and surrender title to the United States to be held in trust for
the group. The land would, of course, become tax-exempt. The money
needed for such purchase might be contributed in part through the
generosity of several members of the Siouan Tribe and in part by the
Indians who are to benefit from the project. The Indians chosen for
the project would then adopt a suitable constitution and bylaws and
receive a charter. The group might be designated as the "Siouan
Indian Community of Lumber River." It would participate, along with
other Indian groups, in the benefits of the Tribal Credit Fund, estab-
lished under section 10 of the Wheeler-Howard Act. In the case of
these Indians the fund could be used to finance the purchase of seed
and agricultural machinery and the improvement of the land. Further-
more, cooperative marketing, the establishment of a cooperative store,
and possibly a cooperative dairy, might be financed by means of such
credits. Such activities would make the project useful, as well as
educational, to the entire Siouan Tribe.

Such a project, begun on a fairly small scale, would naturally
tend to expand in membership and area if the cooperative endeavors
undertaken should prove successful. Provision for the adoption of
new members and the acquisition of further lands should be included
in the constitution of the group.

In general, I think that some such plan as that above sketched,
resting entirely on a voluntary basis and requiring no initial out-
lay by the United States, would prove suitable for many other non-
reservation groups of Indians, and possibly for some reservation
groups that are "reservation" in name only.

(Signed) Felix S. Cohen,
Assistant Solicitor.

2

COPY

Comnr.

JC

April 11, 1935.

Mr. Joseph Brooks
Debate of the Sicuan Indians
of North Carolina
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Brooks:

I attach a memorandum from the Assistant Solicitor, Mr.
Cohen, and I think this will rather fully answer the question
you are raising.

MH

Attached: Memorandum of April 8, re status of Siouan Indians
under the Wheeler-Howard Act.

REFER IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING:

ADDRESS ONLY THE
COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

Research
and
Planning
1651-35
WCR

UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS
WASHINGTON

April 12, 1935.

Memorandum to Mr. Cohen:

On April 3, you furnished a memorandum for Mr. Joseph Brooks in answer to an inquiry from representatives of the Indians living in Robeson and adjoining counties in North Carolina. I am here putting together, for the record, a few statements with regard to this interesting and decidedly worth-while group of Indians.

(1) According to the census, there are approximately 8,000 persons of some Indian blood living in Robeson and adjoining counties, North Carolina.

(2) This group has been referred to in the past as "Croatan". They have been recognized by the State for many years as "Cherokee". A separate school system is maintained for them by State funds, including a state teachers college of two years beyond high school.

(3) Dr. Swanton, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, says that these Indians are not Cherokee but in reality belong to the Siouan stock. According to Dr. Swanton, while there are several groups from which the present Robeson county Indians might be descended, it is most appropriate to call them "Cheraws of the Siouan stock".

(4) Those of us from the Washington Office -- Mr. Thompson, Miss Holton, and I -- who have visited in the region from which these Indians come, have been very much impressed with the earnestness and thrift of the group, and, I think without exception people in the Washington Office have been favorably impressed with the ability of Mr. Brooks and his knowledge of his people.

(5) The only promises so far made by the Office with regard to this group have had to do with education. We have several times said we would consider applications for further training on the part of members of the group and put aside this year a small amount of money for this purpose.

(6) There seems to be a small section of this North Carolina group who insist upon being regarded as Cherokees. These are supposed to be the educated members of the group but I am obliged to say for

UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR
WASHINGTON

June 4, 1955.

Memorandum to Commissioner Collier:

I am sure you will not think it amiss if I offer a comment on
your kind note about the Eastern Cherokee constitution.

I have, as you know, from the start, opposed the idea of sending out canned constitutions from Washington. My lengthy memorandum to you of November 19 and your letter to tribal councils and constitutional outline dated March 6 make it clear that constitutions must be worked out in the first place by the Indians in the field. (I mention this only because your note indicates that my attitude on this point has been misunderstood.) I think it would be very unfortunate to lay before the Sioux tribes, for instance, a model constitution prepared by a group of superintendents (with my help) in Washington.

