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Show Uinta Council, 44, Inspector McLaughlin: With reference to the stateraant Tim Johnson has made, no act of congress becomes a law until signed by the pj*e JSident and I am here today talking to you people and presenting to you the will of th? president, because he has signed the Act and made it a law, that is, the Act of Congress for opening your reservation was approved and signed by the president and it therefore is sanctioned by him. The Act having been approved by him it now becomes the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to carry out that law^as he represents the President in Indian matters. My friends, I have no doubt but that if you were in Washington two years ago the officials of the Department may have told you that your claim to this reservation was good. That vras before the decision of the Supreme court of five months ago which I have told you of, since which decision the policy of consulting Indians in regard to opening their reservations has changed. My friends, Congress has passed a law opening your reservation and the president has consented to it by signing the Act. Under that act you may consent to take allotments of your own selections and if you refuse they will be arbitrarily allotted to you, and in addition to your individual allotments 250,000 acres will be set apart for your common grazing grounds. That will be done on or before a year from the first day of next October and youl-surplus land will be thrown open for settlement on that date. Therefore.my friedds, It is for you to decide whether you prefer selecting your allotments for yourselves or that they be arbitrarily assigned to you* It is useless for you to talk along the lines you have been talking. You should now confine your deliberations to the consideration of the one proposition, that is, the acceptance of your allotments. ThereforeTfor the remainder of this day, tonight, and tomorrow morning, confine yourselves to the consideration |
