The Tomahawk., 1918-02-07
Der of the Legislative Committee
to Mr.. Morrison which, was prompt.

to Mr.. Morrison which was prompt.
ly accepted and his successor APP
pointed, as will more particularly
appear from annexed copy of the
appointment of his successor. =
At the General Cauncil held in
July. 1917, James I. Coffey intro
duced the following resolution,
known as Resolution No. Z: -
1T Is HEREBY RESOLVED,
that every band of Indiana residing
upon the various Chippewa 1ndia,.
Reservations in Minnesota is fully
represented, concerning oil tribal
matters at the General Council of
the Chippewa Indians of Minnesos
ia, that full power is hereby con.
fered, by and every delegation
representing the various reserva-
tons in Minnesota, to the General
Council to represent each and all
of said reservations before the De-
partment of the Interior, and BE-
fore the Congress of the United
States, in all matters relating to
and concerning tribal affairs, and
that said General Council shall be
recognized as the duly and only
representative body of all the Chip
pewa Indian reservations in Mime
sofa in tribal affairs, by the De-
partment of the Interior and the
Congress of the United States At
Washington. D. G." -
Thus under a resolution proposed
by Coffey: and adopted by the Gen.
eral Council be is deprived of any
authority 10 speak for the Chippe-
wa Indians in any capacity, as he
has no authority from the General
Council. He is no longer member
of our delegation and is remaining
at Washington in his individual
capacity solely for the purpose of
preventing us, 81 far . he can,
from accomplishing anything for
the relief OF our people. i:
At the. hearing last night, before
you M: Coffey entered . vigorous
protest against sections 2 and 4 of
H. r. S84l. This bill was drawn
in strict conformity with our views
us set out in our letter to you dated
January 2, 1918, and which letter
was duly approved paragraph by
paragraph by James l. Cofey be-
fore it was delivered to you. He
accompanied our delegation to your
office and was personally present
when said letter was handed you
and made no objections.
Section 2 is designed and intend
ed to recover from the Govern
ment compensation for all property
of the Chippewa Indians that has
been illegally taken by the United
States. This includes large tracts
of land coded by the Chippewa IT,
dams to the United States in trust
under the agreement of 1889 to be
sold and disposed of and the net
proceeds placed in the Trearury Of
the United States to the credit of
the Chippewa Indians which nave
been taken by, the United States,
10 violation of the terms of the
cession, and without any consider
alton whatever to the Chippewas
and given to the State of Minneso-
ia for forest reserve purposes or
as swamp and over flowed land; it
also includes lands improperly TAX
en- by the United States and locked
up in forest reserves 10 violation
of the terms of our agreement &c.
casioning losses to our people ag-
gregating millions of dollars.
James 1. Coffey has either ignor-
antly or for the purpose of decep.
ton written to many of our people
telling them that this section turn
ed over all our property to the
limited States and inyol> ed Us in
some gigantic law suit which would
cost the Chippewa indians the
greater portion of the amount they
would recover At the bearing last
nigat it was conceded that our
right to the property thus taken
could only be determined by the
Court of Claims and that that was
the proper tribunal to determine