1897. CONGRESSIONAL REOORD-SENATE. 723
By Mr. STURTEVANT: Petition of citizens of Meadville, Pa., and skins being removed from the free list in tbe pending tariff favoring a monetary commission-to the Committee on Banking bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. and Currency. He also presented the petition of E. M. Brown and 7 other citi By Mr. WM. ALDEN SMITH: Protest of John Strigel, presi zens of Quincy, Mich., fraying for the passage of Senate bill No. dent, and Kate Doody, secretary, of the Council of Trades and 478 1 making it unlawfu for any person or persons to sell or give Labor Unions, of Detmit, Mich., against the passage of House bill away, with or without meals, any kind of intoxicating liquors No. 30, or any similar bill; also same protest from Charles J. Euth either in the Capitol building, in the District of Columbia, or on et al., of same place; also same protest from the common council any grounds owned or controlled by the United States Govern of Detroit, Mich.; also same from B. Wallace and others, of ment; which was referred to the Committee on Public Buildings Grand Rapids, Mich.-to the Committee on Interstate and For and Grounds. eign Commerce. Mr. McMILLAN presented a memorial of Garment Makers' Local Union No. 74, United Garment Makers of America, of Detroit, Mich., remonstrating against the enactment of legislation SENATE. intended to destroy the present system of ticket brokerage; which was referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce. THURSDAY, April 15, 1897. He also pres.ented a petition of 57 citizens of Grand Rapids, Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. W. H. MILBURN, D. D. · Mich., and a petition of 79merchants,manufacturers, and bankers The Journal of yesterday's proceedings was read and approved. of Detroit, Mich., praying Congress to authorize the President of the United States to appoint a monetary commission as proposed ADJOURNMENT TO MONDAY. by the Indianapolis (Ind.) monetary convention; which were re Mr. GORMAN. To-morrow being Good Friday, I move that ferred to the Committee on Finance. when the Senate adjourn to-day it be to meet on Monday next. He also presented sundry petitions of citizens and taxpayers of Mr. HOAR. I hope the Senator from Maryland will not press Bay City and West Bay City, in the State of Michigan, praying that motion in the present state of the business of the Senate. that a duty not to exceed $1 per thousand feet be- placed on rough Mr. GORMAN. I will state that to-morrow is Good Friday, pine lumber in the pending tariff bill, and that pine logs be ad and we should not be in session then. It is always customary for mitted free of duty; which were referred to the Committee on the Senate to adjourn over on that day. Finance. The VICE-PRESIDENT. The question is on the motion of the He also presented sundry petitions of owners of pine, hemlock, Senator from "Maryland, that when the Senate adjourn to-day it basswood, and other kinds of standing timber, operators of plan be to meet on Monday next. ing mills, manufacturers of lumber and shingles, and dealers in The motion was agreed to. lumber, praying that the lumber schedule in the pending tariff bill as recommended by the Ways and Means Committee of the 1 PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. House of Representatives be adopted; which were referred to the Mr. MORGAN presented the petition of William H. Barritt, Committee on Finance. late second lieutenant, Company A, Fourth Michigan Volunteer Mr. TURPIE presented a petition of the facu1ty of Concordia Infantry, and sundry other citizens of Perry County, Ala., pray- College, Fort Wayne, Ind., praying that books, engravings, photo ing tha~ an appropriation be made for the payment of the claim graphs, etc., be placed on the free list in the pending tariff bill; of the Methodist Publishing House at Nashville, Tenn.; which which was referred to the Committee on Finance. . was ordered to lie on the table. He also presented sundry petitions of business men, manufac- Mr. HARRIS of Kansas presented a memorial of sundry citi- turers, and merchants of Indiana, praying for the enactment of zens of Salina, Atchison, Herington, McPherson, and Smolan, all legislation creating certain reforms in our national currency and in the State of Kansas, remonstrating against the enactment of banking laws and authorizing the President of the United States legislation intended to destroy the present system of t icket bro- to appoint a commission as proposed by the Indianapolis (Ind.) )rerage; which was referred to the Committee on Interstate Com- monetary convention; which were referred to the Committee on inerce. Finance. Mr. BURROWS presented a petition of 420 citizens of Bay City He also presented a memorial of sundry producers and shippers and West Bay City, in the State of .Michigan, praying that a of bituminous coal in Ohio and Pennsylvania, remonstrating tariff not to exceed ·$1 per thousand feet be placed on lumber in against an increase of duty on bituminous coal in the pending the pending tariff bill and that pine logs be admitted free of duty; tariff bill: which was referred to the Committee on Finance. which was referred to the Committee on Finance. Mr. MILLS presented sundry petitions of citizens of Texa.s, pray- He also presented a petition of the Pere Marquette Lumber ing for the enactment of legislation creating certain reforms in Company and 7 other firms manufacturing lumber at Ludington, our national currency and banking laws, and also authorizing the Mich., praying that a duty of not less than $2 per thousand feet President of the United States to appoint a commission as pro be placed upon rough lumber in the pending tariff bill; which was posed by the Indianapolis (Ind.) monetary convention; which were referred to the Committee on Finance. referred to the Committee on Finance. He also presented the.petition of John Ryland and 9 other lum- Mr. WELLINGTON presented a petition of sundry citizens of her manufacturers of lflichigan, praying for the adoption of the Baltimore, Md., and a petition of sundry merchants, manufactur lumber schedule in the pending tariff bill as passed by the House ers, bankers,' and professional men of Baltimore, Md., praying of Representatives, and remonsb·ating against any rebate on lum- Congress to authorize the President of the United States to ap ber coming from Canada and made into packing boxes for the ex- point a commission as proposed by the Indianapolis (Ind.) moue- port trade; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. tary conventiop; which were referred to the Committee on Finance. He also presented the petition of J. S. Stearns and 5 other lum- Mr. VEST presented the memorial of N. M.. Fitzgerrell and her manufacturers of Ludington, Mich., praying that a duty of sundry other citizens of Missouri, remonstrating against the not less than 52 per thousand feet be placed on rough lumber and enactment of legislation intended to destroy the present system of not less than35 cents per thousand on shingles in the pending tar- ticket brokerage; which was referred to the Committee on Inter- iff bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. state Commerce. He also presented the petition of Herman Stetzke and 82 other Mr. PLATT of New York presented a petition of sundry citizens laboring men of Ludington, Mich., and elsewhere in the State, of New York, praying for the enactment of legislation creating cer :who earn their living by producing lumber and shingles, praying tain reforms in our national currency and banking laws, and a1so for the enactment of legislation providing a two-dollar rate upon authorizing the President of the United States to appoint a com lumber and a 35-cent rate on shingles; which was referred to the mission as proposed by the Indianapolis (Ind.) monetary conven- Committee on Finance. tion; which was referred to the Committee on Finance. He also presented memorials of James Monroe and 147 other He also presented a petition of Spencer&Co.,importers,ofNew citizens of Kalamazoo; of S. S. Lester and 105 other citizens of York City, representing manufacturers of confectionery in New Detroit; <;>f Detroit Typographical Union, No. 18, of Detroit, and York G'ity, Boston, and other cities of the United States, and a of sundry· other trades unions and associations, all in the State petition of sundry manufacturers of confectionery in the United pf Michigan, remonstrating against the enactment of legislation Stat.es, relative to the rate of duty on imported nuts; which were intended to destroy the present system of ticket brokerage; which referred to the Committee on Finance. were referred to tb,e Committee on Interstate Commerce. Mr. PASCO presented the memorial of F. B. Genovar and 105 He also pres~nted the petition of N; ~· Bradl~y ~nd 67 other citi- other citizens of. St.. Au~ustine, Fla., remonstrating against the zens of Bay City, MICh., and the petition of William H. Eastman enactment of legiSlatiOn mtended to destroythepresent system of and 57 other citizens of G1·and Rapids, Mich., praying Congress to ticket brokerage; which was referred to the Committee on Inter authorize the President <;>f the United States to appC>int a monetary state Commerce. commission as proposed by the Indianapolis (Ind.) monetary con-~ He also presented the petition of 643 cigar manufacturers and vention; which wer~ referred to the Committee on Finance. makers of Key West, Fla., praying that a duty of $2.50 be placed He also presented a memorial o£ the Cappon & Bertsch Leather on wrappers and 35 cents on fillers in the pending tariff bill; which Company, of Holland, Mich., remonstrating against foreign hides was referred to the Committee on Finance. 724 CONGRESSiONAL RECORD- SENATE. .APRIL 15,
Mr. BACON presented the petition of B. A. Denmark, :p:t:esident ~eady been taken. The committee asks to be excused from the of the Citizens' Bank of Savannah, and of !ffill~Y other. CitiZens 9£ further consideration of the bill, and that it be indefinitely post Georgia~ praying for the enactment of leg1$lation creating certain poned. reforms in our national currency and banking la\Ys, and authpr The report was agreed to. izing- the President of the United States to appoint a comm:l.smon Mr. HAWLEY, I am also dh·ected by the Committee on .1\Iili as proposed by the Indianapolis monetary convention; which was tary Affqirs, to whom was referred the bill (S.191) to remove the referred to the Committee on Finance. charge of desertion from the military record of Joshua B. Web He also presented vetitions of the Bibb Land and Lumber Com ster, to. report it adversely~ The relief sought has been obtained pany. of Cox· of the-Union Lumber Company, of lllinpire; ofJ. S. :In the meantime from the War Department under the general law Bailey & Co.; of l\IcDonalds Mip.;, of the Perkins Lumbe~ Opularize the Lincoln, Nebr., remonstrating .against the enac~ent of legisla tion intended to destroy the present system -of ticket brokerage; bread foods of the United States among the peoples of the Orient; which was referred the Committee on Interstate Commerce. which was read twice by its title, and referred to the Committee to on Agriculture and Forestry. · Mr. CHILTON presented sundry memorials of citizens of ~al Ias Ta'l. and other cities in the United States, remonstrating 1\Ir . .l\icMILLAN introduced a joint resolution (S. R . 34) author aO'~inst the enactment of legislation intended to -destroy the pres izing the Commis:sioners of the District of Columbia to alter, e~t system of ticket brokerage; which were referr~ to the Com amend oT repeal certain health ordinances; which w.as read twice mittee on Interstate Commerce. by its 'title, and, wi~h ~e accompa-p.~ng papers, referred to the He also presented a petition of members of the Epworth League Oomm'ittee on the DIStrict of ColumOia. of Palestine, Tex., pTaying for the enactment of a Stmday-rest AMENDMENT TO THE TARIFF BILL. law in the District of Columbia; which wa.s referred to the Com Mr. PETTIGREW submitted an amendment intended to be pro. mittee on the District of Columbia. posed by him to the bill {H. R. 379) to provide revenue foT the He also p1·esented a petition of membe~sof theEpwor~hLea&'ue Government and to encourage the industries of the United States; of Palestine, Tex., praying for the appo~ntment of an rmpartialJ which was referred to the Committee on Finance, and ordered to nonpartisan industrial commission; which was refen·ed to the be printed. Committee on Education and Labor. .AMENDYENTB TO APPROPRI.A.TIO:-i BILLS. He also presented a petition of members of the Epw?rth.League of Palestine, Tex., praying for the enactment of leg1slation pro Mr. WELLINGTON submitted. an amendment intended to be hibiting interstate gambling by telegraph, telephone, or other proposed by him to the general deficiency appropriation bill; which wise; which was 1·eferred to the Comnnttee on Interstate Com- was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. mm·ce. Mr. LODGE submitted an amendment intended t6 be proposed REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. by him to the sundry civil npl!ropriation bill; which was r:cferred Mr. GEAR, from the Committee on Pacific Ra!Jl:oads, submit- to the Committee on Appropnat1ons, and ordered to be prmted. ted a report to accompany the bill (S. 120) autho.nzmg the Se~e- :Ur. THURSTON submitted .an amendment intended to be pro tary of the Treasury to effect an adjustm~nt between the .:Umted posed by him to the sundry civil appropriatio;n bill; which was States and the Sioux City and P.acific R.ailway Com_PaJl! m rela- ordered to be printed, and, with the accompanymg paper, referred tion to certain bonds issued by the Umted States m. a1d of the to the Committee on Appropriations. construction of said railway, heretofore reported.by him. . . DELAWARE, CADDO, AND WICHITA L~DI.A.NS. 1\Ir. HAWLEY. I am directed ~Y the ~ommittee on 1.1}-litaq; d f . ti h' h A .A?,.;,.s to whom was referred the blll (S. 353) to grant a nght OJ. 1\fr. PETTIGREW submitte the o11 owmg I'eSO1 u on; w IC A.l.l.a..u. ' R ti t s ka; was considered by unanimou-s consent~ .and agreed to: way thl·ough the Fort Spokane Military eserva on, a. P? :ne, Resol-ved Th..1.t the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to send to in the State of W ashlngton, to the !?t. Paul, ]1inneapo~ and the s~ a oo~y of the testim.Gily a.n~ statements of th~ Dola.waro. Cadc;to, Manitoba Rail way Company, to report It adversely.. The b~ was anti Wj..chita. Indmns ~t a council helq with th~ repreJ?entativos of the Intenot' introduced by an oversight, as the action sought m the b1ll has . l.Je:i>artment at Sugar Creek, Oklahoma TerritorY on the 2!th of March, lSP't 1897. CONGRESSIONAL. RECORD-SENATE. 725