I do think, however, that when Indians have laboriously worked
out constitutional plans of government and land tenure (as has
happened at Eastern Cherokees, Fort Belknap, and Western Shoshone)
the Indian Office ought to pass upon the proposed plan and advise
whoever conducts further negotiations with the Indians exactly how
much of it is acceptable, from the viewpoint of law and policy, and
what mechanisms will be necessary to put the plan into effect.
Unless this is done, there is no point in resuming discussions with
the Indians. It was to deal with these practical situations that
I helped draft constitutional provisions and bylaws for Eastern
Cherokees, Fort Belknap, and Western Shoshone. You will find that
very little of what has been drafted for these jurisdictions has
originated in Washington.

I do expect that it will be invaluable, in working with the
Eastern Cherokees, to have the benefit of the views on law and policy
already expressed by you, by Mr. Woshlke, and by Mr. Margold and my
associates in this office. But of course, I do not expect to use
these documents as more than officially acceptable starting points
of discussion; where the discussion will lead the Indians will
decide.

Similarly, at Fort Belknap and at Western Shoshone, where the
Indians themselves, without much help from any whites, have worked

out important ideas on land and self-government. I do not think
any one ought to be asked to represent the Department in further
negotiations without some word from you as to how far these ideas
meet with administrative policy standards.

To my legal mind, it seemed that the easiest way to learn this,
for these two reservations, was to draft specific provisions which
embodied the Indians' ideas and to have you look over these provisions
and point out anything objectionable in them.

Possibly I was wrong in presenting the question in these legal
terms. I did think, originally, that a general statement of policy
on the various issues involved in constitutional organization would
be preferable, and actually submitted a first draft towards such
a statement.

Whether your decisions on matter of organization policy should
be expressly generally or in comment upon particular provisions for
particular reservations, you alone can say. But I do think that on
reservations where specific questions of law and policy have been
raised, it would be a waste of precious time for me or any one else
to hold further conferences with the Indians unless we are advised
what specific answers we may give to questions uppermost in Indian
minds.

I have been asked by Mr. Jennings to go to Fort Belknap next week,
and have made plans to do this, but I would suggest that this trip
had better be canceled if you are unable, in the next few days, to
give consideration to the land provisions worked out for this
reservation (first by the Indians, then by Mrs. Wolpley and myself,
and finally by Messrs. Planery, Shipe, Stewart, Reeves, Jennings
and the Sioux superintendents).

Likewise, I thought it would be well to resume discussions at
Western Shoshone, which have been allowed to lapse without office
reply to the Indian proposals for more than a year, and I suggested
to Mr. Jennings that if you were able to look over the papers on
Western Shoshone before I left for Fort Belknap, I could go to
Western Shoshone from Fort Belknap, with some saving of time and
money.

Assistant Solicitor.

CC Mr. Jennings
Mr. Daiker.

LAND DIVISION,
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,

May 7, 1936.

COPY TO:

Mr. Zimmerman. Mr. Herrick.
Mr. Cohen, Solicitor's Office Mr. Harper.
Mr. Daiker. Mr. Dodd.
Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Crosthwait.
Mr. Critchfield. Extension Division.
Dr. Cooley. Organization Division.

Note: The original of this memorandum, with copies attached, was sent to Mr. Collier.

J. M. STEWART,
Director of Lands.

L-Sub

May 1, 1956

MEMORANDUM TO: Mr. Stewart.

Pursuant to your verbal instructions I accompanied Mr. Joseph Brooks, Representative of the Siouan Indians of North Carolina, to the office of Dr. Carl Taylor, Director of the Rural Resettlement Division, Resettlement Administration, for a conference at 3 p.m. April 30.

I introduced Mr. Brooks to Dr. Taylor as "the representative of a large group of people in Robeson County, North Carolina, who found themselves direly in need of assistance from the Federal Government and it appeared that the Rural Resettlement Division was the only agency at the present time that might be able to render appropriate assistance, inasmuch as the group in question had no recognized standing for consideration as Indians or for recognition and assistance under any of the laws which permit the extension of assistance to recognized Indians, both individual and organizational".

Mr. Brooks then stated to Dr. Taylor that they were very anxious to make of the Resettlement community at Pembroke, North Carolina, a strictly Indian community, composed of Indians of half blood or more. Mr. Brooks stated that it was his opinion that there were at least five hundred such families within the cosmopolitan group of so-called Indians residing in Robeson County.

