3d Session

No. 2447

TO AMEND THE ACT APPROVED MAY 14, 1926, AUTHORIZING THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS OF MINNESOTA TO SUBMIT CLAIMS TO THE COURT OF CLAIMS

January 31, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. WILLIAMSON, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 13584]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 13584) to amend the act of 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 thereon with a recommendation that it do pass with an amendment.

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

That section 1 of an act approved May 14, 1926 (44 Stat. 555), be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"SECTION 1. 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 statute of limitations, 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. 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. 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. This act shall apply to any and all suit or suits brought under said act of May 14, 1926, whether now pending or hereafter commenced."

EFFECT OF AMENDMENT

Section 1 of the act of May 14, 1926 (44 Stat. 555), authorizes the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota to sue in the Court of Claims. The term "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" has been construed by the Interior Department as including only those Indians who by living on or about the former reservations have maintained tribal membership.

The act of January 14, 1889 (25 Stat. 642), which is the basis of the suits authorized by this jurisdictional act, provided for the establishment of an interest-bearing fund to be maintained in the Treasury for a period of 50 years, for annual distributions of interest per capita to "said Indians" throughout this period, and for final distribution of the principal, at the end of this period to "said Chippewa Indians and their issue then living."

If the term "Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" is confined to the Chippewa Tribe, or to tribal members, as the Interior Department insists, then it may well be said that this term, as used in the Chippewa jurisdictional act, does not include all of the class described as "said Chippewa Indians and their issue" who will be entitled to share, as remaindermen, in the final distribution of principal. This might prevent the final settlement of the rights of these ultimate recipients of the principal of the fund, and the litigations of claims resting solely on alleged wrongful expenditures of principal.

The bill as amended does not purport to settle any controversial questions as to what qualifications are necessary to entitle any person to share in either interest or principal, nor does it require the Court of Claims to determine such questions. It merely makes certain that all the beneficiaries of the fund, whoever they may be, will be deemed included in the term "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota" as used in the original act, so that all the rights involved will be before the court in the suits brought under the act by "the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota."

After mature consideration your committee is of the opinion that the bill as amended should be adopted, so that there may be no doubt that all claims "arising or growing out of the act of January 14, 1889 (25 Stat. L. 642) * * may be finally adjudicated and closed.

THE NEW LANGUAGE

The bill as amended 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., p. 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 thereto 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.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

The report of the Secretary of the Interior on the bill as originally introduced following in full text, together with the accompanying memorandum of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs.

It is believed that the bill with the amendments above indicated eliminated the most serious objections made. The proposal to amend section 3 of the jurisdictional act with regard to gratuities and offsets has been eliminated entirely. As above indicated the bill as now amended does not settle or in any manner affect the controversial enrollment questions involved in the so-called Kadrie case (281 U. S. 206) cited in the commissioner's memorandum, but merely makes certain that all those entitled to benefits under the act of January 14, 1889 (25 Stat. 642), whoever they may be, will be before the court and will be concluded by the judgments rendered.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, January 17, 1931.

Hon. SCOTT LEAVITT,

Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In response to your request of December 8, 1930, for a report on H. R. 13584, which is a bill that would amend the act of 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 Commissioner Rhoads of the Office of Indian Affairs.

After a review of the proposed measure, I agree with Mr. Rhoads.
Very truly yours,

RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary.

Memorandum for the Secretary.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
Washington, January 15, 1931.

The accompanying letter dated December 8, 1930, from Hon. Scott Leavitt, chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, transmitted for report, copy of H. R. 13584, a bill to amend an act approved May 14, 1926 (44 Stat. L. 555), entitled “An act authorizing the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota to submit claims to the Court of Claims."

The amending provisions of the bill are found after the period after the word "States" in line 8, page 2 of the bill to the end of the sentence in line 18, and from and after the figures "1889" in line 2, page 3, to the end of section 2 in line 7. The purpose of the proposed amendment of section 1 is somewhat obscure. 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 Minnestoa, and that it is not a question for the courts to determine. Therefore, the enrollment question is res judicata. 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 HR-71-3-VOL 1-70

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. 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 above 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 proposal to amend section 3 of the act of 1926 is for the purpose of limiting the set-offs of the United States to moneys paid under specific appropriations of public moneys from the Treasury of the United States for the benefit of these Indians.

This would not permit the court to consider any gratuities paid these Indians from funds of the United States Treasury. The reports of this department and the General Accounting Office on suit No. H-155 have included gratuities in connection with the case.

In suits by other tribes against the United States, gratuitous appropriations are included with all other moneys paid to or expended for the benefit of the Indians as proper set-offs against any possible recovery by the Indians. The only exception is the jurisdictional act of May 18, 1928 (45 Stat. L. 602), authorizing the Court of Claims to hear and determine the claims of the Indians of California. This was an act for the adjudication of claims of Indians who had never entered into treaty relations with the Government and who had never received any consideration for their lands. In the act, the lands claimed were limited to only such tracts as had been reserved under 18 unratified treaties, and the set-offs were limited to specific appropriations. We see no reason why an exception should be made in favor of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, over other treaty Indians. In view of the above, we see no reason for amending the act of May 14, 1926, as proposed, and it is recommended that H. R. 13584 be not enacted.

C. J. RHOADS, Commissioner.