THE LA..KE BORGNE OUTLET. ~enatorfro..!l} Washington [Mr. WILSON]. Inhisabsence, Iwith- Mr. PETTIGREW submitted the following resolution; which hoJ~ my VQte. · was referred to the Committee ori. Printing: Mr. WELLIJ:i{GTON (when his name was called). I have a Wher ea'3 the Senate Cornm..ittee on Commerce, on April 25, 1~90 ~d the general pair with the Senatol' from North Carolina [Mr. BuTLER]. early part of May of th~ same "fear, gave a hearing on Senate bill No. 2792 to I do not see him present,. and therefore withhold my vote. make the Lake·Borgne outlet· an(l The roll call was concluded. \Vher ea...~ the 10,000 copieS of said hearing which were printed at that time have been exhausted~ and ¥r. BERRY (after having voted in the negative). \Vhen I Wher eas the testimony t4~e,ll ~t tb~~ l!ea;rtng ~ 9f gr~~ v!llu~ in. ~el'Jll~· yo~ed I had forgotten that I am paired with the Senator from ing the ca.use and remedy for the present very tlestructive ftood m the Mif!. Colorado [.lYir. TELLE~]. I t4erefore withdraw my vote and an sissippi Valley: Therefore, nounce my pair. If the Senator from Colorado were present, he Resol1;ed by the Senate of the Unitffd.StQ-tes, ~t 101000 COt>ies of said-hear ing, together with the views of tJ,la rirlnoritY. on the sa~d Se~te bill ~92 of would vote "yea," and I should vote "nar." the Fifty.first Congress, be reprin~d at thiS time for tM u.Se of the Senate: :Mr. KENNEY. I have a general pair with the junior Senator PACIFIC COAST DEEP-WATER HARBOR. from Pennsylvania [Mr. PENROSE]. As he is not present, I will Mr. JONES of Arkan8as subm,itted the following resolution; withhold my vote. which was referred to the Committee on :Printing: Mr. S:S:OUP. I am paired with the senior Senator from Cali R esolt·ed, That there be printed fQr the use of the Senate, to Qe de]Jyered fornia r:Mr. Warm], and therefore withhold my vote. to the superii;l:tendent of the !lOCllll\ent room, 000 :;tdd~ti9nal cofrl.es 0( t,P.e re; 1tfr. CLAY (after having voted in the affirmative). I inquire if port ID.Ilde by the-board appomted. to locate a deep-water harbor at Port Los the junior Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. LODGE] has voted? I Angeles, OJ\' at San Pedro, Cal., under the provisions of the rivei· and harbor saw him present in the Chamber this morning. act of June 3, 1896. The VICE-PRESIDENT. He has not voted. DOCUMENTS RELATIVE TO INTERSTATE-COMMERCE ACT. Mr. CLAY. I desire to withdraw my vote, as I am paired with :Mr. FORAKER. I ask unanimo~ con,!:jent to hftve reprinted that Senator. for t4,e us~ pf the Senate three certain public documents, the sup Mr. CAFFERY (afterhayjng votec}in the negative). I desire to ply of wh1ch is e~hausted. know if the Senator from Michigan [Mr. BURRows] has voted. The PRESID~G OFFICER (Mr. FAULKNER in the chair). The VICE-PRESIDENT. The junior Senator from Michigan The Secretary will stilte the documents. [.1\{r. BuRRows] has not voted. The SECRETARY. Report to accompany House bill No. 7273, to :1\fr. CAFFERY. I am paired with that Senator. I withdraw amend ~n act enti~led "An act to regulate commerce," approved my vote. February 4, 1887, etc.; se<;ond, H~arings before the Committee on The vote was recapitulated by the Secretary. Interstate Commerce, United States Senate; third, Railway Pools: Mr. McBRIDE. In order io make a quorum, I will vote. I An Argum~nt before the Comiilittee of the United States Senate vote '' yea." on Interstate Commerc~, by(}. R. Blanchard. Mr. CAFFERY. Iwillvotetomakeaquorum. Ivote''nay.'1 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio asks The result was announced-yea:J 33,. nays 13; as follows: unanimous eonsent that three documents may be reprinted. Is there objection? YEAS--33. 1\Ir, GfiA.Nl)LER. I understand the Senator desires to have all Allen, Frye, Mills, Sewe11 three of the enrose-, 1 Olay1 Hoar, Perkins, ~~~~- for other purpases, the pending question, pemg on the amendinent Cullom, Jones, Nev. Platt. Conn. reported by the Committee on Appropriations, to insert on page 66, Daniel, Kenney, Roach, after line 25! DaVis, Kyle, Shoup, That the mineral lands of the Uncompahgr:e Indian Re:;e1·vation in the So the ru.nendment was agreed to. State of Utab are hereby declared ol'en to public e~t:,r under ~e mineral· The VICE-PRESIDENT. The reading of the bill wm· be pro land laws of th~ ~&ted States, and no one :Person Blli:W. be allowed to ~a.ke ceeded with. more than one 1 on lands containing gj..l.Sonite. And on and after Jam~· ary 1, 189 , ~~oll of said reservation una.llotted to Indians shall be open to public The reading of the bill was resumed and continu,ed to line 5 on entry under the land laws of the United States. page 71. - Mr. JON~S of Arkansas. I withdraw the point of order I made The VICE-PRESIDENT. The hour of 2 o'clock having ar on the pending amendment yesterday, so that a vote may be taken rived, the Chan· lays befpre- the Senate the unfinished business, directly upon the a:p1.endment. It will be as well to have-the vote which is the bankruptcy bill. It will be stated. taken on th.e alllendment as on the point of order, I Stippose, The SECRETARY. A bill (&. 1035) to establish uniform laws on The VlOE-PRESIDENT. The point of order is withdrawn. the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States. The question is on agreeing to the amendment reported by the :1\fr. NELSON. I ask unanimous consent that that bill be laid committee. aside informally without losing its place. Mr. BATE. On that I ask for the yeas and nays, The VICE-PRESIDENT. If there be no objection, that will be The yea~ f~>nd nays were ordered; and the Secretary proceeded to the order. call the roll. Mr. TURPIE. On pag~ 71, line 1, after the word "claims," I Mr. FORAKER (when his name was called). I have a general move that the word "upon" be stricken out and the word pair with the junior Senator from South Carolina fMr. EARLEl, "against" inserted; so as to make the proviso read: who is not here. I will therefore withhold my vote. I should That the Secretary of the Interior shall take a receipt from the person so vote '' yea" lf he were present. R..p})ointed to r eceive said money for the said Old Settlers or Cherokee Indians Mr. HANE?BROUGH (whenhisnamewascalled). Iampaired and every person receiving the sums of money herein specified shall receipt with the senior Senator from Virginia [Mr. DANIEL], I transfer in full for all claims against the aforesaid fund, etc. my pair to the junior Senator from Ohio [Mr. HANNA],and will The amendment was agreed to. vote'' yea." The reading of the bill was resumed. The next amendment of Mr. McBRIDE (when his name was called). I am paired with the Committee on Appropriations was, on page 72, line 4, after the senior Senator from Mississippi [Mr. GEORGE]. the word ''area," to insert ''and the court shall also take into con Mr. McMILLAN (when his naine was called). I am paired sideration and make due allowance for the fact that said Indians with the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. L~DSAY]. Not knowing were given a share in the proceeds of the lands sold and disposed how he would vote, I withhold my vote. of under and pursuant to the provisions of an act entitled 'An act Mr. PASCO (when his name was called). lam paired withthe for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa Indians in the State CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. APRIL 15, of Minnesota, 'approved January 14, 1889;" so as to make the clause ernment and create a new policy as regards the Indian tribes, and read: especially one tribe to which' I called attention when this matter That the claim of the Fond duLac band of Chippewa Indians of Lake Su was under consideration before, and that is the Osage Indians. I perior for compensation arising from the alleged difference in area of the reservation as actually set apart to them and that provided to be set apart, understand that those Indians, the full-blood Indians especially, under the fourth subdivision of article 2 of the treaty between the United in the Osage Nation, have desired to be heard on this question, States and the Chippewas of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, made and and have not had an opportunity to be heard. I ask the Senator concluded at Lapointe, in the State of Wisconsin, on the 30th day of Septem from South Dakota if my information on that point is correct? ber, in the year 1854, proclaimed January 29,1855, be, and the same is hereby, referred to the Court of Olaims; and jurisdiction is hereby conferred on said Mr. PETTIGREW. I will say that this matter has been before court, with right of appeal as in other cases, to hear and determine the dif the Senate and the House of Representatives since January last; ference, if any, between the area of the reservation actually set apart to said that representatives of the Osage Indians have been aware of it; Indians and that provided to he set apart in said treaty. if any, the said action to 1>e brought by the said Fond du Lac band of Chippewa Indians against the that they have had abundant opportunity to be heard, and have United States by petition, verified nuder oath by any duly authorized attor filed protests against this provision of the bill. No formal hear ney for said Indians, within thirty days from the passage of this act; and in ing, however, has been had. hearing and deter~ining t.he said matter the court shall take into considera tion and determine whether since the date of said treaty there has been any Mr. GALLINGER. That confirms the information which has eg,uitable adjustment made to said Indians in whole or in part for the alleged come to me. But here is a tribe of Indians who have rights under ~fference in area, and the court shall also take into consideration and make the laws of the United States, and thepropositionin this provision due allowance for the fact that said Indians were given a share in the pro ceeds of the lands sold and disposed of under and pursuant to the provisions is to despoil them of those rights, and yet they have never had an of an act entitled ' An act for the relief and civilization of the Chippewa In opportunity to be heard before a committee of Con~ess. It looks dians in the State of Minnesota," a}\proved January U, 1889. The Attorney to me like a very great hardship to impose upon these Indians. General shall appear and answer said petition within thirty days from the 1!ling thereof, unless the time for pleading be extended by the court for The proposition embraced in this amendment, if I understand it cause shown; and said action shall have precedence in said court, and when correctly, is that white men may go into these tribes and marry completed the court shall make a full report to Congress. Indian women, and by that marriage they come into possession of ' The amendment was agreed to. -all of the property rights that the full-blood Indians themselves The next amendment was, on page 76, line 2, before the word possess. The fact is that these white men, with a greater degree "by,'' to strike out" either;" and in the same line, after the word of intelligence than those Osage Indians possess, have gone into ."blood," to strike out" or descent;" so as to make the clause read: that tribe, have married Indian women, and are in a fair way to get possession of all the property of those tribes, including the That all children born of a marriage between a white man and an Indian woman by blood and not by adoptiou, and who is at this time recognized by reservation. I speak especially concerning the Osage Indians, the tribe shall have the same rights and privileges to the property of the tribe because I have made a little investigation of this matter. · io which the mother belongs by blood as any other member of the tribe, and I look upon this controversy as a very serious controversy, and no prior act of Congress shall be construed as to debar such child of such t-ight. as one that is of sufficient importance to cause us to halt in deal The amendment was agreed to. ing with this matter until we can come into possession of all the The reading of the bill was resumed and continued to the end facts relating to it. I say again that the questioll is whether of line 3, on page 85. white men by intermarriage shall take possession of the property of the Osage Nation and absolutely wipe it out. The half-bloods Mr. PETTIGREW. On page 85, line 2, after the word "para and outside people who now control everything and want to break graph," I move to strike out "therefrom" and insert "thereof." up the tribe and gather in their property-some eight or ten mil The VlCE-PRESIDENT. The amendment will be stated. lion dollars, as I understand, in addition to the reservation itself The SECRETARY. On page 85, line 2, after the word "para and who are now in possession of all the machinery of the reser graph," ·it is proposed to strike out "therefrom" and insert vation, are pushing this proposition and doing their utmost to get "thereof;" so as to read: it through before the full-bloods generally know what is going on. That section 9 of said act be amended by striking out from the last para- graph thereof the following proviso, etc. ' Mr. President, it is all wrong, in my judgment, to permit this thing to be done without a full hearing and without giving the The amendment was agreed to. full-blood IndianH an opportunity to present their side of this case The reading of the bill was concluded. to a committee of Congress, if not to Congress itself. It is one, Mr. GALLINGER. On pages 75 and 76, I move to strike out as I look at it, of the series of abuses which have crept in in deal lines 23. 24, and 25 on page 75, and lines 1, 2, 3, and 4 on page 76. ing especially with the Osage tribe of Indians in this country, and The VICE-PRESIDENT. The amendment will be stated. I say it is right that we should he1·e and now protest against a The SECRETARY. It is proposed to amend by striking out, on wrong of this kind being perpetrated upon those people without page 75, beginning with line 23, the following: giving them the fullest possible opportunity to present their side That all children born of a marriage between a white man and an Indian of this controversy and to have it adjudged upon its merits. woman by blood and not by ado:{>tion, and who is at this time recognized by the tribe, shall have the same r1ght.a and privileges to the property of the I called attention when this question was up a few weeks ago to tribe to which the mother belongs by blood as any other member of the some other abuses which were being carried on in that Osage tribe, and no prior act of Congress shall be construed as to debar such child Nation, and my;further investigation of this matter has persuaded of such right. me that the situation there is one which is shamefully corrupt, Mr. GALLINGER. I ask the Senator in charge of the bill if and that we ought in every possible way in legislating for those he has any objection to this portion of the bill going out? people to protect them against the invasion of the white race and Mr. PETTIGREW. I have decided objection to this portion of against the impositions that are being practiced upon them in the bill going out. The Committee on Appropriations have agreed their dealings with people who are more intelligent than they. to the bill in this form, and I am here to defend it. This provi Now, it is proposed that these adventurers, these so-called white sion has been placed in the bill by the House of Representatives, men, shall be permitted to go into that tribe and for the purpose modified somewhat from its original form, and I am satisfied that of gain, and nothing else, shall marry Indian women and then if this provision is stricken out, the House of Representatives will shall take possession of the machinery of the reservation, shall pot agree to the amendment, and the bill must then go into con take possession of the property of those Indians, and shall abso ference. We struggled over this matter in the last session of Con lutely cont:J:ol the affairs of that tribe. gress, and in this form it was finally agreed to; in this form the I do not know how other Senators may feel upon this question, bill went to the President. I therefore hope the Senate will not but it does seem to me that we are doing a great injustice to a change the provision, but pass it as it came from the committee, poor, ignorant, inoffensive people when we legislate in this way so that it will be unnecessary to have a conference between the and rob them of rights which are guaranteed to them by the laws two Houses on the bill. of the United States as the laws stand at the present time. Mr. GALLINGER. Mr. President, I call the attention of the I want to ask the S.enator from South Dakota if this legislation Senator to the fact that this very provision has been amended, and will not work wrong to the Indians in their property rights, and that the bill will necessarily have to go to conference. So that if it will not ultimately demoralize and destroy their tribal rela point has no weight. tions? I want to repeat that question, and I want the Senator from When this Indian appropriation bill was before under consider South Dakota to answer it with his usual frankneEs. I want to ation, I took occasion to criticise some of its provisions, and I have ask him if this legislation, if it is carried out, will not work wrong no disposition to delay the Senate at this time in making opposi to the full-blood Indians in their property rights and ultimately tion to very many of the features of this bill which I think are destroy and demoralize their tribal r elations? My informaticn is absolutely objectionable. I remember that my colleague [Mr. that that will be the inevitable result, and I sayit is a wrong that CHANDLER], in discussing this bill, called it "a bill of abomina we ought not to permit at the present time by incorporating a tions." I will not go so far as that, but I will say that I think we provision of this kind into an Indian appropriation bill. have made very little. progress in dealing intelligently with these If it is desirable, ·Mr. President, to change the law as concerns great questions concerning the Indians, whom we are in the habit these poor Indians and so legislate that white men shall invade of calling the wards of the nation. their reservation and take possession of their property, let the But this particular provision, as I understand the matter-and Senator from South Dakota bring a bill before Congress for that if I am incorrect, the Senator from South Dakota will1 of course, purpose, and let us discuss it upon its merit~. ! know the Sena correct me-proposes to reverse the established laws of the Gov- tor from South Dakota will say that this provision is in the bill as 1897. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SE~ATE. 727 it came from the other House. So it is, but it ought not to be in the Senate has been somewhat careless in permitting these bills to the House bill. It is general.legislation that ought to be consid go through without discussing the various propositions which do ered in a separate bill, and which ought to be considered on its concern the interests of the Indians of this country. merits, without reference to the appropriations that we are mak Mr. President, the Senator calls attention to a fact that I was , ing for the Indian tribes, who, we say, are wards of the nation. conversant with, and that is that the Osage Indians are among the , Mr. President, I say that the Osage Indians-and I take it that richest people of this country. Beyond a doubt that is true; and this will apply with e.qual force to other tribes-have never had it is that very fact that is attracting these adventm·ers, white an opportunity to come before a committee of Congress to pre~ent people, to that country, seeking to marry Indian women for the their objections and give their reasons why this proposed legiSla purpose of coming into possession of the property of the full-blood tion does a great wrong to them and ought not to be enacted into Indians, and of controlling, as they are to-day absolutely control law. It will work hardship upon these people; it will deprive ling, the machinery of the reservation and dominating the full them of their vested rights; it will put their reservation and all blood Indians, who, I think, ought to have some rights in the the machinery of their government into the hands of white adven reservation that has been accorded to them. I say it is simply 'tm·ers, and will result in a wrong to these people that I think because these people are rich people that these adventm·ous whites, every Senator ought to resent; and every Senator, in my judg- good-for-nothing men, as a general thing, go there and connect ment, if he desires to do exact justice to these poor, ignorant themselves in marriage with Indian women for the purpose of Indians, wUl vote for the proposition that I have made to strike getting possession of what does not belong to them, but which these few lines from the bill which is now under consideration. does by right and by law, as it stands to-day, belong to the Indians I know, Mr. President, that the Senator from South Dakota themselves. says he is here to defend this provision; that he finds it in the bill, I am not convinced by the argument of the distinguished Sena and that the committee have so reported it. That is true, but I tor from Arkansas that any substantial proposition that I have have very grave doubts whether the Senator fro~ South Dakota, made concerning this matter is incorrect. I believe this is vicious in his cool moments, when he sits down and considers that prop legislation; and I want to ask the Senator from Arkansas, and I osition in its relations to the rights of these Indians, would say to want to ask the Senator from South Dakota in charge of this bill, me in private conversation that he believed that provision ought what great harm will come to anybody if this provision goes out to be in this bill. I do not see how any Senator, when he stops and this matter is delayed a single year? and considers calmly and coolly and fairly the question whether Attention has· been called to this matter. The Osage Indians these Indians are entitled to our protection by the legislation that doubtless have some knowledge to-day of the fact that this matter we enact here, can come to the conclusion that we ought to is under controversy, under discussion in the Senate. They have, despoil them in this way, and that we ought to take from them I understand, recently sent a representative here, a gentleman who rights that are now guaranteed by the laws of the land, and that is pleading their cause; bu.t they have not had an opportunity to we ought to reverse th~ policy of the Government, that we ought come; they have not been invi ted to come and present their own case. to change the laws of this land by a provision of this kind that is The white men come here. They are intelligent; they understand included in an appropriation bill, where it has no right to be what is necessary to be done to secure an advantage in this con under the rules of either House of Congress. troversy, and they have been here, but the Indians have not been I trust, Mr. President, that my motion will be adopted. here. Mr. BERRY. I was not present when the Senator from New Now, Mr. President I say I want to ask the Senat.or from Ar Hampshire [Mr. GALLINGER] proposed his amendment, and I kansas what harm will come to anybody if we strike this provision should like to have it again stated. from the bill and delay this controversy a single year and give The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. FAULKNER in the chair). these Indians an opportunity to be heard, either through their The amendment proposed by the Senator from New Hampshire representative or by a delegation of their own number? will be stated. · Mr. BERRY. Mr. President, I would say, in answer to the The SECRETARY. On page 75, beginning with line 23, it is pro Sellator from New Hampshire, that the simple proposition is ;posed to strike out: whether the provision in the bill is a right proposition or a wrong one. If it is right, then it ought to be adopted, and the sooner it That all children born of a marriage between a white man and an Indian woman by blood and not by adoption, and who is at this time recognized by is adopted the better; if it is wrong, it ought not to be adopt-ed a the tribe, shall have the same rights and privileges to the property of the year from now or at any other time. tribe to which the mother belongs by blood as any other member of the tribe, Mr. GALLINGER. That is what t hope to prevent, its adop a'nd no prior act of Congress shall be construed as to debar such child of tion in a year from now. such right. Mr. BERRY. I repeat that that is not the rule generally Mr. BERRY. Mr. President, I did not hear the first part of throughout the tribe, and I restate what I said before. In the the argument of the Senator from New Hampshire, but in the Five Civilized Tribes, with whose affairs I am more familiar than latter part of his statement he said that this provision would do I am with those of the Osages, they have the rule that the Indian great wrong and great injustice. I must confess that I fail to see child by blood inherits from the mother, and I will say to the Sen wherein the wrong and injustice consist. If these children are ator, too, that he is mistaken in another respect. I can not speak the children of an Indian woman, it seems to me, by every rule of so clearly for the Osages as for the Five Civilized Tribes. There right, they ought to inherit from the mother. If she is entitled are a great many white men, not adventurers, but men of high to receive a certain part of that fund, why should not her child character, who have intermarried with Indians in the Five Civ have equal rights? That is the rule with the Five Civilized Tribes, ilized Tribes. 'PJnd it is the rule under the common law that a child inherits from A great many of those Indian girls have been educated at the mother. It is the rule everywhere. Staunton, Va., and Vassar, and other colleges throughout the When the Senator says that this provision seeks to deprive the country, and they are accomplished ladies, as much so as any other l>oor Indians of a part of that to which they are entitled, I must ladies in this country. They have married white men. Their confess that I fail to see the force of such an argument. If an children inherit in that Territory, and I can not see where any ~dian woman marries a white man, should her childre11 be dis injustice is worked there. I do think that it is an absolute in inherited and lose their rights where she is now recognized as a. justice to put a penalty on the women ~n the Osage country and member of the tribe? say if they marry white men their children shall be disinherited Whe11 the Senator Sli\YS it will despoil these poor people, I for that act. I think they should be treated precisely as such ;think that be is not familiar with the Osage country. The Osage women are treated everywhere else. It seems to me that the in Indians ar~. 1 think, the richest people on the face o~ the globe, justice is the other way, when you seek to deprive those children 'certainly the richest people in the United States. There is no of the rights the mother had there and which they would have in ':immber of white people and there is no tribe of Indians through any other country except the Osage Nation. out this country who have .the same amount of wealth as the Mr. GALLINGER. I have no disposition to prolong this dis Osage Indians. cussion, but I wish to restate a proposition I made a moment ago, It seems to me the provision is absolutely just and fair, and I and it is fortified by referring to the last two lines in the para am utterly unable to see wherein the wrong consists. But it graph: would seein to me that it would be an injustice and a great wrong And no prior act of Congress shall be construed as to debar such child of if one of these Indian women sees proper to marry a white man such right. 'that her children should be deprived of their inheritance and the We have legislation on this subject-that legislation is on the right go to the other children under a marriage to an Indian. statute books of the United States-and I desire to repeat that if I think ~he provision as it stands is a very proper one and ought we want to reverse this policy, if we want to change our laws re to pass, whether it be in an appropriation bill or anywhere else. garding this important que3tion, let us do it by a separate bill, Mr. GALLINGER. The Senator from Arkansas is much more which will have consideration before the Senate and before the familiar with this Indian question than I profess to be. I have House of Representatives, which will enable us to debate it on its been learning something during the past year in reference to this merits, and not have it smuggled in here on an appropriation bill, legislation, and if I remain here during my present term I hob~.;k where it has no right to be. . learn more. I think there is a. great deal to be learned, and It · I do not care whether the paragraph in question originated in 728 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. APRIL 15, this body or in some other body. I say it is vicious legislation to .Mr. PETTIGREW. This provision was quite thoroughly dis come here with an appropriation bill containing a proposition cussed in committee, and several members of Congress from New that reverses the legislation of this country-that gives us a new York came before the committee and satisfied the committee of policy in dealing with these poor Indians. I do make another conference that ~he provision should remain in the bill. appeal for the Osage tribe of Indians, rich as they may be, abso- Mr. QUAY. That is in the committee of conference? lutely living under conditions which are an outrage to the legisla Mr. PETTIGREW. Yes; during the last session. tion of Con:gress, and which ought to be corrected in some way. Mr. QUAY. What about the discussion in the Committee on Under those circumstances, in my judgment, it is all wrong to Appropl'iations of the Senate and on the floor of the Senate? insist that there shall be continued in an appropriation bill a propo 1\Ir. PETTIGREW. To give a history of the provision, I will sition of this kind, which does nullify or change the solemn acts of say that the provision was in the bill last winter when it came Congress that have been placed upon the statute books for the over from the House. The committee, without discus ion, with protection of these poor people. out information in regard to the subject, moved to strike it out. 1\Ir. President, I do not know that my appeal will have any It was so reported to the Senate, and the Senata adopted the weight, but I do know from what little investigation I have been report of the committee and did strike it out of the bill. able to make of this question that if this proposition remains ·in Afterwards, in conference between the two Houses, the subject the bill wrong will be done to the poor people who have the right was fully and thoroughly discussed, and the conference commit to expect to be protected by legislation here, and who have not tee decided that it should remain in the bill, and it remained in been given the poor right to come in and present their case before the bill, which was passed at the last session and went to the a committee of Congress. President. At the present session the House passed it as a portion 1\lr. PETTIGREW. Let us see just what this provision 1s. of the bill, and it comes to the Senate again. The committee is of Under existing law an Indian woman who marries a white the opinion that it should remain in the bill. man, -a citizen of the United States, becomes a citizen of the 1\fr. QUAY. I am of the opinion that it ought to go out, and I United States1 and her children become citizens of the United doubt very much whether the Committee on Appropriations will States, reversmg the tribal rule in this respect. The children sustain the statements of the Senator in charge of the bill. therefore become heirs to the woman's individual property which The Seneca Indians are the western tribe of the Iroquois Nation. was segregated from the tribal property, either lands or money; They are settled on the line between Pennsylvania and New York, but tmder existing law the children would not be entitled to in where the Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations are located. herit the interest of the mother in the property held by the tribe They preserve their old tribal constitution, and a council of the in the aggregate, or to the tribal property, or to the reservation, nation is their legislative body. Some five years ago a man named or to a fund in the Treasury of the United States for the benefit Barker procured a lease from them of a portion of their territory of those people as a tribe. for the purpose of boring for oil, testing its oil-producing qualities. This provision undertakes to reverse or repeal the statute in this It is on tbe verge of the great oil belt in Pe1JJ1Sylvania. His lease respect, and provides that the children of an Indian woman by a lapsed; failed for want of his fulfillment oms conditions. white man shall inherit the tribal property; that the children One of the Indians then took up, under their constitution, a. shall inherit the mother's interest in the reservation or in what mining right to bore and test for oil on part of their territory. ever funds orpropertythetribe may holdor own as a tribe. That He operated year after year, spent all his money, and finally is the simple proposition, then, whether the Senate desires that induced some Pennsylvanians in the northern part of the State to the rule now established, the statute of 1888, shall be repealed, reenforce him pecuniarily to make a final test. The last attempt and this provision enacted by which the children of a white man, produced oil in paying quantities. Then a corporation known as a citizen of the United States, shall inherit the tribal property of the Seneca Oil Company came in and produced an assignment of the Indian tribes. So far a-s I am concerned, I am willing to leave the lapsed lease of Mr. Barker, went into the council of the Seneca. that question to the Senate. Nation, bribed them, made some dJ:unk, and they passed an ordi The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing. to nance of ratification, which the nation itself repudiates. the amendment submitted by the Senator from New Hampshire. In a subsequent grant to the Seneca Oil Company they allege · The amendment was rejected. that 55,000 acres of the best land of their reservation are subjected Mr. QUAY. I desire to call the attention of the Senator in to the testing process of the Seneca Oil Company; that is to say, charge of the bill to the provision embraced in that part of it be that no