The Tomahawk., 1917-04-05

nositicns paid froll their trust fIncs
A competent Indian, just as coMpets1''
as any white person., can be fouha ~!
every position paid from the trloal
trust funds. Many of the Indians
have sought these positions. lhcre
has never been question ra!seu DIS
to their ability and competency. Yet
thew are denied solely because the po-
sitions paid from their trust tunds
have been illegally placed under the
Civil Service and the Indian can only
be appointed to a position when va
cancy occurs, which contingency
seldom, if ever, arises except When
the Civil Service employee is called
hence by command of his creator, and
then the vacancy is usually filled by
the transfer of some stranger from
some other reservation, thus creating
a vacancy elsewhere to be hlled by
white man. Occasionally, once or
twice a year, the Indians are rewarded
by appointing one Of their members
cook, or chambermaid. How faithful
ly the Government officers have kept
the treaty pledges and conformed TO
the directions of Congress is found
in the fact that today there is not five
per cent of the employees paid from
the trust funds who are Indians, ana
yet this service has been running
on since 1889. Such administration is
neither fair nor honest in its treat
ment of the Indians, and against It's
,fn,s a r
vigorous protest.
6. What the Chippewa Indians OF
Minnesota Claim as Right Un-
der the Law and Insist Upon.
The Chippewa Indians of Minnesota
assert that under the law,
(a) The Civil Service Commission
has no jurisdiction over any employee
on the Chippewa Reservation in Min
nesota whose salary is paid from the
trust funds of the Chippewa Indians.
90 That the Secretary of the In
terror has no lawful authority to pay
the salary Of any person in the regu-
lar Indian service of the United States
out of the trust funds of the Chip
peWa Indians.
Co That the Secretary of the In
terror and the Civil Service Commits
sion have no lawful authority to in
clude the special Indian service pure
ly local to the Chippewa Reservation
in Minnesota and paid for out of the
trust funds of the Chippewa Indians,
in the classified Indian service of the
United States and make it a part
thereof.
(d) That the Secretary of the In
terror has no lawful authority to use
the trust funds of the Chippewa In
dians for the support of the general IN
dian service Of the United States,
which embraces all the Indians under
the control of the Secretary, and that
such use of their funds is a palpable
violation of law.
(e) That such employees as are
properly within the regular classified
service of the United States and
assigned to duty on the Chippewa
Reservation in Minnesota should be
paid out of the Public money appropri-
ated by Congress for the support of
the Indian service of the United States
and that the payment OF any such en-
ployee out of the trust funds of the
Chippewa Indians is wrongful use
of their trust funds and is violation
of law.
(f) That in filling all positions i'm
the special local service of the Chip
pewa Indians of Minnesota paid for
out of this trust funds, the Indians,
when competent, are entitled under
the law to preference in the appoint
ments.
The Chippewa Indians of Minnesota
insist that they are entitled to this
as a matter of right under law, and
trust that the department will see fit
to correct the abuses hereinbefore
complained of and thus secure to the
Chippewa Indians their lawful rights.
Respectfully submitted,
WEBSTER BALLINGER,
Attorney for the Chippewa Indians of
Minnesota.