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Show hereafter accrue to them us proceeds of sales of any surplus lands within their reser-vations which may be disposed of for them under the general allotment aot of Peh-roary 8, 1887 (24 Stats.;388), or otherwise. The bill became a law without thiu suggested provision, and when i t was again referred to this ofice for report, prior to its going to the President for his approval, I again, ldasch 3, 1891, invited attention to the omission of any provision lodging a discretion in the Secretary of the Interior as to the payment of these judgments out of the annuities or other funds of the Indians, and I said: While I dislike vary much to interpose an objection to prevent the oonsummstion of legislation so long urged by this office, nevertheless the omission of the clause in question is a. matter of serious importance, and I deem it my duty to call attention to it in order that it may receive consideration aa to whather it is not auffioient to warrant withholding approval of the bill. The act, unamended, was approved on the 3d day of March, 1891, and is the law to-day. I venture to repeat in part my discussion of this subject in my last annual report: Under the operation of the law contained in this seotion (Section vr) it is apparent that a lien ia oonstitnted upon BU funds whiohnowme or mayhereafter become duo to any Ind'i&ns on any account whetever for the payment of these claims, except so much as may be neoessary "for their current and necessary support, subsistence, and education." Bv an examination of the tables herewith nreaentad. showing the date of origin and the amount of the elaims on file in this office, it will be seeu that mmy of them originated at so remote a period that the present zeneratian of In-dians can not ham any knowledge of or personml respa6ibility for them. It thus ocours thst a great hardship is liable to be imposed upon the presentgeners, tion (vhich ia making, oomparatively speaking, satisfactory progress in oivilizo-tion) by punishing children for crimes committed by their ancestors, and imposing upon them, in their advanoed and advancing condition, a burden which was o'rented by their fathers while yet in& etato of savagery. If the law ia permitted to remain as it is it will work great hardship and will be a, matter of very considera-ble discouragement to the present, if not to future, generations. Many of the In-dims belonging to the different tl.ibes n,hich are chargeable with depred&tions are poor md struggling to become self-supporting, and the collection or these amounts will unduly punish them for sins of which person~llyth ey are not guilty. It certainly will provoke in many oases a spirit of antagonism and restlwsness that would be very hurtful primarily to the Indians themselves, and might seriously impair the peace&hle relations between them and the Government, in whioh event the unlimited expense of reducing them to a. state of peace wonld be greater than the plyment of these claims outrigl~ftr om the United StatesTreasury. When the different tribes wh'ich have entered into treatieiea and agreements wit11 the United States bargained that the monevv to become due them bv reason of such treaties or ngreemeng should he held in, trust by the ~ox~ernmenant d be psiid to them in the manner and form set forth in such apreementa or treaties, it was not contemplated bv them that i t wonld a t some subsea-uent u.eriad e me t a law. in the conaideration of which t h q could have no pwt, which would practically confiscate these various moneys and divert their payment into sn altogether different charnel from that orininsllv- intended snd ag..r eed noon. In view of :hie situation, I nonld respectfilll~rer.ommendT hat tlre act be smrllded su aa to laare it discretionary with the Secretary uf tlte Irterioi to determine as to whether or not tbe fiaaucisl condition of m y tribe against whom judgment mw be . obrained in the Court of Claims on ~c c o u o to f depredations eornnlitted by members |