Indian is safe from the invasion of the company. They ginning on page73, at line 16, and continuing to line 14 on page 74, have a right to go and bore in his dining room if they please. providing for the ratification of a lease alleged to have been made I yesterday received a letter from one of the Indians which, in with one William B. Barker by the Seneca Nation of Indians. hie; own way, explains his position, and I will be glad if the Secre When the bill was before the Senate at the last session, that ques tal·y will read it. tion was thoroughly examined by the Committee on Appl·opria The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Secretary will read as re tions. It was alleged by the Seneca Nation, who were represented quested. in person or by papers before the committee, that tli.e agreement The Secretary read as follows: which was sought to be ratified was spawned at midnight in a CARROLLTON, N.Y., Ap1'il19, 1897. bribed and drunken council of their nation and was repudiated DEAR SIR: I have been shown a copy of your letter to the Hon. Lewis by them; that it was a fraud which would deprive them of the Emery, jr., of Bradford, Pa., dated the 2d instant, which relates to the Sen- · control of 55,000 acres of the best land in their reservation. The eca Oil Company s oil lease as purporting to be the assignees of the Barker committee struck it out, but by some means it was reintroduced oil lease. I am interested with the Seneca. Nation in being a member of the same; into the bill in eommittee of conference. It ought to go out also interested with the Hon. Lewis Emery, jr., in the development of the now. small territory for oil purposes for the purposes of mutual profit with said The Senator in charge of the bill knows the facts, and it seems Emery, the Seneca Nation and myself. Briefly stated, will say tha~ in Jnly, 1895, by and with the advice of some to mEl he ought to agree without any discussion that the provision of the councilors, I filed a" mme and mineral claim" in the Seneca Nation's should pass out now. I move to strike it out. If necessary, I book Qf records, describing a certain territory, and -paid the $1 fees for the have the papers to confirm what I have stated. r ecord, in which, as stated in the claim, the object was to develop and test the territor-y described in said claim for oil, gas, o'r other minerals of value, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment proposed by and forthWith commenced operation therein. One well was drilled in .Au the Senator from Pennsylvania will be stated. gust, 1895, within said described claim, in which nothing in paying quanti The SECRETARY. After line 15, on page 73, it is proposed to ties was found, and lost the investment. I got up another party to drill another test well, and that went to pieces before we could do much. Then I strike out: went and organized another party to drill, and designated two plaoes to drill, Whereas the Seneca. Indians in councilhJanuary 3,1893, duly entered into and by our choice we drill on the State side of the 1·eservation a distance of an agreement with William B. Barker w ereb:y_ said nation leased to said 302 feet, so as to test both the reservation at that point as well as the State Barker the Oil Springs, the Cattaraugus, an~ All.egany !aser~atio~, situate side, and found oil, but not in paying quantities, and the parties not all ca.n in western New York, for the purpose of oormg and testmg sa1d terr1tory for stand more loss, and there baing so much risks to drill in undeveloped coun gas and oil, under certain conditions therein stated, said agreement having try that the company went to pieces again,· and then I busied myself again in been ratified and confirmed by act of Congress; and finding new :parties to drill. Whereas the assignee of said lease has re-leased to the Seneca. Indians cer This time It is the present -parties, the Hon. L . Emery, jr., and his friends. tain portions of the lands and reservations, included or referred to in said On the 11)th day of last Oot<>ber I had the councillors sign a paper to allow me lease, and the council of the Seneca. Nation of Indians, by a resolution adopt~d to have and employ skilled white labor and machinery for the purposes of by said council, on or about the 3d day of December 1896, in aU things rati drilling and developing the territory in said claim. On ~he 3d day of Decem fied, confirmed, and extended as to the lessee thereof and as to the a~gne~s bel' .laSt, on account of finding the oil near the reservation, together with thereof, the said lease, and empowered and authorized them to fulfill the said other developments, and such strong pressure was brought to bear against lease, the same and to the same extent as the original lessee might or could the council of the Sene~~ation, in which case whisky a.'l well as money was have done, when said le::u;e was executed: Now, therefore, The action afore used, btibed the council into granting to the said Seneca. Oil Company an oil said of the lessee of said lease and of the council of the Seneca Nation is lease1 which covered my filed claim, was granted, and in that way what debt! hereby ratified and confirmed as the same has been sanctioned and ratified was m and all expense!; and time I had been to since I fu·st filed my cla.im by the said resolution of the said Seneca. Nation. seems to have been lost. I am indebted to the Hon. L. Emory, jr., and his friends nearly $1,000 and 1\Ir. QUAY. The Senator from South Dakota is conversant there is no way to get that back except in continued operation of erud terrik;ry. with the facts in relation this clause of the treaty and knows I have stopped the oil on the Seneca Oil Company's operation on the strength to of my claun. I had a derrick erected and other buildings nearly completed that it should go out, and I tl·ust he will not object to the amend at the time the council grant-ed the lease over me to said Seneca. Oil Company, ment. and to show what methods they use in dealing with us Indians, the Seneca 1897~ CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 729
Oil Company and its servants went and chopped down my derrick and de Affairs, showing his judgment of this transaction. I will read it, molished all the buildings and totally wrecked it, and done me hundreds of and then I will ask that another protest attached to it be read: dollars of damages, and I can not do anything to red~ess my wr_ongs~ as t:~?-e county judge here is the _b1·oth er of o:qe of the parties composmg tne ~Id OLEAN, N.Y., December 4, 1896. Seneca Oil Company; and m fact an Ind~. has no show for dama~es a~mst To D. M. BROWNING, o. white man in this country. And now It lS rumore!l tha~ no Ind1an will b~ Commissionel· of Indian .Affairs, Washington, D. C.: allowed to settle any more and improve the lands m which the Seneca 9il Yesterday an oil lease was granted by the Seneca council of reservation ... Company have leased unless the Seneca Oil ComJ?any at·e first asked and gtve lands to the Seneca Oil Company. It was procured by the most notorious consent, probably for consideration, because, as lS said, the oil company may bribery; the c6uncil refused. to consider leases much more favorable to the w ant to locate and drill at such points as the Indian may want to settle, and nation; the Secretary of the Interior will be applied to immediately for his thereby rises the prospects of having to pay an oil company before the Indian approval. can clear it up for farming purposes on his own lands. AGT. JEWELL. I sincerely hope ~ha~ you will truly helP. Mr. Emery, jr., as_it also helps the Seneca Nation, which lS stirred up now Without abatement smce last Decem L'\'DI.A.N OFFICE, Washington, Decembe1· 22, 1896. ber. Have you obtained the copies of the protest the S~nec~ people have A true copy. lodged in the hands of the Clerk of the Senate? as that will gtye you an e~ C. F. LARRABEE, tended knowledge of the feelings here and the methods used m the ~oune1l Chief of Division. in obtaining said oil lease. It is fraudulent throughout. The Seneca Oil Com pany de~nds entirely upon Congress affirming the lease, and they thereby The Indians in mass convention, in addition to the paper which think will legalize the destruction wrought by them on Indian land. Will be has just been read, forwarded an address to the President and to greatly pleased to hear from you and to know that you have obtained a copy Congress, signed by nearly everyman and woman in the band out of the protest from the Clerk of the Senate. side of the council. I ask that it be read. The signatures may be Most respectfully, yours, D. E. SHONGO. omitted, as there are several hundred of them, but I desire that Hon. M.S. QuAY, Washington, D. C. the signatures and all may go in the RECORD. Mr. QUAY. There was another piece of petty robbery affect The Secretary read as indicated. ing the same nation in the Indian appropriation bill at the last The entire paper is as follows: session and in relation to that as well as to this Andrew John, To the honorable President and Congress one of 'their leading men, was sent here last February. His pro. of the United States of .America now in session: The undersig11ed members of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians, re test was filed here, and I send it up to be read, siding upon the Cattaraugus and the Allegany reservations, do most respect The Secretary read as follows: fully remonstrate against the approval or ratifying by your honorable body to certain leases or gt·ants given to the Seneca Oil Company of Salamanca, To the honm·able Congress of the United States now in session: N.Y., at the last session of our national council, for the following reasons: In behalf of the people of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians, resid First. 'l'hat the Seneca Nation council erred in granting leases to the ing on the Cattaraugus, Alle~rany, and Oil Spring Reservation in the western citizens of the United States lands not included within the boundaries of vil· part of the State of New York, I do hereby most respectfully ask your lages on the Allegany Reservation as laid out by the United States commis· honorable bodf to strike out entirely from line 1 to line 22, inclusive, sioners. page 57, on Indmn appropr~ation bill, H. R: 1uance to their agreements, and on the 3d day of December last, the poses in violation to our national Constitution, sections 6, 16, and 18. aSSig11ees of said Barker's lease did surrender back to the Seneca Nation Fourth. That the Seneca Nation council erred in granting leases to the council, the copy of this released and surrendered, said Barker lease by the Seneca Oil Company inconsistent to the statutes of the Unite9 States, section assig11ees known and sig11ed as "Seneca Oil Company," the same I have sub 2116, June 30, 183!, chapter 161, section 12, page 730, Johnson's Lessee vs. Mc mitted u; the honorable chairman Committee on Indian Affairs in Senate. Intosh,. 8 Wh., 543. Among other papers showing bow fraudulently brought about this matter Fifin. That the Seneca Nation council erred in granting leases for oil pur before the Congt·ess't. for the ratification the said Barker lease includes 55,000 poses while courts hold that petroleum oil is a part of real estate. acres of the most vamable lands, upon which the Senec~ Indian people are Sixth. That the Seneca Nation council erred in ~ranting said leases with now living and peaceably enjoying the products of the soil. out any protections to our Indian people from the VIces and immoraLc; usually ANDREW JOHN (Seneca Indian). vested to the class of people generally enmassed to the oil regions, such as W A..SHINGTON, D. C., February 5, 1897. spirituous liquors sold, or, rather, will be given, to the said Indians. Seventh. The council erred in granting said leases, because one of our own Mr. QUAY. As Mr. John states, the Barker lease had lapsed, people has taken up and recorded in the nation's book of records a mine and and was only revived after oil had been found by this Indian, mineral claim to the place where said lease covers. And also bas made improvements for the purpose of pursuing such work and labor,and thereby Shongo. · takes away the property without compensation whatever, which is contrary After the adoption of the ordinance ratifying the Barker lease to the United States Constitution, as well as the Seneca Nation constitution. by this drunken council, the Indians called a mass convention of Eighth. And that said leases as given to the said Seneca Oil Company is in not good unless made in conformity with sections 2103 and 2106, Revised their people, and I send up a paper, filed the Indian Depart Statutes of the United States. ment, showing their action, which I ask may be read. (Dated:) Cattaraugus Reservation, this 14th day of December, 1896. The Secretary read as follows: George (his x mark) Jacob, John (his x mark) Lay, William (his x mark) Crow, Jasper (his x mark) Jacob, Austin (his x At a public meeting held by the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians mark~ Jacob, Moses (his x mark) Doxtator, Sollomon (his x residing upon the Allegany Reservation, this 9th day of February, A. D. 1897, mark Obail, Chester (his x mark) Tallchief, Chauncey (hisx called for the purpose of considering that. clause of the Ind~ appropriation mark Green, Geor~e (his x mark) Pierce, Madison (his x bill, H. R.l0002, Report No. 2517, and coiiliilltted to the Coiiliillttee of the Whole mark) Steven, Joe (his x mark) Lay, Stewart Jones, Kelly Lay, House on the state of the Union, and ordered to be printed January li, 1897 Jimmie Phillips, Gerry (his x mark) Jones, Moses (hisx mark) the rider thereon of theW. B. Barker oil lease being read to the assembled Cornplanter, David (his x mark) Steven. Alfred (his x mark) people, beginning with line 11 ending with line 23, at :page 57 of said bill, after Logan, Amos (his x mark) Moses, David (his x mark) Patter due deliberation thereon Willett B. Jamison moved, and was seconded, to son, Fuller (his x mark) Redeye, Thomas (his x mark) Pierce, appoint a committee to draft a resolution denouncing said clause and remon Lewis Longfi~er, Heman T. Moses, Henderson Logan. Jerome strate against its passage or ratification of the alleged assignment of said W. (his x mark) li.enned.y, Ely S. Pierce, M. M. Kennedy, George B. Barker oil lease in either House of Congress; committee being appointed Jimeson,Elijah (his x. mark) Turkey, Lewis Jacob, Augustus and reported to the people assembled: Therefore, Bennett, George (hisxmark) Moses, William (hisxmark) John, Resolved, That the rider relating to the ratification of the alleged assign Carl (his x mark) Washin~on, Anthony (bls :t mark) Jimeson, ment of theW. B. Barker oil lease in said Indian appropriation bill be, and it Lewis Jones, Skidmore Lay, Andrew John, Oakley Pierce, is hereby, denounced as a scheme to defraud the people of the Seneca Nation Kossuth Bishop, Horace (his x mark) Jaclr.son. Fillmore Jack of Indians by layingclail:n.stolarge areas of the lands of the said nation, when son, Austin John, Gordon (hisxmark) Fatty, Willie John, Moses some of the said councilors of said nation deny having voted to confirm said Johnson, Hattie E. Jackson, Lewis Pierce1 Charles Williams, Barker lease; we denounce and disclaim the action of the Seneca Oil Company Lydia Williams, Jane Pierce, Freemont (his x mark) Turkey, and its agents, who claim to be assig11ees of the said W. B. Barker oil lease, as Lucinda (her x mark) Halftown, Andrew Jackson 1st, Elizabeth well as the action of the president of the Seneca Nation arid some of the coun Warrior, Nancy (her x mark) Warrior David (his x mark) cilors chopl>ing down and wrecking the oil derrick and the private individual Warrior 2d, Russell H. Printups, Moses Shone-: • .u.. E. Shongo, Seneca Indian property, as being the acts of violence and pure ruffianism and N.C. Patterson, Alfred Hare, Jesse (l. i~ x ~c!Ik) Mohawk, Chris marks said alleged assiglleesof the said Barker lease to be entirely unfit to be Williams, Perciful (his x mark) K :,iJuew, C. S. York, George T. trusted with any freedom on our Indian lands; we denounce the action of the Jimerson (marsha]), Asher Hare, Lester Bishop~ Mary Bishop, president of the Seneca Nation in being interested in the alleged assignees of Levi Kenjockety 1t E. Poodry, W. T. Kenneay, S. A. Ken the said Barker lease, thereby sacrificing the rights and interest of the nation nedy, Nancy York, Mary Logan, Susie (her x mark) Bennett, to his personal gain and profit: Therefore, Emily (her x mark) Dennis, Eliza (her x mark) Stevens. Jane Resolved, That we petition Congress to reject from said Indian appropria Sundown, Young (his x mark) Stevens, Louisa Logan Hatch tion bill the rider relatin~ to the ratification of the said W. B. Barker oillease Joe, Hiram Joe, Walter Kennedy, Hattie E. John, FranclS1 (his x contained in H. R. 10002, lines 1 to 23. inclusive, page 57. mark) Lay, James (his x mark) Luke, George (his x mark) Whereas in the above petition of remonstrance one Andrew John, repre Snow, Joseph (his x mark) Snow, jr., Joseph (his x mark) Snow, senting the people of our said nation, visiting the city of Washington. D. C., Ward (his X mark) B. Snow, Phina (her X mark) Jones, Sarah remonstrating against its passage, we earnestly ask the honorabfe Commis (her x mark) Doxtator, Mary Jemison, Laura (her x mark) Sun sioner of Indian Affairs to pay for his board and clothing out of the funds, down, Lucy E. Button, Lucy Button, Delos Kettle, Sarah Tay any funds, belonging to the Seneca Nation of New York Indians. lor, Isaac (hisx mark) Johnson, Hannah (her x mark) Johnson, D. E. SHONGO, Jake (his x mark) Snow, Rosa John, Mary Lay, Phebe Lay, FRANCIS JONES, Harry Logan, William Bluesky, Moses .Mohawk, Samuel Joe, PETER SHONGO, Chancy Johnny John, George Twoguns, Orrin Mohawk, Thomas Committee on Drafting the Petition of Remonstrance. • Doxtator, Wallach Scott, Charlie Thompson, Cyrus Scott, Jim Done at the open meeting of the people of the Seneca Nation, this 9th day Thompson, Howard Sbongo, Ada Pierce, Amanda Jones, Sophia of February, A. D. 1897. (her x mark) Jones, Elizabeth Lay, Julia Obail, Lydia Jones, SAMUEL GORDON, Cora Alice Jones, Minnie Jones, Julia Cl·ow, Mary Crow, Willie Chairman for the people. Crow, George (his x mark) Wilson (councilor), Maggie J emison, Martha Pierce, Eliza Hemlock, Lucinda Moses, Hell ~n Moses, PETER SHONGO, Anderson Shongo, Wallace Halftown (councilor), V ·i7isPlum Clerk for same. mer, Wm. Bomberry, Frank Tallchief, Chas. Tallcb".Jf, James Wilson, Moses Thompson, Chester Twoguns, Silas Snow, W. Mr. QUAY. On the day after the action of the council their LeRoy Kennedy, King Scott, Jacob Seott, Wm. Scott, Charles agent sent the following telegram to the Commissioner of Indian (his x mark) Jimeson, Edward Dudley. 730 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. APRIL 15,