Dr. Taylor stated to Mr. Brooks that under the law governing the setting up of Resettlement Administration Projects similar to that at Pembroke, North Carolina, there could be no discrimination against race, creed or color in the selection of families to be placed within the project area; that a person of 1/32 Indian blood would and must be given the same opportunity as might be granted a fulliboded Indian; that, while projects were set up and under the law must be open with equal opportunity to white, mixed and negro races, nevertheless through the process of actual selection of families to be placed within a certain project it was thus possible without violating the law to establish white community projects or, for example, an Indian project, and negro Resettlement projects.

Dr. Taylor further stated that while it cannot be in writing, it was nevertheless tacitly understood by everyone concerned that the Pembroke, North Carolina, Resettlement Project was an Indian Project; that selection of families to be placed within this project would be made by Mr. Columbus Andrews of the Regional Director's office at

- 2 -

Raleigh, North Carolina, and that selection made would be from among
the group whom Mr. Brooks represents, but that it was very doubtful
that Mr. Andrews would adhere to the wishes of Mr. Brooks in the mat-
ter of selecting only families able to produce some semblance of
proof as to being of one-half Indian blood or more.

Dr. Taylor emphasized to Mr. Brooks that the matter of determina-
tion of Indian blood was not a matter for their consideration or concern
and that such consideration would not ordinarily enter in any way into
the matter of selecting families from the Robeson County group to be
placed on the Pembroke County project.

Dr. Taylor suggested, however, that Mr. Brooks go to Raleigh and
have a personal conference with Mr. Andrews in the Regional Director's
office with a view to setting forth his desires as to which families
of the group he represented should be selected for placing upon the
Pembroke project, and Dr. Taylor gave Mr. Brooks a very cordial but
non-committal letter of introduction to Mr. Andrews and did request
therein that he give sympathetic consideration to any matters that
Mr. Brooks might bring to his attention. No mention was made in this
letter about any method or procedure to be followed in the selection
of families to be placed on the Pembroke project. As explained above,
in view of the law it was obviously impossible for Dr. Taylor to give
any indication to Mr. Andrews that preference was to be given the
selection of blooded Indians. Dr. Taylor informed Mr. Brooks that the
extent of his success in having Mr. Andrews select Indians of half blood
or more would depend largely upon the influence of his case as he might
state it in his forthcoming personal conference with Mr. Andrews which
will probably take place on Monday.

Dr. Taylor further informed Mr. Brooks that a "cooperative" enter-
prise would be set up for that community but that the nature of it had
not yet been finally determined; also that it was definitely assured
that a community recreational center would be built within the Pembroke
project area.

I believe the foregoing covers the entire scope of the conference
held with Dr. Taylor yesterday afternoon.

EDWIN L. GROOME.

January 26, 1937

Memorandum to Mr. Collier.

In accordance with instructions issued by you on June 2, 1936, an Enrolling Committee composed of the undersigned members proceeded to Pemborke in Robeson County, North Carolina, for the purpose of investigating the claims of Indian blood of a group of people in that county. The purpose of their claim was to learn whether or not they could qualify as Indians within the meaning of Section 19 of the Act of June 18, 1934. We were to assist these applicants in setting forth their claims with the distinct understanding that the burden of proof rested on them, in accordance with the procedure approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Since from a previous preliminary study it was known that these people did not possess documentary evidence of their Indian descent and general historical background, it was deemed wise by the Office to include as a member of the Committee a Physical Anthropologist who would attempt to determine scientifically on the basis of racial characters whether or not any applicants examined did or did not possess one-half or more Indian blood.

**Historical Background.** The State of North Carolina at various times since 1835 has recognized the group as belonging to the Indian race, a designation which has as often worked to their disadvantage as it has to their benefit. In the year just mentioned, for instance, it enacted a law depriving them, as "free persons of mixed blood", of the franchise (Clause 3, Section 111, Constitutional Amendment of 1835).

In 1854 the State prohibited marriages between "any free person of color and a white person", (Chapter 34, Section 80, Code of 1854). Up until 1885 the State grouped her Indians with the Negro population under the general classification "persons of color" and insisted on their attending Negro schools and churches.

In 1885, due largely to the efforts of Hamilton McMillan, the Robeson County people succeeded in getting separate schools established and winning recognition as "Croatan" Indians.

