72D CONGRESS 1st Session } SENATE { REPORT No. 528 AMEND THE ACT AUTHORIZING THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS OF MINNESOTA TO SUBMIT CLAIMS TO THE COURT OF CLAIMS APRIL 7, 1932.-Ordered to be printed Mr. SCHALL, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 3879] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3879) to amend an act approved May 14, 1926 (44 Stat. 555), entitled "An act authorizing the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota to submit claims to the Court of Claims," having considered the same, report favorably thereon with a recommendation that the bill do pass. EFFECT OF AMENDMENT Pursuant to the authority contained in the act of January 14, 1889 (25 Stat. 642), the United States entered into agreements with all the different bands or tribes of Chippewa Indians in Minnesota for the cession of all their lands and timber thereon not required for allotment purposes; for the classification of the ceded lands, the appraisal and disposal of the land and timber and the deposit of the net proceeds received therefrom in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of all the Chippewa Indians in the State of Minnesota as a permanent fund, which shall draw interest at the rate of five percentum per annum, payable annually, for the period of fifty years and which interest and permanent fund shall be expended for the Indians in manner following. * During said 50-year period three-fourths of the interest annually accruing was to be paid to "said Indians," and the remaining onefourth was to be expended for school purposes, "and at the expiration of the said 50 years the said permanent fund shall be divided and paid to all of said Chippewa Indians and their issue then living, in cash, in equal shares." Said agreements were made, executed, and approved by the President, all in conformity with the authority contained in said act of January 14, 1889, and by their terms became effective. (H. R. Ex. Doc. 247, 51st Cong. 1st sess.) When the act of May 14, 1926 (44 Stat. 555), authorizing "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" to sue in the Court of Claims became a law, the Interior Department then, and for many years theretofore, had construed the term "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" as including all persons who were members of the different bands or tribes "at the time said agreements were entered into and their issue thereafter born, irrespective of where born" (Op. Solicitor Mahaffie, dated February 17, 1919.) Subsequent to the enactment of said act of May 14, 1926, the department changed its construction of the term "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" so as to include only those Indians, who, by living on or about the former reservations, have maintained tribal membership. (Op. Solicitor Patterson, dated January 8, 1927.) If the term "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" is confined to the Chippewa Tribe or to tribal members, as the Interior Department now insists, then it may well be said that this term, as used in the jurisdictional act of May 14, 1926, does not include all, or possibly any, of the class described in the agreements as "said Chippewa Indians and their issue" who will be entitled, as remaindermen, to the principal of the fund at the expiration of the 50-year trust period. At the expiration of the 50-year trust period, the trust will come to an end and it is a serious question whether those then entitled to share in the final distribution will or could have any tribal status. The sole object of the bill is to make certain that the claims of the remaindermen, that is that class described in the agreements as “said Chippewa Indians and their issue," are before the court for determination, to the end that all claims which said Indians may have arising under or growing out of said act of January 14, 1889, and the agreements entered into thereunder, may be definitely and finally settled in the pending suits. Your committee believe that the last proviso in the bill, viz: That nothing herein shall be construed to affect the powers of the Secretary of the Interior to determine the roll or rolls of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota for the purpose of making any distribution of the permanent Chippews fund, or of the interest accruing thereon; nor as submitting to the Court of Claims for determination any individual claim, or claims, to enrollment or to share in interest or principal of the permanent Chippewa fund; nor shall the qualifications necessary to such enrollment be deemed affected or changed in any manner by this act, overcomes the objections set out in the department report. During the last Congress H. R. 13584, identical in all respects with S. 3879, except that it did not contain the above quoted proviso, passed Congress and was vetoed by the President, the veto message appearing in H. R. Doc. 780, Seventy-first Congress, third session. Your committee believe that the proviso in the pending bill largely, if not entirely, removes the objections to the former bill as set out in said veto message. Your committee is of the opinion that the bill should be adopted, so that there may be no doubt that all claims "arising under or growing out of the act of January 14, 1889" (25 Stat. L. 642) which the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, or any class thereof, have, may, in the pending suits, be finally adjudicated and closed as intended by the original act. THE NEW LANGUAGE The bill does not change the language of section 1 of the act of May 14, 1926 (44 Stat. 555) which reads: That jurisdiction be, and is hereby conferred upon the Court of Claims, with right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States by either party as in other cases, notwithstanding the lapse of time or statutes of limitation, to hear, examine, and adjudicate and render judgment in any and all legal and equitable claims arising under or growing out of the act of January 14, 1889 (25 Stat. L. 642), or arising under or growing out