Mr. QUAY. I have here two papers of similar character which tions of said contract, and, under the law, abandoned the contract. That ia to say, that while the time for the drilling of all the oil wells provided for I send to the desk. They need not be read because they are copies in said lease has not expired, the failure to drill test wells within the time of the one which has just been read. One comes from the Seneca limited by the terms of said contract constituted an abandonment of the people at the Allegany Reservation from their council at Oil same by the lessee and rendered the contract nugatory. Springs. It is a small band. The other is largely signed and This question is debatable, however. 'rhis contract or lease was conveyed , through several mesne conveyances by W. B. Barker to a corporation or comes n·om the Cattaraugus Reserva~on. The pap6rs and the company known as the Seneca Oil Company. On or about the 3d day of signatures may be printed without reading. December, 1896, at a council of the Seneca Nation of Indians, the said Seneca The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania Oil Company appeared before them and claimed that the said W. B. Barker lease then held by the said Seneca Oil Company was valid; but that, under asks that the papers be printed in the RECORD? the circumstances, the said Seneca Oil Company would agree to release all of Mr. QUAY. Yes, sir. tlie lands covered by said lease (being Inany thousand acres) if the Seneca The PRESIDING OFFICER. Such will be the order of the Oil Company could get a. new lease of the strip of land running from Carroll ton to the eastern end of the .Allegany Reservation and embracing several Senate in the absence of objection. The Chair hears none. hundred acres. This strip of land was in the immediate vicinity of oil de The papers referred to are as follows: velopments upon adjoining lands. ';['he Seneca Oil Company also agreed to pay the Seneca Nation of Indians To the honorable President and Congress Sl, bonus to procure said new contract, or rather lease, of said strip of of the United Sates of America now in session: land. Said strip of land being deemed valuable for oil purposes there were The undersigned members of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians, re several competitors for a. lease of the same. One company offered a proposed siding upon the Cattaraugus and the Allegany reservations, do most respect lease to the council agreeing to give $4, bonus for the same property, a fully remonstrate against the approval or ratifying by your honorable body one-eighth royalty of all the oil, and in case any well produced more than 50 to a certain leases or grants given to the Seneca Oil Company of Salamanca, barrels a day, one-fourth royalty; and in case any well produced over 100 N.Y., at the last session of our national counc~ forth~ following 1:e~ons: barrels per day, three-eighths. royalty of all. oil produced. Another company First. That the Seneca Nation council erred m granting to the citizens of offered $3,000 bonus to the Indmns and one-eighth royalty. There were other the United States land not included within the boundaries of villages on the offers more favorable to the Indian l:il'ation than the offer made by the Seneca Allegany Reservation, as laid out by the United States commissioners. Oil Company. The royalty proposed to be givt'ln by the Seneca Oil Company Second. That the Seneca Nation council erred in granting leases for oil was only one-eighth.. purposes without the consent of the people of said nation. By the most open and notorious bribery and corruption of the councilors Third. That the Seneca Nation council erred in granting leases for oil pur the contract was granted to the Seneca Oil Company, and heing the least fa poses in violation of our national constitution, sections 6, 16, and 18. vorable of the Indian nation of any of the proposed contracts. Whether or Fourth. That the Seneca national council erred in granting leases to the not the matter was consuminated by the Indians ratifying the W. B. Barker Seneca Oil Company, inconsistent to the statutes of the United States. (Sec lease, or whether a new lease was made of the strip of land asked for by the tion 2116, June 30, 1834, chapter 161, section 12, page 730, Johnson's Lessee vs. Seneca. Oil Company, I can not state; but the effect of the transaction was Mcintosh, 8 Wh., 543). that the Indian councHpractically gave a new lease to the Seneca Oil Com Fifth. That the Seneca Nation council erred in granting leases for oil pur pany, who held theW. B. Barker lease. poses while courts hold that petroleum oil is a. part of real estate. The other parties who proposed to take an oil lease of this strip of land Sixth. That the Seneca. Nation council erred in granting said leases with proposed to do so irrespective of the Barker lease, or, in other words, to pay out any protections to our Indian people from the vices and immorals usually the Indians and take their chances as to the validity of theW. B. Barker lease. vested to the class of people generally enmassed to the oil re~Pons, such as Since that time the Seneca Oil Company have entered upon the Indian res spirituous liquors sold1 or, rather, will be given to the said Indians. ervation and commenced to drill oil wells. Seventh. The council erred in granting said leases because one of our own 'rhisstrip of land cla.imed by the Seneca Oil Company embraces lands which people has taken up claim and recorded in nation's book of records a mine individual Indians claim hav:e been allotted to them by the Seneca. Nation ot and mineral claim to the place where said lease covers, and also has made Indians. and, as between the Indians and the nation, that they practically improvements lor the purpose of pursuing such work and labor, and thereby own them. Among these Indians is Daniel Shon~o, referred tom yom· office take away the property without compensation whatever, which is contrary letter above referred to. Daniel Shongo, claimmg to have possession of a. to the United Sta.tos Constitution as well as the Seneca Nation constitution. part of the lands that are covered by the Seneca Oil Company lease, 'leased Eighth. And that said leases as~Pven to the said Seneca Oil Company is not the same or made .contracts with other persons to operate the same for oil, good unless made in conforwity With sections 2100 and 2106, Revised Statutes These persons (white men) entered upon Shon~o's lands, or lands he claims of the United States. by allotment, and commenced to operate for oil and erected a derr~ck and Ninth. That the Seneca Indian council erred by the most notorious and s~ placed their machinery thereon and appliances for the sinking of an oil well. picious manner in granting oil lease to said Seneca. Oil Company when the said The Seneca Nation of Indians, in the aid and support of said Seneca Oil council refused to consider five or six other applications applied for oil leases Company, and by the direction of the said Seneca. Oil Company, and by the much more favorable and benefits to the people of said nation. direction of the president of the Seneca Nation of Indians, and some.of the At a. meeting of the people o! Seneca Nation of New York In4ians,~eld at councilors who were influenced to give said lease, entered upon the lands the council house at Cold Sprmg, upon the Allegany ReservatiOn, thiS 21st claimed by said Shong-o, upon which said derrick had been erected, and da.y of December,1896. chopped it down and demolished it. These are the acts complained of by Present: SAMUEL GORDON, Chairman. Shongo. A few days ago the Seneca Oil Company ap:plied to the countv court PETER SHONGO, Olerk. of Cattaraugus Oounty for a. writ directing the sheriff to protect the Seneca Hiram Cooper moved that the petition of the people now completed be Oil Company in the possession of this strip of land, which would include lands ap~ointed by this meeting. occupied by individual Indians, and also lands occupied by others in the vil Vote taken and was approved, and we annex our names to the foregoing lages of Carrollton and Vandalia, under the act of 1875 and leased to said per- remonstrance. sons in pursuance of said act. . , William Patterson, George Titus, And.rew Abram, Hiram Cooper, I have made the foregoing voluminous statement that the situation may Sacket Patterson, George Ha.lfwhite, Sylvester Crouse, Geor~e be understood. I have been appealed to by Shongo and other Indians to :pro Gordon, John Doxtader, Excy Gordon, Betsey King, Phillip tect them in their possession; but the council of the Seneca. Nation of Indians Fatty, Francis Jones, .Tames Shongo, Howard Shongo, Oyrus is so groliSly and notoriously corru:pt, and are granting rights and privileges Crouse, Charles Jimeson, Crouse Abner, Willett Jimeson, for money paid to themselves individually and against the interests of the Della E. Gordon, Loui~ White. nation, and are protecting the persons to whom they grant these rights, that I did not see how I could interfere in the matter. The ass1gnees of Shongo Mr. QUAY. I hope the Senate wilf par?-on me for be~~ prolix are claiming under him. The Seneca Nation of Indians as a. body claim he and delaying the passage of the pending b1ll, because I desrre that has no right to these lands, but that they have granted the same to the Sen the RECORD shall contain the entire case and that the Senate and eca Oil Company, and will protect the Seneca Oil Company in its posst'lssion. The county court has issued a writ to the sheriff to protect the Seneca Oil Congress shall know exactly what they are doing, that this is a Company as against Shongo and everyone else. deliberate wrong of these Indians or an attempt to rob them. But In other words, the whole matter is in the courts, and I can see no other I scarcely thlnk it will succeed. way than to let the courts dispose of it, and have so informed the Indians. I would like to give some J,Jrotection to these Jndians if I had the power and I send up a letter from the agent of these Indians at Olean. could do so without making myself liable. The council of the Seneca Nation The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator ask that it be of Indians is composed of sixteen councilors, eight of whom are elected from printed in the RECORD? the Cattaraugus Reservation 11nd eight from the Allegany Reservation. All of the villages from which rentals are received are located upon the Allegany Mr. QUAY. No; I should like to have it read, so that Senators Reservation; all the oil territory is upon the Allegany Reservation, and the may hear it. Let at least that part inclosed in pencil marks be Indians upon the Cattaraugus Reservation can receive no benefit from the read. I wi1i. ~ot weary the Senate with the entire letter. same except what their eight councilors can get for their action in council. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Secretary will read as re- So it has been the practice for a long time that with reference to any action pertaining to these Inatters on the Allegany Reservation the eight councilors quested. on the Cattaraugus Reservation simply held themselves aloof and refused to The Secretary read as indicated. act until they could find the man who would pay them the most money individ Mr. QUAY. Let it all go in the RECORD. ually, irrespective of the merits of their action or the benefits to be derived by tll.e mdividual Indian on the Allegany Reservation. This has been the case for The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair hears no objection, a.lon~ time. The president of the Seneca Nation of India.DS' has been a. party and that will be the order. to this business, and the consequence is that the rentals and funds which The entire paper is as follows: should belong to the Indians are frittered away and corruptly disposed of in the Inanner I have indicated. ' DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, I think I am now sufficiently acquainted with all the substantial or essential Ul!>TITED ST.A.TES INDIAN SERVICE, facts pertaining to this controversy. The Seneca Nation of Indians propose New York .Agency, Olean, N. Y., Janua1-y 20, 1897. to stand by their contract with the Seneca Oil Company and protect the SrR: I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your office letter dated Seneca Oil Company in operating the lands for oil embraced in sa1d contract. January 19 instant. Individual Indians (among them Shongo) claim to be in possession of parcels I have the honor to state that without further investigation of the facts I of the lands embraced in the Seneca Oil Company contract, and that they own can present the matter to the Department. them by allotment from the nation. The questions to be disposed of are Iri your office letter dated December 14\ 1896, I was requested to furnish a • First. Has the individual Indian, in the possession of lands on the reserva ~PY of an oil lease on the Indian reservatiOn. On December 19,1896, I trans tion by allotment duly made by the nation, the right to bore for oil thereon? mitted to the Indian Office a. certified copr of said lease. ·. Second. Has such individual Indian the right to grant the right to bore for Frdm. an examination of said lease, which was ratified by the act of Feb oil thereon to a white man? ruary 20, 1893 (27 Stat., 470), it will be observed that under certain condi Thjrd. Conceding the contract Inade with the Seneca. Oil Company by the tions it granted the oil right to one W. B. Barker in the Cattaraugus and nation, can the Seneca Oil Company enter upon a parcel of the land embraced Allegany reservations and also the oil spring reservation. It will be seen in its contra.ct which htt.s been duly allotted by the nation to an individual from an examination of said lease that the lessee was required to develop Indian and being occupied by the individual Indian, and bore for oil thereon the said lands for oil at certain times and in a. certain way. It has been without the consEmtof the individual Indian? claimed by the Seneca Nation of Indians that the lessee and his assignees In determining these :propositions it will be seen that a material question, have failed to develop said lands for oil according to the terms and condi- and an essential quest10n, will be whether or not the allotment to the 1897. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 731 individual Indian has peen duly and legally made, and whether he was or was Carrollton. I am informed and believe that the Seneca Oil Company was not in the actual and rightful possession of the parcel he clatms. given a lease of more lands than the council voted to give them. The matter is in the courts and I have informed the individual Indians This lease was executed by William Hoag, president of the nation, and in who claim a right to prevent the Seneca Oil Company from occupyi.I!g their be~alf of the nat ion, about midnight upon the 3d day of December, 1S96. lands that, in my judgment, the matter would have to be determined by the This leas~ was drawn, as I am informed and believe., by the attorney of the courts. I will submit all these matters to the United States attorney for his Seneca Oil Co:J?Jpa.ny, and the said Hoag was. hurriedly influenced to sign it action if it is so directed, but I thought a full statement of the facts should be without knowmg Its full influence and bearmg. The lease is not in accord made to the Department before calling upon him to act. ance with ~he resolution of the council giving the Seneca Oil Company the Very respectfully, right to drill on the lands above Carrollton. It was obtained by fraud and J. R. JEWELL, und'!le influence exercised over certain councilors as h er einbefore stated. United States Indian .Agent. Durmg the recess at noon, I was approached by a certain member who is interested in the said Seneca Oil Company, and offered me pay for con Honorable COMMISSIOJI.TER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, sideration of my influence, and, as I took it to mean, my vote to help the o:aid Washington, D. c. Seneca Oil Company in passing said lease through the council. ~ Also certain members of the council were under the influence of intoxi Mr. QUAY. I also submit, to go into the RECORD, the affidavit cating liquors given by the said lessees, or its agents, for the purposes of of an Ind~an woman who was present and saw the debauchery by influencing easilr. certain members of the council to vote for the passage in whisky of some of these councilors and heard the conversation the council of said lease, as I am informed and believe. That the foregoing is true of my own knowledge except as to the matt{lrs in relation to the payment of money. I ask that the affidavit be therein stated to be alleged on information and belief, and as to those matters read. I believe to be true. The Secretary read as follows: WALLACE HALFTOWN. Subscribed and sworn«> before me this 1st day of February, 1897. STATE OF NEW YORK, County of Cattaraugus, ss: A. R. JOHNSON, NotanJ Public. Sylvia Jimeson, being duly sworn, deposes and says asfollows: I am a Sen eca 1ndian woman, and remde at Shongo, on the Allegany Reservation of :M:r. QUAY. I send to the desk also a letter which I should like the Seneca Nation. On the 3d day of December, 1896, I was living in the back to have read at length. rooms and ground floor of the council house at; Shon~o, on the said Allegany The Secretary read as folio ws: Reservation, and the council of said nation was then m session there. I was OLEAN, N.Y., Januar11 f3~ , 1897. one of the parties doing cooking for the guests in said council house, and in iny rooms, at about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, I commenced to set the table My DEAR Srn: Your esteemed favor of the 20th instant is at hand. I am for dinner, when I missed some of my t eacul>s· I went into the adjoining sur~ I can not t~ll what co~rse the Seneca Oil Company took in closing up room in search of the cups. In it were two white men and three Indians. Of their matters With the Indians; I onl:v know what the proposition was and the Indians, two were the councilors and the other was the assistant to the what· was un~e!·stood. was vote!l upon: If theW. B. Barker lease was ratified clerk of the nation. As I had approached the table where my cups were, one by the ~oun.cilm closmg up this matter,and Congress ratifies that, then. of of the white men moved a bottle which was standing on the said table over course, 1t will not amount to much, as stated by you. I am sure they had a toward me, and asked me to help myself to the contents, which I did. new lease drawn, because they asked me as Indian agent to make certifica I turned some into the cup and drank it, which was whisky. Beside the tion in the usual form; that the same was properly executed by the council bottle on the table was also ::1. satchel, which was open, and in it were three and that the Indians understood the same, etc. I did not see the paper that more bottles of the same size, shape, and looks as the one standing on said they asked me to certify but they said they had one and wished me to do so table. Each bottle was the size of about 1-quart capacity. I went back into I could not conscientiously malm any certification to anything that took place the kitchen, where there were four other persons. We heard some of the i;here. conYersation in the adjoining room, where said white men, whisky, and In It certainly_ is ~eba~blo whether or. not the W. B. Barker lease is in force. IS dians were. I remember hearing one of the white men speakin~-knew it But the guest10n With me that the different companies who offered to take by the clear and distinct way it was spoken-who said that there Will be $2,000 a lease did so after having their attorneys respectively examine all the facts secret fees for the officers of the nat10n alone when they get the lease. Some and o~ering to take a lease, and subject to it, and take their c~nces as to the where at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon some of the councilors were so much validity of the Barker lease. This would have been a much more favorable under the influence of intoxicants that they could hardly walk up the stairs matter to the Indians, as they would have received $4,000 instead of $1000 for into the council chamber, and would not be in a condition of mind to know a ve_ry insi.inificant portion of tho lands covered by the Barker leake, and what effect their acts would entail. Soon after this the council passed the adi1tional royalty. If the Barker lease was found to be valid, the Indians resolution giving the oil lease to the Seneca Oil Company. would be ahead $3,000, and the holders of the Barker lease would have to The next day I picked up 7 quart bottles, 18 pint bottles, and 38 half-pint fight it out with the other lessee. bottles, making about over 6 gallons of whisky used in jollying the Indian The India~s have always treated the Barker lease. or rather since a year councilors to granting the oil lease, as I am informed and believe. or two, as bern~ void for nonpertormance of its conditions. The matter on The foregoing is true of my own knowledge, except as to the matters therein file in the Indian Office as to bribery, whisky, etc., are not very definite and stated to be alleged on information and belief, and as to those matters I be probably do not amount to much as they stand. The real facts however are lieve to be true. tha.t it was a most. disgraceful and corrupt arrangement under which' the SYLVIA JIMESON. action of the counml was procured. I apprehend that the Ogden people are reserving their strength as to an Subscribed and sworn to before me ttis 4th day ot February, 1897. aJ?prop:r;iation for another Congress, being aware that they can not succeed A. R. JOHNSON, NotanJ Public. with this Congress. Very respectfully, Mr. QUAY. I also send up the affidavit of Wallace Halftown, J. R. JEWELL. '!> 9ounqilor of the Seneca Nation, stating that he was offered Hon. CHARLES DANIELS, money to vote for the passage of this lease. I do not think it is House of Rep1·esentatives, Washington, D. C. necessary to read it all. Probably the Secretary need not read Mr. QUAY. I thinkitisverydefiniteintheaffidavitspresented any of it, but it states that fact, and states also that the lease as here. 1 have presented papers which show it very definitely. signed by the president of the council was not in accord with the I send "UP also the affidavit of D. H. Jack saying that he offered resolution passed by the council. these Indians $4,000 for a similar lease on a line not near so ex The PRESIDING OFFICER. The letter will be published in tended. He offered, I believe, to bore ten test wells and to give the RECORD, if there be no objection. The Chair hears none. them a royalty of $4,000, while they gave away 55,000 acres the The letter is as follows: next night to the Seneca Oil Company for $1,000. That letter need not be read. STATE OF NEW YORK, County of Cattaraugus, ss: The PRESIDING OFFICER. The letter will be printed in the Wallace ."!Ialftown, being duly J>worn, deposes and says as follows: I am a Seneca Indian, and reside at Carrollton, upon the Allegany Reservation of RECORD without reading, if there be no objection. . the Seneca Indians. I am a member of the council of the Seneca Nation The letter is as follows: i which consists of 16 councilors. ' STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA., County of McKean, ss: Upon the 2d day of December, 1896, at a meeting of the council held at Before me, a notary public in and for said count:v, personally came D H Shongo, upon the said reservation, at which I was present, it commenced to Jack, who, being duly sworn according to law. says that sometime ab~ut consider a request or the Seneca Oil Company, a partnership. consisting of December 2 or 3 he had some negotiations with the council of the Seneca E. B. Vreeland, John P. Colgrove.~.of Salamanca, N.Y., and A. T. Fancher of Nation of Indians at their council house near Salamanca New York State Bu.ffalo, as I am informed and believe, presented by the said E. B. Vreelahd with the view of leasing the lands of Indian reservation f~roil and gas· that asking the said council to ratify a certain lease made between the Senec~ on ~half of hJs cli:ents he offered to t.ak~ a lease of the lands of the S~neca. Nation and one W. B. Barker, giving the said Barker the right to drill for oil N at10n of Indians m Cattaraugus and Erie counties N. Y. to drill at least ten upon the Allegany Reservation. t est drills, and, if oil were found in any of said weils, to operate the same as Upon the afternoon of that day the councilors discussed the matter of rati customary, and to give graded royalty from one-eighth to three-eighths ot fying this lease, which the. said Seneca. Oil Company claimed had been as all the oil, to pay a cash bonqs upon the execution of the leases by the council Slgned to them. The council for some time had the matter under considera of $2,000, and an additional $2,000 when the lease should be ratified by the tion and during the afternoon it was very apparent that the council would Secretary of the Interior or act of Congress, whichever might be found Peject the said request for the ratificatiOn of sai<].lease. when E. B. Vree necessary or proper, and that his offer was rejected by the said council. land, who represented the said Seneca Oil Company, stated to the council in open session that he withdraw his petition for the confirmation of this said · D. H. JACK. leaso and change the petition so much so as to have the council grant to the Sworn to and subscribed before me this 6th day of February, 1897. said Seneca Oil Company a lease to drill for oil above or easterly of Carroll [sEAL.] J.P. MULLIN, Notary Public. ton , which consists of about 2,000 acres of land. Mr. QUAY. I present the individual certificates of four coun- Also at this time E. B. Vreeland stated that he would make three mem cilors of the Seneca Nation, who were reported as having confirmed b ers of the council or officers of the nation directors of the Seneca Oil Com pany, which d eponent believes was done solely to influence certain members the lease and did not do so. I ask that it be read. of the council. The council adjourned this day without taking action on the The Secretary read as follows: matter. On the following morning, the 3d day of December council took np yYe, the undersigned, present members of the Seneca Nation of New York this same matter for consideration, and on the following afternoon about 3 Indian council, in our sessions of council in 1896, never confirmed the-Barker o'clock, council voted to give the Seneca Oil Company a lease of the lands oil and gas lease made in 1893 to our knowledge. above Carrollton forth~ purpose of drilling for oil in accordance with the JESSE JAl\fiSON, Councilor. verbal request of said Mr. Vreeland. ELI T. JIMESON, Councilor. The Seneca Oil Company offered the nation $1,000 for this lease and certain Dated Cattaraugus Reservation, this 29th day of January, 1897. royalties on any oil discovered. Certain other oil companies had applied for a lease for this same land, and had offered to give the nation as high as $5 000 We, the undersigned present members of the Seneca Nation of New York Indian COUD:Cil. in our sessions of council in 1.896, never confirmed the Barker for this same lease for which the Seneca Oil Company only agreed to gfve lease made m .1893, to our knowledge. $1_,000. The resolu ti_on passed py the ~id council granted to the said Seneca 011 Company the r1ght to dlill for oil upon lands of the reservation above MOSES LAY, Carrollton and upon no other lands. The record of the clerk of the council GEO. (his x mark) WILSON. wa.s altered so as to include about 3,000 acres more of land besides those above Dated Cattaraugus Reservation, this 30th day of January, 1897. 732 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD- SENATE. APRIL 15,
Mr. QUAY. I think I have shown that of all the ,attempted Senator from that State infol'Dls me that this will not be considered robberies of Indians (and there bave been }:nany of them in thjs one, and I will therefore vote. I vote '' yea. t• Chamber, and in Congress generally), the stench of this is a little Mr. GEAR. I am paired with the senior Senator from Vinrinia the rankest. I submit to the Senator fl·om South Dakotq, that in [Mr. DANIEL], and withhold my vote. If he were present, I should view of the papers I have introduced, the provisic;m ought to go vote " yea." out of the bill, and he ought not to resist the motion to strike it :Mr. PERKINS. I am paired with the junior Senator from out. North Dakota [l\Ir. RoACH]. He is absent, and I will withhold The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amend my vote. ment of the Senator fi'Om Pennsylvania. Mr. QUAY. As the roll call is 1!-kely to disclose the absence of Mr. QUAY. If it is resisted, I shall have to ask for the yeas a quorum, aD;d I desire to have the bill passed, with the under and nays. standing that the Senator from South Dakota agrees to stJ:iking Mr. PETTIGREW. This whole question was gone over in the out the provision, I will withdraw the request for the yeas and committee, and the papers which the Senator has presented were nays, if in order to do so. submitted. Mr. CULLOM. I hope the Senator from Pennsylvania may be 1\fr. QUAY. Oh, no. . allowed to withdraw his demand for the yeas and nays on the Mr. PETTIGREW. Perhaps not all of them, but evidence in amendment. the same general direction. There is no doubt but what there is The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania more or less corruption in connection with the management of asks unanimous consent that he be permitted to withdraw the call these Indians. An anomalous state of affairs exists in New York. for the yeas and nays. These Indians have tribal property reservations like our Western Mr. CULLOM and others. No objection. Indians, and so far as most questions are concerned they are sub The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is the1·e objection to the request ject only to the decrees of their own council, and they govern of the Senator from Pennsylvania? their own affairs. There is no doubt that conupt practices occur, Mr. PETTUS. What is the request? I do not understand it. anc1 theTe is no doubt that their council is corrupted at times. The. PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania But in this case, after quite a careful examination, after exam asks unanimous consent that he be permitted to withdraw the ining the members of Congress representing the district familiar demand for the yeas and nays. Is there objection? with the facts (and one of the members of Congress was a judge Mr. HAWLEY. The vote has not been announced, I believe. of the circuit in which the reservation is situated), the committee T}le PRESIDING 0 FFICER. The vote has not been announced. came to the conclusion that this is a contest between two oil Mr. HAWLEY. I desire to vote. I vote " yea." . companies, and that more substantial justice would be served by The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is theTe objection to the request confirming the lease than otherwise. of the Senator from Pennsylvania? The Chair hears none, and I think this reservation ought to be wiped out. I think those the call for the yeas and nays is withdrawn. The question is on people ought to be made subject to the laws of New York. If agreeing to the amendment to strike out the pTovision of the bill Christian civilization is ever going to make the American Indian which has been read. capable of citizenship, it ought to have accomplished its work upon Mr. PETTIGREW. I accept the amendment offered by the the Indians m New York, it seems, during the two centm·ies they Senator from Pennsylvania. have been surrounded by the civilization of this country. ']here The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota fore I say that I think they should be made subject to the laws of accepts the amendment. Is ther& objection to the amendment the State of New York, and should be absorbed into its citizen offered by the Senator from Pennsylvania? The Chair hears none,. ship; that these 1·~s~rvations should_ be wiped out entir~I:r and the and the amendment is agreed to. · tribal property diVIded up so that the present condition shall Mr. GALLINGER. I Rubmit the amendment which I send to cease. There is no doubt in my mind but that legislation of that the desk. sort ought to be accomplished. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be stated. :Mr. President, I seriously doubt if any good can come to those The SECRETARY. After the word "shall," in line 25, on page people by striking out the provision un{ler consideration. On the 75, it i.e:; proposed to insert" with the consent of the majority of contrary, we were convinced by the Representatives of this por the unquestioned m~bers of the tribe, and the approval of the tion of New York (and at least three of them came before the Secretary of the Interior;" so that, if amended, the clause will committee) that more substantial justice would be doue and a read: better condition of affairs would exist if this provision remained That all childrep. porn o! a marriage between a white man and an lnclian in the bill than if it were stricken out. . woman by blood and not by adoption, and who is at this time recognized by Mr. QUAY. There is no question involved of an issue between the tribe, shall, with the consent of the majority ~;~f the unquestioned mem bers of the tribes and the approval of the Secretary of the Iriterior, have the any two corporations. The issue is between a great corporation same rights and privileges to the property of the tribe to which tho mother and a single Seneca Indian and his lessees, who operate upon a belongs by blood as any other member of the tribe, and no prior act of Con very small portion of the tract which has been leased to the Seneca gress sha.ll be conStrued as to debar such child of such right. Oil Company. :Mr. GALLINGER. I will say that I have submitted this amend It may be true that ordinarilr corruption is pra~ced in Ind~an ment to the Senator in charge of the bill, and feel quite sure that councils, but I have never before heard the Committee on Indian he will not interpose ~ny objection to it. It seems to me a proper Affairs stand up here to apologize for it, or rath«;lr to palliate it. amendment. The matter will go to confe1·ence and will be thm·e· Certainly I have never before heard any attempt to press the Sen: considered, and 1 have no doubt a wiSe conclusion will be reached ate into a ratification of a measure where a &inator stood up and by the cqnferencey. practically adm~tted th_ere had ~een cornw~ion. . . Mr. PETTIGREW. I h.ave }10 ol;Jjection to the amendment. I think there IS no difficulty m determmmg what the action of T~e P~ESIDI~G OFFIOER. The qp.estion fs on the amend the Senate ought tQ be, and I ask for the yeas and nays on the ment of the Senator from New Hampshire. motion to strike out the provision from the bill. The amendment was agreed to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amend Mr. CHILTON. I offer the amendment which I send to the ment of the Senator from Pennsylvania, upon which he demands desk, in line 16, on page 24. the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment will be stated. The yeas and nays were ordered; and the Secretary proceeded The SECRETARY. On page 2i, }.ine 16, after the words "sum to call the roll. of/' lt is proposed to strike out 1 ' $50,000/' and insert "$22,418.25;,. The PRESIDING OFFICER (when Mr. FAULKNER's namewa,s so as to read: called). The present occupant of the chair is paired with his col Provided, That the Secretary: of the Jntex:lor t:; hereby authorized and di league, the Senator from West Virginia ~Ir. ELKINS]. rected to paj to the Pawnee tribe. of Indians in cash, per capita, the sum of Mr.. McENERY (when his namewas ca11ed). Iampairedwith $22 418.25 out of their trust-land money on deposit in the United States Treas the Senator from New York [M.r. PLATT], and withhold my vote. ury.1 Mr. PASCO (when his name was called). I am paired with the The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the adoption Senator from Washington [MT. WILSON]. In his absence, I with of the amendment s-p.bm.itt-ed by the Senator from Texas. hold my vote. Mr. PETTIGREW. I do not understand just what the amend- Mr. SPOONER (when his name was called). I am paired with mentis. the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. W AL'fHALL]. and therefore Mr. OHILTON. I will state that that is a provision- withhold my vote. If he- were present, I should vote ''yea." Mr. PETTIGREW. On what page is the amendment? Mr. TILLMAN (when his name was called). I am paired with Mr. CHILTON On page 24, line 16. . the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. THURSTON], but we agreed that I will state that it refers to a clause giving the Pawnee Indians on matters which are nonpolitical we could vote when either was the right to withdraw $50,000 from their trust fund now in the absent. I vote '' yea." Treasury of the United States. Personally, I do not believe that The roll call was concluded. they ought to have the right to withdraw any part of the fund. ~Ir. FORAKER. I am paired with the junior Senator frOII:\ Mr. PETTIGREW. May I ask the Senator a que.stion? / South Carolina. [Mr. EARLE] as to political questions. The senior Mr. OHILTON. Yes. 1897. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 733
Mr. PETTIGRElW. ls this the same amendment which was it. If we are the guardians of these Indians, we ought to take adopted at the last session? care of the funds intrusted to our keeping; and if we do so, we Mr OIDLTON, The ciause wowd reaQ., if my amendment '\Vere will not allow them to fritter their funds away by piecemeal in adop&:;d, just as t.he bill read afte1· it left the conference comnnttee the manner now proposed, $20,000 this year and $50,000 next year, 'and was agreed to by the Senate at the last session. when the heads of families ar~ now getting $500 each year. Mr. PETTIGREW. Then I will ~ccept the amendment. T4at :Mr. OIDLTON. Mr. PJ;"esident, regarding the statement about was my impression, but the bill having come from the House with ~500 to each family ?....I wish to say that they do not get $500 to a this provision in .it, l concluded that I pmst be mistaken. family eo nomine. J:mt the point is this: I gave some attention Mr. OHILTON. No; you are not. I can refer you to the page, to this matter at the last session, and was informed that of thef if you desire. Pawnee Indians there are about 14:0familie~. Anybody who wants Mr. P~TTIGREW. Thep. the amendment certainly shoulg be to figure should bear that statement in mind. They now receive adopted in order io make the bill conform to the bill of the last about $22,500 a year interest on their trust funds. They aTe pro session. vided for under treaty and by appropriation under this bill with :Mr. BATE. PQ I understand that the provision gives the right an annuity of $30,000. ..A.dd that to $22,500, and you have 852,500. w the Pawnee Indiana to withdraw $22,000 from the fund of the Then they have- In! gone. Then what becomes of them? They ·ask that as wards of S22,000. As this matter was fully discussed and decisively voted the nation they shall be supported. How? Not out of their trust upon at the last session, I have not thought it judicious to con funds, because they are exhausted, but out of the contributions of sume tirii.e by opening the subject again, and therefore I have thetaxpayersofthisgreatcountry. To-daywehavemanylndians proposed my amendment, not in the form in which I believe it whose trust funds have been squandered and who are supported ought to be, by striking out the whole clause, but reducing it to from year to year by the charity of the General Government. the a.mount w_hich was agreed upon in the confeTence committee. Sir, notwithstanding all this, I realize that it is often necessary Mr. PETTIGREW. Mr. President, it is often quite necessary to strike a middle ground; and as I was not able to impress my to withdraw some of these trust funds, and quite to the advantage views on this subject upon the Senate at the last session. I now of the Indians to do so. In the case of these Indians the fund come forward with the amendment, which concurs with the sug which they have comes from the sale of lands. They have taken gestion of the Secretary of the Interior, namely, that these Indiana lands in severalty and moved upon their claims. They have no be allowed $22,418.25. That will leave their trust fund at the money with which to build houses., cultivate their .fields, and be round sum of $400,000. come productive citizens of this country. This money is with Mr. PETTIGREW. Mr. President1 I do not propose to allow drawn for the purpose of makin~ improvements upon their allot this matter to rest in the RECORD m the way it now stands. ments, so that the Indians can become self-supporting. It seems There are 750 of these Indians. We pay them ~'30,000 a year as a to me it is in accordance with good sense and good judgment, permanent annuity, and, in addition, the interest upon a trust un attention to his statement just made. He said that the Indians education we were paying thousands of dollars every year, were get $30,000 a year as a permanent annuity and that they get $22,500 ignorant of the very first elementary principles of the commonest . interest on their trust fund. That makes $52,500. Then you education in any school that we had. take the appropriation provided for on page 24, and look at line I found that the only schools that have ever done the Indians 18, and you see an appropriation w.hich amounts to $22,418.2~. any good are those conducted by the Jesuits. They have devoted Add those sums together and you find they amoun.t to $74,918. their lives to them. It is impossible that a Protestant minister or a ;Now, he claims that there are 150 families. Five hundred dol Protestant teacher should turn his back upon civilization, and for lars to a family would make $75,000, while the actual appropria- a thousand or twelve hundred dollars a year discharge the duties tion is $74,918. · in an Indian tribe of bringing them out of barbarism into the sun I merely emphasize this fact to vindicate the correctness of the light of civilization and Christianity. You may call it fanaticism, statement of the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. BATE], which was but it does the work. The ceremonial of the Catholic Church at based on one made by me at the last session. tracts the Indians. They are devoted to the '' black robes," as they The holdings of these Indians are on the Canadian River. Their call the priests. I have found it so everywhere, and it will be so. lands comprise some of the best soil in Oklahoma. I do not What is the result? Go to the tribes which have been under the understand, as the Senator from South Dakota claims, that these control of the Jesuits, and you can see an advance in civilization people are without houses. My information is that they are pretty foundnowhereelse. Go to the FlatheadReservation, inMontana, well fixed, that their lands are good, and that they are doing well. through which the Northern Pacific Railroad runs, and as you But as the Senator from South Dakota is willing to accept the look out of the car window you would imagine yourself in a Penn amendment which I propose, further debate is unnecessary. sylvania or even in a Massa-chusetts settlement-houses, horses, The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amend cattle; all the evidences of an advance to such civilization as we ment propos~pd by the Senator from Texas [Mr. CHILTON]. enjoy. The amendment was a~eed to. How was it brought about? By the self-denying and self-con Mr. VEST. Mr. President, this is an appl'Opriation bill, and, secrating influences of those Jesuits, with whom I have no reli as a matter of com·se, it will pass. I have no disposition to retard gious sympathy, but whom I would employ to do this work if the action of the Senate upon it, but I can not permit my silence they did it better than anyone else. If I had control of this thing to make the impression, even constructively, that I agree with of Indian education, I would give it to the people who could do it the provisions of the bill in regard to the appropriations for In best and cheapest; I would give it to those who had studied it, dian schools. I know that what I shall say-I have said it before who have taken the young Indians away· from the tepees, segre in the Senate-will subject me, as it has heretofore done, to the gated them from their fathers and mothers, kept them under im severest criticism of those people who think that they have a mediate supervision, and taught them the religion of Christ, even monopoly of religious opinion in this country_, and who proscribe if the cross was the emblem of that religion. I would infinitely every human being who dares to differ with tnem. rather see them Catholics than see them savages. I do not belong, I do not choose to give utterance to my religious convictions in thank God, to any sect that would rather see a human being order to influence any human being, but I shall say, for the pur damned than in the Catholic Church. pose of showing that I am entirely disinterested so far as religious Mr. President, what is this provision in this bill? It first starts denominations are concerned, that I am a Protestant and have out with a declaration that the policy of this Government is to no~ the slightest sympathy with any of the dogmas of the Roman make no appropriation for a sectarian school; and second, that Catholic Church. I was born and reared a Protestant, and ex 40 per cent of the appropriation maybe given to a school, a Jesuit pect to die one. I am exceedingly sorry that I am not a good school, perhaps, or any other school belonging to any denomina Catholic, for I think that some of the best people I have ever tion, if a nonsectarian school can not be had in that vicinity. known are members of that denomination, and I have no doubt This simply declares that if the whole of the Indian tribes, now that tbe Roman Catholic Church bas done more in the form of in savagery and barbarism, could be redeemed by a religious de practical charity than any other denomination that has ever nomination, it shall not be done. I would, I repeat, give this duty existed. and mission to the people who could perform it best; and I declare I have not the slightest sympathy with that detestable preju here and now, as the result of actual experience and observation, dice based upon the idea that any church can attack the liberties that I have never yet seen any intelligent man who spoke from of the American people. Suchan opinion comes, in my judgment, the same standpoint who dared to contradict the assertion. that either from cowardice or ignorance. There is no danger so long th~ only schools that have done anything for the Indians on this as there is free discussion and freedom of conscience in this or any continent have been those under the control of the Jesuits. other country. Having said this much, Mr. President, I declare, in conclusion, Mr. President, I had occasion to say before, and I repeat it, that, whilst I can not defeat this bill and