Two years later the State enacted legislation providing "that all marriages between an Indian and a Negro or between an Indian and a person of Negro descent to the third generation, inclusive, shall be utterly void; Provided, this act shall only

apply to the Croatan Indians." (Laws of 1887, Chapter 254).
They were likewise protected in their schools by the declaration:
"and there shall be excluded from such separate schools for the
said Croatan Indians all children of Negro race to the fourth
generation." (Laws of 1889, Section 1, Chapter 60).

In 1911 the word "Croatan" was dropped and the designation
"Indians of Robeson County" adopted by law. Two years later,
however, the word "Cherokee" was inserted, making the title read
"Cherokee Indians of Robeson County". The State took care to
have the act read: "neither this act nor any other act relating
to said Cherokee Indians of Robeson County shall be construed
so as to impose on said Indians any powers, privileges, rights,
or immunities, heretofore enacted with reference to the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians, etc." (Laws of 1915, Chapter 123).
In this same period the State extended additional benefits, for
example directing that a special ward in the State Hospital for
the Insane be set apart for them, as also in the Robeson County
Jail and the Home for the Aged and Infirm.

Apart from the legislative acts cited above, there are some
historical and ethnological facts which also are of interest.
Dr. John R. Swanton, who submitted a short report to the Office
of Indian Affairs in 1933, observed that "Whatever these people
may have been, there is no question that the ancestors of the
Indians of Robeson County were in the country when the census
of 1790 was taken . . . The census gives the names of heads of
families and when we examine these we find that the great majority
returned from Robeson and adjoining counties have names character-
istic of the Robeson County Indians of today, such as Locklear,
Lowry, Chavis, Oxendine, Brayboy or Braveboy, Revels, Brooks,
and Gumbo." The conclusion reached by Dr. Swanton is stated as
follows: "The evidence available thus seems to indicate that
the Indians of Robeson County who have been called Croatan and
Cherokee are descended mainly from certain Sicuan tribes of which
the most prominent were the Cheraw and Keyauwee, but they probably
included as well remnants of the Eno, and Shakori, and very
likely some of the constal groups such as the Waccamaw and Cape
Fears."

The visitor among these Indians will find them almost
desperately anxious to maintain their racial identity. They re-
sent the fact that Negroes, in one manner or another, have
become intermixed with them; and they feel, perhaps rightfully,
that the discrimination which works against them in spite of
recent favorable legislation is due largely to the fact of this
intermingling.

-2-

Our task was made difficult at the outset by the fact
that these people did not have a clear understanding of the
term Indian. They considered anybody who lived in their
community as one of them. Since the State has set up barriers
against their intermarrying with either whites or negroes, and
since they cannot by law attend any schools but those segregated
for their own use, it can be seen that they have no choice in
the matter but to consider themselves Indians. In specifying
degree of Indian blood it is evidently their habit to describe
as full blood any person whose parents or ancestors have always
been members of their community. And naturally a mixed blood
to them is a person some one or more of whose forebears have
come into the country from the outside. None of them, for
social reasons, admit of any but white admixture. Further, to
complicate the situation, there is in many families a record of
illegitimacy. In one case, that of an applicant adjudged to be
one-half or more Indian by the Physical Anthropologist, the
genealogical evidence was invalidated at the outset by uncertainty
of parentage.

In our effort to identify the various applicants with known
Indian ancestry, each applicant was asked whether he or any of
his forebears knew any Indian languages or even any words of an
Indian language, also whether they knew or had ever heard of
Indian customs in relation to marriage, divorce, clan groups, etc.,
and whether any of their ancestors had ever signed a treaty as
representative of an Indian tribe. The answers to all these
questions were uniformly in the negative, except for vague
references to a Lazy Will Locklear, a John Lowry, and Ishmael
Chavis, none of whom, however, could be positively identified
as Indians. We also made special trips to the homes of older
members of the community in our search for information concerning
the early history of the group, but this added nothing of material
value to what we had already learned.

In 105 out of 108 cases there is complete agreement in the
report submitted by the committee. The finding is that the
applicants are not eligible for registration as Indians of one-
half or more degree. Included in this group are several cases
adjudged by the physical anthropologist to be borderline cases
of doubtful diagnosis. Since it was agreed upon that the burden
of proof was on the applicants, in all cases where the physical
data showed a borderline or a doubtful diagnosis it was considered
that the applicant had not satisfied the requirement.

