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Show 118 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN -4FFAIRS. of that tribe will justify the deduction from tribd moneys of the funds necessary for the payment of such judgments. So earnestly do I feel upon this subject and so tirmly do'1 believe that this law should be amended in this respect that I am impelled to again invite your attention to the subject in the hope 'that legislation may soon be secured on the lines indicated, whereby justice may be done to meritorious claimants without injustice being at the same time done to the various tribes of Indians whose peace, prosperity, and civi-lization is made a charge in law and good morals upon the Govern-ment of the U~ritpdS tates. The moral aspects of the question aside, as a matter of public policy alone such legislation should be had, for -the reason that the dissatisfaction of the Indians when they find their fundsso unexpectedly diverted to the payment of these claims will be so great that turbulence is liable to ensue and destruction of property and loss of life may follow; and the final cost of re@stablislungp eace and good order will exceed, in all probability, the amount of the claims whose payment is likely to produce such disturbance. This condition appears more probable from the fact that, as shown by the tables sub-mitted in my last annual report, the greater number of claims are charged against those tribes which are the most impatient of restraint and least likely to submit, without the exercise of force, to anything which may have the appearance to them of oppression or bad faith upon the part of the Government. That the deduction and payment of these claims, upon i judgment rendered in a suit to which they have not been made a party fully, and have not had the opportunity of fully asserting their rights and pleading their defenses, would hme that appearance to their '1 untiltored minds " no one will dispute, especially when it is considered that tlie funds whioh are now in the hands of the United States be-longing to them are by treaty expressly held (tin trust" for their bell-efit, and are the proceeds of their concessions or relinquishments of lands for the benetit of the white people of the United States. Had it been conceived by these Indians that the proceeds of their sales of lands would be confiscated in this manner, I apprehend that Oklahon~a woiild not now exist as a Territory, and the Great Sioux Reservation would still occupy a large part of the Dakotas. It is true that the original act of Congress approved May 19,1796 (1 Stat., 472), guaranteeing indemnification to sufferers by Indian depre-dations, made it lawful or permitted that the arnounts of the same shol~ldb e paid from the 'lannual stipend" of such Indians; but in the act of July 15,1870 (16 Stats.,360), the diversion of an~luities and other ftlnds to the payment of claims of this character masprohibited, and it was enacted tl~at-- no olsirns for Indian depredations sb&ll hereafter be p i d notil Cougross shill1 make ape~ia,la ppropriation therefor. This was the law until the 3d day of March, 1891, and under it, and in view of the protection it afforded to the funds of the Indians, treaties |
