Mr. CAPPER, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT (To accompany H. R. 9996) The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 9996) to amend the act entitled "An act authorizing the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to settle claims and suits against the District of Columbia," approved February 11, 1929, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass. The object of the bill is to amend the present law so as to authorize the commissioners to settle claims and suits to which defense of governmental function could be interposed. For the information of the Senate and for purpose of comparison with the bill, it should be stated that the subsection of the act to be amended, in defining types of claims and suits which the commissioners may settle, now reads: (a) Arises out of the negligence or wrongful act, either of commission or omission, of any officer or employee of the District of Columbia for whose negligence or acts the District of Columbia is prima facie liable to respond in damages. The bill under consideration would broaden this definition to cause it to refer to any claim or suit arising out of the negligence or wrongful act of a municipal official or employee for whose negligence or wrongdoing the District, if a private individual, would be liable, regardless of whether the complaint was the result of an occurrence involving a municipal or governmental function of the District. The bill also amends the subsection by a proviso stating that the legislation shall not be construed as depriving the District of any defense to any suit, or to give to anyone any right to institute any suit against the District "which did not exist prior to the passage of this act.' S R-71-2-VOL 2-43 CONFORMS WITH EXISTING LAW The bill conforms with existing laws relating to the Federal departments. The committee believes that the proposed legislation is equitable and desirable, and knows of no opposition from any source in the District. The bill has the approval of the District Commissioners, whose report is appended hereto, as part of this report. COMMISSIONERS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Hon. ARTHUR Capper, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. SIR: The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have the honor to submit the following on House bill 9996, Seventy-first Congress, second session, entitled, "An act to amend the act entitled 'An act authorizing the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to settle claims and suits against the District of Columbia,' approved February 11, 1929," which you referred to them for report as to the merits of the bill and the propriety of its passage. This bill proposes to amend the present act of Congress of February 11, 1929, entitled "An act authorizing the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to settle claims and suits against the District of Columbia," so as to authorize the settlement of claims and suits to which defense of governmental function could be interposed. The bill is in line with existing_legislation_relating to the departments of the Government. The Post Office, Navy, and War Departments are given appro priations with which to settle and pay claims for injuries caused in the operation of said departments, each settlement being limited however, to $500, and by the act of April 10, 1928, the Comptroller General is directed to submit to Congress by a special report the claims or demands against the United States filed in the General Accounting Office, which may not lawfully be adjusted by the use of an appropriation theretofore made, but which claims or demands in the judgment of the Comptroller General contain such elements of legal liability or equity as to be deserving of the consideration of Congress The commissioners recommend favorable action on the bill. Mr. FRAZIER (for Mr. SCHALL), from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 4051] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 4051) authorizing the Pillager Bands of Chippewa Indians, residing in the State 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 with the following amendment: On page 3, section 4, line 6, after the words "shall be" and before the figures "$1.25" insert the words "not to exceed". The United States, on August 21, 1847, made a so-called peace and friendship treaty with the Pillager Bands of Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, in which the Indians ceded to the United States more than 700,000 acres of valuable land commonly known as the Long Prairie Country. The cession was not absolute; it in effect was in trust. Article 3 of the treaty provided: It is stipulated that the country hereby ceded shall be held by the United States as Indian land, until otherwise ordered by the President. This peculiar provision resulted from the purpose for which the cession was made by the Indians and the actual consideration promised by the United States. The Chippewa and the Sioux in Minnesota had long been at war. Both had suffered from the ravages of many bloody conflicts. The Long Prairie Country lay along the boundary between the two tribes, so it was proposed to establish a buffer State between them by locating the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin, friends of both the Chippewas and Sioux, on the lands ceded. The consideration as recited in article 4 of the treaty provided for furnishing the Indians, over a period of five years, certain blankets, cloth, twine, etc., the total value of which has been estimated at approximately $15,000, or 2 cents per acre for the land. Unquestionably, the inducement to the Indians was to avoid war with the Sioux by having a friendly people interposed and living between them, but, in addition to this, the United States undoubtedly had another reason; namely, the desire to acquire the Menominee land in Wisconsin and to move its owners west of the Mississippi River. Negotiations with this end in view had been in progress with both the Menominee and Winnebagos. In 1847 the lands in Wisconsin, with the exception of the tract owned by the Menominees, had been ceded by the various tribes to the United States, and a cession of this sole remaining tract was desirable to provide homes for the ever-increasing tide of white settlers. The treaty was negotiated for the United States by Henry M. Rice and Isaac A. Verplank. The former was experienced, able, widely known in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and well acquainted with the Chippewa and Menominee Indians. He was a Congressman from Minnesota from 1853 to 1857, and a United States Senator from 1858 to 1863. His relations with the Pillager Bands of Chippewa were close and confidential. They treated with and trusted in him as a friend. The chiefs with whom Mr. Rice dealt for this cession of land were ignorant, unlettered, and inexperienced. They lived in a wilderness and were engaged in the first transaction of its kind in the history of their bands. They were without knowledge of the meaning of the transaction, except as it was then explained to them by representatives of the Government; and, strange as it may seem, the condition of the cession in the written agreement was not expressed more clearly than is found in article 3; namely, that the country ceded should be held by the United States as Indian land, until otherwise ordered by the President. The United States, on October 18, 1848, made a treaty with the Menominees, in which the latter ceded all their lands in Wisconsin in consideration for the lands acquired from the Pillagers in Minnesota for a home "to be held as Indian lands are held." The Menominees were permitted to occupy their old homes in Wisconsin for two years and until the President should notify them that same were wanted. The United States, as an inducement to early removal, agreed to pay the expense necessary to exploring the new country by the Menominees. After investigation, and for fear of becoming embroiled in the Chippewa-Sioux war, the Menominees refused to move to Minnesota and occupy the Long Prairie Country. Consequently, the real consideration for which the Chippewas made the cession failed, and by the treaty of May 12, 1854, the Menominees receded the Long Prairie Country to the United States in exchange for a part of their old home in Wisconsin in the sum of $242,686. After these transactions were consummated, we find the situation as follows: The United States held a part of the Menominee lands in Wisconsin and the Long Prairie Country of more than 700,000 acres for which the Pillagers had been paid the nominal consideration of $15,000, in merchandise. The United States opened the lands acquired from these Indians for settlement under the homestead law. The Menominees had a part of their old home in Wisconsin and $242,686, in cash. The Pillagers had lost a valuable tract of more than 700,000 acres, for which they had received approximately 2 cents per Who was responsible for these transactions? acre. |