In three cases, namely, Lawrence Maynor No. 43, Vestia Lock-
lear No. 75, Jesse Brooks No. 90, the Physical Anthropologist has
rendered a finding of one-half or more Indian blood.

-4-

Ind-Org.

18

Dr. Carl Seltzer,
Peabody Museum,
Harvard University,
Cambridge, Mass.

MAY 19 1937

Dear Dr. Seltzer:

This is to inform you of your next assignment.

After a conference held in this Office with a delegation of the Robeson County people, it was agreed that the Indian Office would make a further attempt to determine the degree of Indian blood of the people in that county. Your findings in a previous study have shown three individuals out of 108 applicants whom you believe to possess one-half or more Indian blood. In an effort to study this problem more closely, you should proceed now to examine all the individuals in one family group, preferably a family of one of the three individuals previously singled out as having more than one-half of Indian blood.

You will, therefore, proceed to Robeson County, and after notifying the individuals of one of these families, make the necessary physical examinations. You should plan to study about the same number of individuals as you previously examined.

When you have completed your field work, you are to report to your headquarters at Cambridge, Massachusetts where you will tabulate your results and make a report to this Office as soon as possible. As time is an important factor you are instructed to work Saturdays and Sundays, if necessary, for the duration of the complete project.

As the necessary photographic work, including photostating, developing and printing, should be done under your supervision because of its highly technical nature, you may have this work done at, or near, your headquarters in Cambridge.

Commissioner.

cc: Mr. Zimmerman
Mr. Buddrus
" Herrick
" Daiker
" Harper
" Cohen
Employees
Mrs. Bronson

AMERICAN

ETERNAL
VIGILANCE
IS THE PRICE OF
LIBERTY

CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

31 UNION SQUARE WEST • NEW YORK CITY

Tompkins Sq. 6-4330

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

HON. CHARLES F. AMIDON
HON. GEORGE W. ANDERSON
DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES
JOHN BEARDSLEY
HERBERT S. BIGELOW
BISHOP EDGAR BLAKE
PROF. EDWIN M. BORCHARD
HEYWOOD BROUN
PROF. RICHARD C. CABOT
JOHN S. CODMAN
CLARENCE DARROW
MARGARET DeSILVER
PROF. JOHN DEWEY
DR. JAMES H. DILLARD
JOHN DOS PASSOS
SHERWOOD EDDY
ELIZABETH GLENDOWER EVANS
JOHN F. FINERTY
ELIZABETH GURLEY FLYNN
WALTER FRANK
PROF. FELIX FRANKFURTER
DEAN LLOYD K. GARRISON
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PROF. ROBERT MORSS LOVETT
ANNE MARTIN
DR. ALEXANDER MEIKLEJOHN
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HARRY F. WARD, Chairman • HELEN PHELPS STOKES, JAMES H. MAURER, Rt. Rev. EDWARD L. PARSONS, Vice-Chairmen • B. W. HUEBSCH, Treasurer • ROGER N. BALDWIN, Director • ARTHUR GARFIELD HAYS, Counsel • MORRIS L. ERNST, Counsel • LUCILLE R. MILNER, Secretary

July 9, 1937.

Mr. Felix S. Cohen
Assistant Solicitor
Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. Cohen:

Thank you very much for your letter of July 2nd endorsing Joseph Brooks and his fight for the Susan Indians of Robeson County. We have informed Mr. Brooks that we stand ready to assist him, working through our cooperating committee in the South,-- the Southern Committee for People's Rights. Our chief difficulty now is finding a local attorney to represent us and Mr. Brooks in the immediate issues.

LBM:RW

181

NOV 1 1938

Memorandum for the Assistant Secretary:

I concur in the recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the 22 applicants herein in question should be approved for enrollment as Indians under the Indian Reorganization Act. I disagree, however, in the assumption of the Commissioner's letter that the question is entirely a question of policy rather than of legal right. The fact is that the Indian Reorganization Act gives certain benefits to persons of one half or more Indian blood even though they have not been in the past affiliated with any recognized Indian tribe. It is, therefore, the duty of the Department to prescribe the most convenient test for the determination of blood and to abide by the results, whatever they may be. In this case the Commissioner of Indian Affairs has reached the conclusion that the most effective test possible is in terms of anthropological measurements. That is a question which I am not competent to discuss. I do think, however, that the fact that a conclusion as to the degree of blood is supported by "scientific data alone" is no reason for rejecting it and that if this particular technique of determining degree of blood were rejected it would be necessary, in order to carry out the obligations of the Indian Reorganization Act, to prescribe some other technique whereby one who claims to be an Indian within the meaning of the act may secure a consideration of his claim.

