The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-04-05
LO! The Poor Indian
Washington Post)


 One of the strangest opinions to be handed down by the Supreme Court in recent years read from the bench recently Justice Reed spoke for the court although his opinion reflected the views of only three of the courts nine members. Justices Jackson and Black teetered the fence through four pages of a concurring opinion leaning heavily toward support of the Shoshone Indians claims and then Tipping to the courts conclusion against them Justices Frankfurter and Murphy joined Justice Douglas in his dissent and then Justice Murphy wrote long dissent of his own, apparently to show that he douby repeled by the majority's conclusion Justice Reynolds dis sented without writing opinion. f.
 It was an old treaty with the Northwest bands of Shoshone Indians signed at Box Elder, Utah, in 1863 that produced this five-way split The court was called upon to determine whether that treaty recog nized title on the part of the Indians to Is million of land in the Western States The Indians were seeking damages amounting to Is million dollars for loss of those lands To find the meaning of an 82- year-old treaty with nomadic tribes who kept no records and did not understand the English language was admittedly difficult task We have good deal of sympathy with the contention of Justices Jackson and Black that the court could not satisfactorily apply legal technique to the interpretation of such docu- ment.
 The white man had ruthlessly encroached upon the Indians hunting lands and killed off their game Let destitute the natives began to prey upon of white pioneers moving westward. United States troops reduced the Indians to submission. Then treaty signed granting the whites transit rights over Indian lands and in return giving supplies and recognizing their claim" to vast tracts of lands To be sure, the language of the treaty suggests that something less than title to the land in language was intended. But the Indians had word or even the concept of legal title They wanted only the right to roam the lands and hunt their ancestors had done for centuries. That right of course has been taken from them.
 Because of the great advantage of the learned white dctatng terms to the illiterate conquered natives the Supreme Court has heretofore resolved antiquities in such treaties in favor of the Indians Five justices made vigorous pleas for similar treat ment of the conquered aborigines in this case. But Justices Jackson and Black addressed their appeals to Congress. Even if the court had found in favor of the ShoShones they pointed out the only effect would have been to allow for attorney fees and to earmark the balance of the recovered fund in the Treasury for future appropriation in the interest of health education and industrial advancement of the Indians In these circumstances they felt that Congress should take the whole problem of aiding these peoples whom we have despoiled
 By casting their other way the two pivotal justices would have effectively dumped the problem into the lap of Congress AS matters stand they have merely handed down essay on the Governments moral responsibility We hope that Congress will heed their advice but we not convinced that the court has done its full duty to right the wrongs inflicted on this minority. Incidentally, these opinions, re- yeang as they do the shameful conduct of the master race in America toward conquered peoples, will make good reading for those critics who think that full justice in all parts of the world must be condition precedent to joining international organization to keep the peace.