OCR Text |
Show "in amity" with the United States, a certain course shall be taken to present the claim to them for allowance, to be paid from their annuities if allowed, and if the tribe has annuities regularly due, . The rule of the department has here-tofore been that only cash annuities could he thus used, f ~ ~ n dapep ropriated for the purchase. of goods not being held liable to be diverted for paymeut cf claims against Indians. Of late the almost universal policy employed in our Indian treaties is to stipulate for no money annuities, but to make all payments in 11sefu1 goods, or use certain amounts for beneficial purposes, thus leaving no In-dian revenue subject to diversion in payment of claims against them. Another difficulty occurs which baa been made the subject of a special report to the de-partment in connexion with certain claims. The theory of the existing law is, that where a tribe is in "amity" with thegovernment, and any of itsindividuals commit depredations, the tribe can have the opportunity of compelling its delin-quent member to make restitution, or, upon the facts of the outrage being made apparent, of consenting to restitution from the common means of the tribe. But where peaceable relations are interrupted, from whatever cause, with a whole tribe, as was the case urith the Arapahoes and Cheyennes in 1864, it is imprac-ticable to present the claim to them for allowance, and they cannot he properly said to he "in amity with the United States," being in fact at wa? with the government. Yet it is contended that, unt,ilby solemn act of Corlgress their treaties are declared abrogated and their annuities forfeited, as was the case with the Sioux of Minnesota, snch tribes must be held as still, technically, "in amity" with the government. A decision of these points, and if deemed necessary, some special enactment of lawapplicable to the case, would relieve this office and the department of some embarrassment in cases of claims frequently presented. Certain very important questions relating to taxation of Indian land3 have become prominent during the past year from circumstances partly arising from the desire of the Kansas tribes to treat with the government in reference to re-moval to the Indian country, and partly from the fact tbat many Indians who have received lands in severalty have found those lands sold from their posses-eiou at tax sales. Appeals were made in seveml cases to the courts of Kansas, but those courts sustained the right of the State to tax lands which had been patented to Indians, whether they had become citizens or not. In the belief that it was not just, and not intended by the government, as it was certainly not understood by the Indians when making their treaties, tbat the mere fact of their accepting lands in severalty should per se break np their tribal relations and render them subject to the obligations of citizens, measures have been taken to appeal some of these cases to the Supreme Court of the United States, and it is expected that they will be reached at the next term of that court. A recent report from Superintendent Xurphy shows that the aggregate amount of the taxes upon Shawnee lands is over $60,000. A point of great importance will beincidentally decided when these cases are reached, since it is claimed that if the final decision is in favor of the right to tax these Indians, they thw become, by virtue of thecivil rights bill of last ses-sion, citizens of the United States, and thus not capable of taking part in any treaties to be hereafter made with their people ; and aa it is very desirable to effect treaty arrangements with some of the tribes of Kansas at an early day, the decision is lookedfor with muchinterest. Correapoudence showing the etate of this question will be found among the aeeompanging papers. The expenses of the Indian service have been largely and uuexpectedly in-creased during the year, beyond the amount estimated, by its being compelled to provide for the eubsistence of many thousands of suffering peoplk in the "In-dian country," and for the purchase of a large amount of provisions for supply-ing Indians to be treated with by the northwestern commissions, and for the transportation of those supplies to their destination. Until about the time when the commissioners should have been on the way to meet their appointment with ! |