Evening star., 1926-03-09
WORK IS ASSA|LED
ON INDIAN POLICIES
Popular Government League
Urges Abolition of Bureau.
Land Bill Opposed.

uf their oil, gas and coal lands in ex-
giving them over to cspitalistic in
terests-a policy similar to that which
caused the resignation of Secretary
Fall. his predecessor, 1t was charged
last night by speakers at the forum
OF the National Popular Government
League at the La Fayette Hotel.
Those who assailed the policy, charg-
ing IL to be part of a gigantic con-
spiracy" TO extend the spells system.
were Senator Wheeler of Montana.
Frear of Wisconsin,
Rabbi Stephen g. Wise. John Collier,
executive secretary of the American
Indian Defense Association; Represent
ative Rainey of Illinois and Senator
Frazier of North Dakota.
Speakers called for the abolition of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the
Department Of the Interior. which.
they said. had failed to protect the
rights of the India ns," and which was
supporting a bill pending in Congress-
which would deprive the Indians OF
their oil gas and coal lands, place the
entire tax on royalties for products or
these fields on the Indians and divest
them entirely Of any title to $4,000, 900
acres of executive order reservations.
Attacks Denounced.
A heated debate developed when two
supporters Of the bureaus policy and
Mrs. Margaret Hopkins Worrell. an
attorney in the probate division of the
Indian office. denounced the attacks
made on the bureau and the Interior
Department, and protested that their
policies were legal and that the In
dians had been treated justly.
Mr. Frear predicted that Congress
would not pass his bill providing for
placing the tax upon the royalties
from Indian oil snds equally upon
Indians and white operators. instead
of solely upon the royalties received
by the India ms. as ia proposed. he said
in the Bratton- Brumm bill now pend
Ing I'm Congress. Tiis hill will fail,
Mr. Frear declared. because Commis-
soner of Indian Affairs Charles II.
Burke and Secretary of Interior Work
were opposed to it.
Mr.. Frear assailed bureau off1cials,
who, he said. were permitting In
dams to be robbed of their lands
and their civil rights as American
citizens. He said that under the
present system Indians have not the
privilege OF other American citizens
of taking to Federal or state courts
their complaints. They are forced.
on the contrary, he explained. to tell
their grievances to quasilegal bodies
of the BMeau of Indian Affairs.
from which there is no appeal He
declared the Pima Indians were he
ing starved to death for lack Of an
irrigation dam. construction of which
is opposed by the Bureau OF Indian
Affairs. Indians are American cit
liens. he pointed out, but yet under
the present system, their wills may
be set aside by bureau ofncials and
their estates disposed of as bureau
officials see fit: they may be impris-
oned. often shackled in irons for
days at a time. for minor misdemea n.
Ors: and have not even the sacred
American right of trial by jury.
Rabbi Wise Attacks Policy.
Rabbi Wise. who spoke as men,
Der Of Secretary Works advisory
committee of 100 on Indian affairs,
dema nded the abolition Of the bureau.
scored "bureaucracy" and placed
the ultimate responsibility on Presi-
dent Coolidge for not speaking out
against the injustices. he said. were
being done to the Indians.
1T is the system that is at fault.
he declared. Il do not put the blame
on Commissioner Burke or Secre-
tary Work. They are the victims
Of A vicious system of omnipotent hu-
reaucracy, a system that has given
a small group the right OF permanent.
interchangeable irrevokable guardian
shin over the life. liberty and property
of other Americans. What else could
he expected when a bureau Is gwen
absolute authority over masses OF
people"
The only solution. he shouted. is
abolition of the bureau and the grant
ing of civil rights. including that OF
trial by jury and that OF suit in State
and Federal courts. equal to those
now enjoyed by white American citi-
Zens.
Urges Observance Of Rights.
Speaking against the Leavitt bill
s,,nported by the Indian Bureau.
which. he said would give bureau
agents the power to Jail Indians for
six months without warrant. trial or
legal cause. DR. Wise said. II lift my
voice against the proposed legislation
because 1t is A denial Of fundamental
rights. that sanctity OF status which
must in truth become the portion of
the Indian people whom we nave 100
long wronged
III the American people knew the
situation they would rise to the sup
port of the F'rear bill. which seeks 70
establish Indian citizenship Adequately
Two inio uitous schemes are before the
CONGRESS. one to conhscste Indian
propertv. the other to repeal Indian
citizenship. They must be defeated
as unjust and unrighteous aito-
gether."
Senator Wheeler traced the treaties
with Indians and the reservations
set aside by executive order. THESE
Ia at. which constitute the great ma
iority of Indian n lands. come under the
hin now pending. which would dfvest
the Indians of their title in them, ne
exnlained. Bureau officials now are
attempting to do by legislative enact
ment what Secretary Fall attempted
TO do nv his construction OF the la"
senator Wheeler declared.
Treaties Violated. He Says.
.In treaties which we entered into.
sunnosedly in good faith. we promised
to educate them and to treat them az
anv guardian should treat his ward
hut. Instead of that, this great GOV
ernment Of ours has shown no more
respect for It's treaties with the In
1ians than did the German kaiser Tor
the treaty agreements concerning Eel
rium. BY acts OF Congress we have
broken every provision Of those trea-
Ties and the Supreme Court Of the
United States has upheld us in so do.
ing. The moneys which we held ana
collected for the Indians to he hello In
trust we have expended for the white
man. in violation. as | see IL. OF our
trust relationship" the Senator de-
clared.
Mr.. Collier told of many individual
cases, which. she said. illustrated in
justices being done. Describing "hor-
rible" health conditions among the
Pima Indians. he said their life ex-
pectancy Ia now but II years.
NJ. A. Battigan. Washington at
torney, defended the bureau. and Dan