of any subsequent act of Congress in relation to Indian affairs which said Chippewa Indians of Minnesota may have against the United States, which claims have not heretofore been determined and adjudicated on their merits by the Court of Claims or the Supreme Court of the United States. But adds there to the following language: In any such suit or suits the plaintiff, the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, shall be considered as including and representing all those entitled to share in either the interest or in the final distribution of the permanent fund provided for by section 7 of the act of January 14, 1889 (25 Stat. 642), and the agreements entered into thereunder. To meet the objections of the department, the following has been added: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall be construed to affect the powers of the Secretary of the Interior to determine the roll or rolls of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota for the purpose of making any distribution of the permanent Chippewa fund, or of the interest accruing thereon; nor as submitting to the Court of Claims for determination any individual claim or claims, to enrollment or to share in interest or principal of the permanent Chippewa fund; nor shall the qualifications necessary to such enrollment be deemed affected or changed in any manner by this act. This act shall apply to any and all suit or suits brought under said act of May 14, 1926. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR The report of the Secretary of the Interior on the bill, together with the accompanying memorandum of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, are appended hereto. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. LYNN J. FRAZIER, Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In response to your request of March 2, 1932, for a report on S. 3879, a bill to amend an act approved May 14, 1926, entitled "An act authorizing the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota to submit claims to the Court of Claims," I transmit herewith a memorandum on the subject that has been submitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. After a review of the proposed measure, I agree with the commissioner. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Memorandum for the Secretary. Reference is made to the request of March 2, 1932, of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for report on S. 3879 which would amend the act of May 14, 1926. (44 Stat. 555.) This act authorized the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota to submit claims to the Court of Claims. This bill is identical with H. R. 127 and its purpose is the same as H. R. 13584, Seventy-first Congress, third session, which was passed by both Houses of Congress but received the veto of the President. A report together with the bill was published in House Report No. 2447, Seventy-first Congress, third session. The amending provisions of this bill are found after the period following the word "States" in line 8, page 2, to the end of line 25. The claims authorized to be presented by the above act were presumably all filed in five different suits known as H. 76, H. 155, H. 163, H. 192, H. 279. The attorneys for the Indians have requested permission to move the dismissal of suit No. H. 279 for the reason that the matters alleged therein are res judicata, and such permission has been given by this department. Of the other four suits, one, No. H. 155, contains, in the original petition, a claim for $1,000,000 alleged to have been unlawfully paid to the persons for whose benefits it is believed this bill was in part introduced. After the decision of the Supreme Court in the case below cited, the attorneys filed an amended petition in this suit in which an effort was made to strengthen the position taken in the original petition notwithstanding the said decision and to reinsert the same question in the courts. In the amended petition, the claim for $1,000,000 was apparently abandoned, and a claim "in excess of $150,000" was alleged. Manifestly it would be inconsistent for the attorneys to pursue the claim against the United States for reimbursement in the Court of Claims and at the same time request the court to hold that the persons to whom the payments were made were and are legally entitled to receive the moneys for which the claim is made. The effect of the amendment would be to refer the question of enrollment of individuals to the Court of Claims for determination. This is an individual rather than a tribal question. Further, this question has already been settled by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Wilbur, Secretary of the Interior v. the United States ex rel Kadrie et al. (281 U. S. 206.) The court in deciding this case held in effect that the Secretary of the Interior has jurisdiction to decide the question as to who are entitled to share in current benefits of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota and that it is not a question for the courts to determine. Therefore, it appears that the question of the rights of the Secretary in the matter have been finally settled. Also it is an individual matter which it does not appear should be inserted in the Court of Claims in connection with the tribal claims of these Indians. This part of the amendment to section 1 apparently would also compel the court to take from the amount of any judgment recovered by these Indians certain amounts which should be paid to those legally entitled to enrollment under existing law and award such amounts to certain persons who have no rights to share with the members of the different bands of Chippewa Indians. It is believed that this would create a liability against the United States and make it necessary to restore such payments to the Chippewa funds from the Treasury of the United States. In view of the above and the fact that we see no reason for amending the act of May 14, 1926, as proposed, it is recommended that S. 3879 be not enacted. C. J. RHOADS, Commissioner. |