid
for out of the Chippewa funds would
be eligible to transfer to any other
position within the classified service
to be there paid out Of the public
funds, the Indian Bureau could, by al
lotting all the moneys appropriated by
Congress out of the public funds for
the payment of the Indian Service OF
| the United States to the other tribes,
as it is doing, augment and increase
that service by the use of the $1S5,O0O
appropriated and the $4,000 arising
from the interest fund, and thus in
crease the permanent Indian service
of the United States beyond that au-
thorized by law and use the vested
trust funds of an Indian tribe for the
maintenance of the services, thus de-
nying to the Chippewa Indians OF
Minnesota, their lawful share OF the
public moneys appropriated by Con-
gress and thus using their trust funds,
not for their special benefit, but for
the benefit of the entire Indian SER
| vice of the nation from which the
Chippewa Indians would derive only
| incidental benefits of no real value.
Such propositions are monstrous and
can find no support in our laws.
q. The Use of the Word "Permanent"
in the Act was Error.
With reference to the expenditure
of the $1S5,O00 and the interest aris-
| ing from the trust fund the provision
| contained in the Act approved May IL,
| 1916, provides
land that the said Chippewas shall
receive the preference in filling per.
manent positions in the service OF
the Chppewas of Minnesota where
the compensation is paid from their
tribal funds"
A service that is dependent for its
| existence upon the exercise by Con-
! gress from time to time" Of it's right
! to appropriate not to exceed five per
cent of the principal trust fund for
the support and maintenance of the
Chippewa Indians of Minnesota as au-
thorized by the proviso to Section Z
of the Act of 1889, supra, cannot be
permanent service. The service can
! only last during the existence of each
appropriation made by Congress
from time to time" No office can
be created that extends beyond the
life of each particular appropriation.
Therefore, the use of the word "per-
manent" in connection with positions
paid from the trust funds is mis-
homer.
S. Under the Treaties With and Laws