The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1919-04-24

ment to be paid in the month Of Oct0-
Der of the year following that in which
the payment of the three hundred
thousand dollars is made; and all
moneys received after the expiration
of said fifteen years shall be appor-
toned in like manner among said In
dians and paid to them on the first
day of October in each year" T..
The exact amount received from the
sale. of said lands is unknown to the
representatives" of the General Coun-
Gil More than one million dollars,
however, were received and the money
has all been paid out to the less than
! 1,4OO Indians residing on the Red Lake
Reservation who have received In prln-
cipal and interest upwards of $1,000
per head. This property and the pro-
ceeds derived therefrom did not be-
long to the Red Lake Band, but the
members of that band had only an
undivided interest therein equal to
that of all other members of the Chip
pewa Tribe. r. a...... .-s-@ 2 a. =
The 256,152 acres disposed of under
the act of 1904 constituted the best
lands for allotment purposes on the
Red Lake Reservation. They had
been coded to the United States under
the agreement of 1889. There were
nearly three times as much land as
was necessary to make allotments to
each and every Indian residing on
the Red Lake Reservation. The money
has been paid out and spent and the
Indians have received no substantial
benefits therefrom. The proceeds de.
rived therefrom should have been
placed in the principal fund in the
Treasury of the United States to the
credit of the Chippewa Indians of
Minnesota where they would have
borne interest at the rate of per
centum per annum. 1872,
! The Remedy. .. ..,.
The United States Is clearly liable
for and should pay to all members of
the Chippewa tribe of Minnesota who
did not participate in said payments
an amount equal to the shares they
were entitled to receive therein, to-
gether with interest thereon from the
date the money was receivd. That
all of the members of the Chippewa
tribe were entitled to share in these
payments, cannot be seriously denied.
AS the agreement of 1889 provided that
as the property was sold the proceeds
were to be placed in the Treasury of
the United States to the credit of all
the Chippewa Indians in Minnesota,
and bear interest at the rate of 5 per
centum per annum, those who did not
receive the payments are entitled to
interest thereon until the payments
are made. The amount necessary to
make the payments to all the other
| Chippewas should be ascertained by
the Department and Congress re-
quested to made the appropriation.
(e) BY the Act of May IS, 1916, an
Attempt Was Made to Repeal the Act
of 1889, and the Cessions Made There.
under and to Confer the Absolute Own
ership of the Red Lake Reservation
on the Red Lake Band, to Prevent
Allotments Being Made to the Mem
bers of the Red Lake Band and to
Continue the Old Tribal Conditions.
An attempt had been made in the
agreement negotiated by the Depart
ment with the Red Lake Indians in
1902 to confer the absolute ownership
of the entire reservation on the Red
Lake Band This is found in the 4th
article of that. agreement which was
as follows: u
! "Article w. It is further agreed
that the said Indians belonging on said
Red Lake Indian Reservation, Mime
sofa, shall possess their diminished
Reservation Independent of all other
bands of the Chippewa tribe of In.
dams and shall be entitled to allot-
ments thereon of one hundred and six
ty 16O) acres each, of either agricul-
tural or pine land, the different class
of land to be apportioned as equitably
as possible among the allottees."
| Congress had refused to ratify that
agreement and the scheme had partial
ly failed. . 1t succeeded only to the ex-
tent that Congress authorized, evil
IDENTIFY without knowledge of the
facts, the payment of the entire pro.
ceeds derived from the sale of the
256, 152 acres of land to the Red Lake
Indians to the exclusion of all the
other Chippewa Indians entitled to
participate therein. This attempt was
renewed in 1906 when the Indian Blu
reau prepared, and the Department
approved, draft Of a. provision that
was included in the Indian Appropria-
ton Bill approved May Is, 1916 GO
Stat, 1872, 1879. This provision err
roneously declared on its face that It
was 49,. ISL. y-E
Ito carry into effect the Act entitled
AN Act for the relief and civilization
of the Chippewa Indians in the State
Of Minnesota, approved January four
teen, eighteen hundred and eighty.
nine.'" u
As matter of fact, It undertook to
repeal the act of 1889 and the cessions
made Hereunder, to change the title
to the property by divesting the Chip
pewa Indians of Minnesota of their
ownership of the property on the Red
Lake Reservation and attempted to