OCR Text |
Show In section 6 of the act approved March 3, 1801, above referred to, appears the following : That the amount of any judgment so rendered against any tribe of Indians shall be'charged against the tribe by which, or by u.embers of which, the conrt shall find that the depredat.ion was committed, and shall be deducted and paidin the following . manner: First, from annoities doe said tribe from the United States; second, if no annuities are doe or available, then from any other fnuds doe said tribe from the United States arisingfrom the sale of their lands or othervise; third, if no such funds are due or available, then from aog appropriation for the benefit of said tribe, other than eppropriatioov for their ourrent and oeoeasery support, subsistenow, and education; and forrrth, if no such annuity, fond, or appropriation is duaor available, then the amoant of the judgmeut shall be paid from theTreaeory of the United States: Provided, That any aruouot so paid from the Treasury of the United States . shall remain a charge ageinst suoh tribe, and shall be dedclotnl from aug annuity, fund, or appropri&cioo hereiabeforede~ignated which ntay hereafter become due from the United States to anch tribe. Under the operation of the law contained in this section, it is appa-rent that a lien is constituted upon all funds which now are or may hereafter become due to ally Indians on any account whatever, for the payment of these claims, except so much as may be necessary ' 6 for their current and necessary support, subsistence, and education." Bg en ex-amination of the tables herewith presented, showing the date of origin and the amount of the claims on tile in this office, it will be seen that 'many of them originated at so remote a period that the present genera-tion of Indians can not possibly have any knowledge of or personal re-sponsibility for them. It thus occurs that a great hardship is liable to be imposed upon the present generation (which is making, ccrnparatively speaking, satisfactory progress in civilization), by punishing children for crimes committed by their ancestoys, and imposing upon them, in ,their advanced and adrauciug condition, a burden which mas created by their fathers pihile yet in a state of savagery. If the law is per-mit, ted to remain as it is, it will work great hardship and will bea mat. ' < ter of very considerable divcouragement to the present, if not to future generations. lMany of the Indians bclouging to thc different tribes which areahargeable with depredations are poor and struggling to be-come self-supporting, and the ecllectiou of these amounts will unduly punish then for sins of which, personally, they are not guilty. It cer-tainly wculd provoke, in many cases, a spirit of antagonism and rest-lessness that would be very hurtful, prima,rily to the Indians them- . selves, and might sericuslyimpair the peaceable relations between them and the Government, in which event the nnlimited expense of reducing them toa state of peace would be far greater tlran the payment of these claims outright from the United States Treasury. When the dinerent tribes which have entered into treatiesandagree- 1 ments with the United States.bargained that themoneyk to become due them by reasou of suoh treaties or agreements should be held in trust by the Government and be paid to them in the manner and form set |