The Tomahawk., 1919-03-06
What's Doing at WASH
ington.
Continued from 1st page.)

dams. Assistant Commissioner
Merritt joined with the Coffey gang
and told the Committee that Coffey
and his crowd were the real repre-.
sentatives of the Indians.
1t was as pretty a frame up to
protect the Iudian Bureau and pre-
vent the Committee from learning
the true facts as was ever attempt
ed. The object of the Indian b.
reau was to prevent Webster Bal
linger, the attorney for the Gener-
al Council, from laying bare be-
fore the Committee the maladmin-
istration of the Chippewa estate
by the Indian Bureau. Merritt
knew that if Ballinger was heard
fully that it would result in vir.
tually the destruction of the Indian
Bureau. He was fighting in the
last ditch. He had made Coffey
and his cohorts his allies. f. B..
Linnen, who submitted the recent
vicious and scandalous report to
the Secretary of the Interior in
which he DETAINED the character of
the good people of the Chippewa
tribe and attempted to cover up
and conceal the true facts by a
liberal application of the white
wash brush, was present in the
Committee. anxiety and appre-
hension being written all over his
face, for he knew that if BalliDger
was heard that he would lose his
Job. The Indian Bureau attaches
swarmed the Committee room and
pleaded with Senators not to per-
nit BalIipger to speak for the
Chippewa Indians, and not to hear
the representatives of the General
Council. The time of the commit
tee was very limited. 1t could not
afford extensive hearings: Almost
every Statement: made by Ballinger
during the few minutes accorded
him by the committee, by Edward
L. Rogers and John Carl, who
we're each given three minutes, was
denied by Coffey and his gang, and
the committee had no, time in
which to ascertain the facts. This
was precisely what the Indian Blu.
reau desired. As result the In
dian Bureau, with the aid of James
1. Coffey and his gang, prevented
the Chippewa Indians of Minneso
ia from having their matters heard
and considered in a proper way by
the Senate committee, and thus
cost the tribe a very large sum of
money by a possible continuance
for another year of existing con-
ditions.
Notwithstanding the opposition
of Coffey and his gang and of the
Indian Bureau, the legislative
committee succeeded in securing
some valuable reforms before the
Senate committee. These reforms
are as follows:
The item of $50, 900 for logging
and numbering on the Red Lake
Reservation was reduced to $40, 900,
a saving of $4,000. The commit
tee now has a limited knowledge
of che Red Lake situation and the
ownership of the reservation, by
all the Chippewa Indians of Min
nesota. The Department has been
proceeding for years on the theory
that the Red Lake Reservation be-
longed exclusively to the Red Lake
Band of Indians.
The legislative committee Sc.
cured an item in the Bill appro
priating $50, 900 of the trust fund
for the construction of houses for
those Indians whose homes were
destroyed by the recent fires. :
The legislative commission Sc
cured an appropriation Of $40, 900
for the construction of roads over
certain portions of the Indian
country 50 that the Indian allo,tees
could get their products to market.
BY its opposition the sppropria