Solicitor...

The Honorable

The Secretary of the Interior.

My dear Mr. Secretary:

We, the undersigned members of the General Council of the Siouan Indians, respectfully request that the said Council be recognized by the Interior Department as the appropriate representative of the Siouan Indians of North Carolina in all future activities of the Department that may affect our people.

The Siouan Indians of North Carolina number about 14,000. In Robeson County the Indian population is scattered in most of the townships. We have 16 townships or communities that make up the Indian population in the county and two in adjoining counties. In 1933 each community held an election and elected a representative to represent the Indians in the community. Each community also elected a chairman, secretary and treasurer. The representative of each community met and elected a secretary, chairman, chief councilman and a delegate. This group forms the General Council of the Siouan Indians of North Carolina. The term of office expires November 1, 1937, unless reelected. The representative from each community is subject to recall by a majority of votes in the community. Officers of the General Council are subject to recall by a majority of the votes of the Council, each member having one vote.

None of the elected representatives of the Siouan Indians receive any pay for their services. They are working only for the purpose of helping the Indians of the Siouan group.

Although the Siouan Indians have apparently never been recognized as a tribe by Congress, we have had dealings with the Federal Government in various connections and expect to have further dealings, in which it would be advantageous to the Indians and to the Government to have a representative body recognized as authorized to speak for the Siouan Indians.

During the past few years representatives of this Council have negotiated with the Indian Office and with the Resettlement Administration in connection with the Pembroke Indian project, on which development has recently begun.

We have further negotiated with the Indian Office in respect to educational loans and grants. About three years ago three grants were authorized by the Indian Office but were not actually made because some members of the board would not accept vouchers from the Eastern Cherokee Agency in North Carolina. The Council preferred to supply the children in question with grants from the treasury of the Council in order to permit them to carry on their education.

During the past two years the tribe has negotiated with the Indian Office and the Interior Department with a view to securing benefits under the Indian Reorganization Act. Reference is made in this connection to your letter to Mr. Joseph Brooks dated and to a letter dated April 11, 1935, from Commissioner Collier, copies of these letters being attached hereto.

In June 1936 a commission of three Interior Department officials spent some time in Robeson County gathering information on the blood status of certain Siouan Indians, and in May of this year a physical anthropologist employed by the Department spent two weeks trying to determine the degree of blood in several members of our group.

The General Council of the Siouan Indians is now seeking to protect the Indians of this region against various types of racial discrimination, such as discrimination in jury service and facilities for higher education. In this connection we plan to hire an attorney, paying such attorney out of Council funds collected through voluntary contributions. It is expected that part of the expense of such attorney will be paid by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Committee for People's Rights.

In all these activities and in further activities of the tribe that may be undertaken in the future, it would be advantageous to us, and we believe to the Department as well, if the General Council of the Siouan Indians, which is the democratically elected representative body of these Indians, should be recognized by the Interior Department as a proper spokesman in all matters affecting the welfare of the Siouan Indians of North Carolina.

Secretary, General Council

Chairman, General Council

Adviser to the Council

2

A group of Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina, have presented certain grievances to the Solicitor, which, while they seem to indicate a meritorious cause of action, unfortunately do not come within the competence of this Department to handle. These Indians have never been recognized as an Indian tribe under Federal jurisdiction. Their alleged cause of action is directed against local officials of the county who are alleged to have mishandled local finances.

I thought that perhaps you might know of one or more attorneys conveniently located who would be willing to handle a case presenting obvious difficulties, in view of local race prejudice. Unfortunately, the sums involved in this case are not very large and an attorney's fee would have to be rather moderate. The Indians here are making a heroic effort to hold on to their few remaining tracts of land and to maintain the existence of their community, and I should be very glad if it were possible somehow to give them some local assistance.