The Tomahawk., 1919-04-24

mating and disposition Of the timber.
At least one of the men responsible
for this fraud committed suicide fear
ing criminal prosecution :. -
Il :. The Remedy.
This is one of the claims that should
be referred to the Court of Claims
for determination The Indians are
entitled to recover from the United
States the value of all pine timber on
lands enormously classified as agri-
cultural lands. If an early reference
of this claim can be obtained tho
evidence will be available. The ma
.jority of the entrymen who entered
the land classed as agricultural sold
the timber rights thereon to the lum-
Der companies of Minnesota, and. a
complete record of the timber cut
from each 40 acre tract is still avail
able. While the evidence is obtain
able the claim should be referred to
the court for determination. The loss
or destruction of the evidence will
prevent the prosecution OF the. claim.
Cd The Agricultural Lands Have
Not Been Paid For. II. . &yas@:,, s.
Section OF the act of January IA,
1885, provided for the disposition of
the agricultural lands under the home
stead law, the homesteader to pay
therefor $1.25 per acre in five equal
annual payments. BY the act of May
II, 1900 (31 Stat, 179), the settlers
were relieved of the obligation of pay
ing the purchase price Of $1.25 per
acre for the land homesteaded and not
commuted which was assumed by the
. United States. The act provided that
the purchase price should be paid out
of the proceeds derived from the sale
of public lands. The Chippewa In
dams claim that the United States is
in arrear in it's payments for the agri-
cultural lands entered under the act
of January IA, 1889. To what extent
the payments have not been made can
only be ascertained by an accounting.
=, The Remedy. ,z.-.s -
An accounting should be had and
all moneys due the Indians, together
with interest thereon from the date
the money should have been paid,
should be deposited In the Treasury
of the United. States to the credit of
all the Chippewa Indians of Mime.
sofa. "<# II FL,
(m) Indians Who Have Not Re-
ceived Allotments.
In addition to the Indians residing
on the Red Lake Reservation there
are some who are apparently entitled
to allotments who have never received
them. Their applications have been
Il on file with the Department for years.
There is no sufficient authority of law
under which the Department can con-
slider and determine these claims.
The work of preparing the allotment
rolls was confided exclusively by the
act of January II, 1889, to the COM
mission appointed Hereunder. The
rolls were closed on July, FL, 1900, and
the commission went out of existence
that year, and since then there has
been no authority vested by law in
the Department to add a single name
thereto. .sG 81
r H. The Remedy. B.. ~.
Congressional authorization should
be obtained under which the Depart
ment can adiudicate and determine
all pending claims to enrolment and
allotment so that equal justice may
be done as far as possible to all per-
sons entitled to share in this estate.
(n) Other Claims. =
There are number of other claims
of less magnitude which should be
referred to the Court of Claims under
a general jurisdictional bill, which it
is deemed unnecessary to here set out
in detail. The jurisdictional bill
should be drawn sufficiently broad to
include all valid claims. ~
~ (o) The Preparation of Competent
and Incompetent Rolls and the Final
Disposition of the Estate. &.
Thirty years have now elapsed since
the agreements of 1889 were entered
into and today there are no rolls in
existence showing the competent and
the incompetent Indians. This is not
shown by the original census rolls
made under the act Of January IA,
1889. Since then Congress, upon the
recommendation Of the Department,
by the act of March I, 1907 GA Stat,
1034), removed the restrictions upon
the allotments of all adult mixed
bloods allotted on the White Earth
Reservation then of age and as they
thereafter became OF age. That &C.
ton was prematurely taken. There
were no rolls in existence showing who
were full-bloods and who were mixed
bloods. This resulted In great con-
fusion and interminable litigation,
loss to the Indians and serious i'm
pairment of property value, as but
few purchasers Of land on the White
Earth Reservation under that act knew
for years whether he had good title
to the land he had bought. Six years
later Congress included a provision
in the Indian Appropriation Bill ap-
proved June 30, 1913 (3S Stat, Ss),