do not propose to attempt that this drastic provision in this bill, declaring that the Congress it, I wish, notwithstanding the criticisms that I know will follow, of the United States will not make any appropriation to a secta to put myself on record against the provision to which I have l'ian school of any denomination, does not meet with my concur alluded. J,'en,ce. We are bound to dispose of this Indian question in some Mr. BATE. Mr. President, I gave notice of an amendment on fashion. I do not propose to enter into any academic discussion page 59, in line 3, where I propose to strike out what I ask the as to the wrongs of the Indians or their rights. I content myself Secretary to read. simply with the assertion, known to all of us to be true, that these The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment proposed by the unforttmate people are upon us and must be provided for. We Senator from Tennessee will be stated. know that as to the old Indians, the blanket Indians, who believe The SECRETARY. After line2, on page 59, it is proposed to strike that labor is degrading, who have no idea of self-support, the out: future is entirely hopeless. The only chance for the elevation of That on and after January 1, 1898, all acts, ordinances, and resolutions of this race, if it be possible at all, which I sometimes doubt, is in the council of either of the aforesaid Five Tribes passed shall be certified im m ediately upon their passage to the President of the United States, and shall rescuing the younger Indians from the influences of the tepee, not take effect, if disapproved by him, or until t-hirty days after their pas where they are taught that no man can be an honorable man who sage: Provided, That this act shall not apply to resolutions for adjournment, labors with his hands or brain for his support. or any acts or resolutions or ordinances in relation to negotiations with com Mr. President, my ideas upon this question do not come from missioners heretofore appointed to treat with said tribes. theory. My education made me prejudiced against the Jesuits. Mr. BATE. I hope the Senator who has charge of the bill will I was reared to believe that the Society of Jesus was based upon agree to that proposition. I should like to hear from him on it. :p:wnarchical principles, opposed to the genius and spirit of om· We had it up before, it is true. · This is the one which relate to institutions. Some years ago I was a member of the Committee the President s approval of acts of Indian councils, and not the on Indian Affairs of this body, and it became my duty to visit section granting exclusive jurisdiction to the United States courts. every one of the Indian tribes in Wyoming and Montana. I per Mr. PETTIGREW. Does the Senator desire to hear from me formed thatduty,goinginto the Indian country at Fort Washakie, now? in Wyoming, concluding my journey at Fort Assinniboine, within Mr. BATE. Yes; I ask the Senator if he will not accept it? 30 miles of the Canadian line. I visited every Indian school, and Mr. PETTIGREW. Most certainly not. by immediate observation and personal investigation fixed my Mr. BATE. Will he not agree to it? opinions upon this question for all time to come. · Mr. PETTIGREW. This question was ·thoroughly contested I assert here now that there is not a single day Indian school when the bill was up before, and by a very large majority the upon this continent that is worth one dollar to the Indians or to Senate decided that this provision should remain in the bill, and the cause of civilization and religion. They are travesties upon if it is again discussed that majority will be increased. education. I found them with eight or nine hundred scholars upon Mr. BATE. I do not know about that. the books, and with no attendance exceeding a half dozen, except Mr. PETTIGREW. This is one of the most important :pro upon ration days, when beeves were killed and meat was distrib visions in the bill. uted to the tribe. I found old, broken-down preachers and defunct Mr. BATE. I do not propose to enter into any lengthy discus politicians sent there to teach these Indians, who never saw them, sion, but the Senator from Arkansas and myself yesterday even and, upon examinationf I found that the Indian children, for whose ing were speaking about it, and I thought that part of the motioll 1897. -coNGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE.· 735
-whi~h I gave notice I would make would be accepted by the com , entirely unparalleled in the history of the world. A condition of mittee. affairs exists in that country unequaled in any barbarous nation Mr. BERRY. Does the Senator allude to me? on the globe. Laws are framed for the purpose of plundering the Mr. BATE. No, sir; but toyourcolleague, 1\Ir.JoNEs. people; the courts are incapable even of enforcing the laws that I move to strike out that which has been read by the $ecretary. ilre enacted; and the whole machinery of governmentiB prostituted In the first place, it is not an amendment, but a part of the body by~ few men, claiming to be Indians for the purpose of plunder of the bill. Let us understand the history of it. The bill-Indian ing them of their entire property. appropriation-was amended during the last Congress, which It has been felt by the Committee on Indian Affairs for years came perhaps from the committee-! am notsureabout that, but that this condition of things should be blotted out. Treaties were anyway it went to the committee of conference. They passed it in the way. How to overcome the difficulty has been the problem. here, and I understand that the House, in framing the pill, has There is no question but that the Congress of the United States at adopted the report of the conference as the ba~is of the bill, and one blow should not only provide that laws passed by those coun have now put it in the body of the bill, and not as an amendment. cils, by those governments, should be approved by the President I think it wrong. I do not believe, in the first place, that the before they go into force, but, on the contrary, that the govern President of the United States has time to give such matters that ments themselves should be destroyed; that their power to legis attention which will be necessary in order to do justice to the late should be taken away; that their courts should be ousted and Indians. The proposition is that every act of their councils, a proper judicial system furnished to those people. It is our duty every resolution of their councils, unless it is one which relates to to do it. It is the duty of the American Congress not only to in adjournment, shall be transmitted to th~ President of the United sist upon this provision, which is but partial and does not reach States immediat-ely, and the President shall take action upon it, fully th~ evil that ought to be reached, but it is our duty to enact and it may meet with his disapproval or approval. I say it is laws which will oust theh· governments completely and substitute encumbering the President too much. Besides, it is destructive.~ in that country a government which will furnish peace to those also, to the rights the Indians have now under the treaties ana people and safety for life and property. Therefore It seems to me existing laws to have thei~ own co~rts and let their own councils that this provision at least should remain in the bill. regulate these matters. It is simply sweeping from under them Mr. BATE. Mr. President, I merely desire to say, not intend the very foundation of their self-government and destructive of ing to prolong the discussion, that what the Senator from South their tribal existence. Dakota says in regard to the condition of things in the Indian Ter It is wrong, in my opinion, b(;"lcause, as I have said, it would ritory is disputed; but if those people are in an unfortunate con encumber the President with duties he would not have the time dition, it was brought upon them by white men and not through to perform and yet be responsible for. He would not and ought any fault of the Indians. not to approve such legislation by Indian councils without thorough What has that to do with the simple fact that the President of investigation. He would necessarily have to transfer it to the the United States, who has his hands full of business, shall be con Secretary of the Interior, and he perhaps to the Indian Bureau, strained by law of Congress to examine every little resolution or and the Indian Bureau to some chief clerk, and that chief clerk act that is passed by the Indian councils? They have their councils would really be the judge or the adjudicator of this action by the there. There is an organization in that Territory which has juris Indians in their councils. diction, fashioned somewhat after our own form of government. I apprehend that is-about the course it would take. I so con They have their councils, their courts, their legislatures, with rep clude from the experience in that and other Departments in dealing resentatives chosen by the people, with a governor and all the with kindred subjects. As t4e Indians inform me, and as the necessary machinery of government, and now to have every little Secretary of the Interior would tell you if you were to ask him, it act of their councils or boards go before the President, to be visaed is the only course he could take in thus dealing with Indian legis and approved or disapproved by him, is ridiculous and puts too lation, because he has not the time to investigate the particulars. great a burden on the President. The idea of every little resolution and every act of t4e councils of The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the Indians coming up here to be passed upon by the President the amendment submitted by the Senator from Tennessee. and to be approved by him before it becomes a law f?eems to me the The amendment was rejected. height of folly. I think the proposition ought not to be allowed Mr. BATE. Now, the other motion I desire to make is in regard to remain in the bill. Therefore I have moved to strike it out. to the question of jurisdiction. It begins, in line 5, page 58, with Mr. PETTIGREW. I will but briefly allude to this matter. It the word ''Provided" and ends with the word ''nation," in line 2, relates to the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory. on page 59. I ask the Secretary to read what I propose to strike There are five different and distinct governments in that colmtry, out. having their own legislative bodies and their own courts, subject The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee to no law except that which they themselves enact, except in cer moves to strike out certain lines of the bill, which will be read. tain instances where Congress has passed acts :providing certain Mr. BATE. I desire that the text shall be read as it has been eourts for that country. But so far as their legislative bodies are amended. concerned, they are supreme. They have control of every mat The SECRETARY. After the word "annuities," in line 5, page 58, ter-the property, liberty, and life of the people. The I;ndianf] it is proposed to. strike out: were placed in that country from 1830 to 1836, when we set apart Provided further, That on and after January 1, 1898, the United States that region for the exclusive use of the Indians; but since that courts in said Territory shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction and time conditions have changed. authority to try and determine all civil causes in law and equity thereafter instituted and all criminal causes for the punishment of any offense com White men have gained control of the tribes, control of the gov mitted after January 1,1898, by any person m said Territory, and the United ernments, control of their courts. They are white men claiming States commissioners in said Territory shall have and exercise the powers to be Indians, yet who would not be recognized as I~dians unless a.nd jurisdiction already conferred upon them by existing laws of the United States as respects all persons and property in sa1d Territory; and the laws of you are told they are Indians. White inen, claiming to be In the United States and the State of Arlmnsas in force in the Territo1·y shall dians, members of these tribes, have gained control of the gov apply to all pet'SOQS therein, irrespective of race, said courts exercising juris ernments forthatcountry and their property. They have absorbed diction thereof as now conferred upon them in the trial of like causes; and the property of the Indians themselves and fenced in their lands. any citizen, of any one of said tribes otherwise qualified who can speak and 1 understand, the English language may serve as a juror in any of said courts. In some instances 50,000 acres are in the possession of one man. That said commission shall continue to exercise all authority heretofore The lands are leased to white men, who cultivate them. The conferred on it by law to negotiate with the Five Tribes, and any agreement income of some of the white Indians from. the property of the made by it with any one of said tribes, when ratified, shall operate to suspend tribes amounts to twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars a year. any provisions of this act if in conflict therewith as to said nation. They have leased their coal lands, and they collect the lease money. Mr. BATE. Mr. President, I have moved to strike out that They control their governments absolutely and control the legis part of the bill which is destructive of the present organization in latures. this Territory in the way of courts by the Indians under present We set that country apart for the Indians. We said we would relations and under the treaty stipulations which were formed prUrpose of putting it into the lllade, and it should challenge admimtion. And now~ because RECORD, to read a few lines from an article of the agreement upon there are some two or three hundred thousand white men who which this is based. In the treaty between the United States and have gone there and overpowered them, to gratify those intruders the Cherokee Nation, concluded on the 20th day of December, we must sweep away their courts agn,insttheir consent and estab 1835, the United States made a covenant with the Indians which lish courts of our own, which means to destroy their tribal rela was desjgned to secure them in the absolute and continuous pos tions and rights and own the land in the end. It is a wrong, a session of their own tenitory, the right to adopt their own forms bitter, bm·ning wrong, such as would" stir a fever in the blood of government, to make their own constitution, to enact their own of age and. make the infant sinews strong as steel." laws. We agreed to that. These Indians wm·e thus secured by Of course the Indian can do nothing. He is paralyzed; he is article 5 of that treaty, which I will now read: overpowered. It is donewithouthisconsent. Heasksformercy, ART. 5. The United States hereby covenant and agree that the lands ceded. but impatient haste and cruel violence upon our part is doing to the Cherokee Nation in the foregoing article shall in no future time, with this. It is wrongandagainstOhristianity; it is wrong and against out their consent- law; it is doubly wrong because it violates the open sacred agree Without their consent- ment of this Government with those tribes of Indians, and I for be included within the territorial limits or jurisdiction of any State or Ter one shall oppose any such proposition. This section of the bill ritory. But they- destroys all their com-ts, overddes the treaties, and denies the The United States- rights that we have given them under solemn treaties. I know nothing about the condition there, so far as their morals are con shall secure to the Cherokee Nation the right by their national councils to make and c:ury into effect all such laws as they may deem neces..c;ary for the t;erneu. I have not been there, Mr. President, to examine as to government and protection of the persons and property within thtill.· own the condition of the country. What3ver it may be, it has been country oolonging to their people or such persons as have connected them brought on the Indians by white men. selves with them. Mr. BERRY. Mr. President, the proposition made by the Sena There is not only the right to have their com·ts, not only the tor from Tennessee to strike out the provision which refers to the right to possess their property and handle it as they choose, but jurisdiction of the courts in the Five Civilized Tribes was thOl·· there is a guaranty upon the part of the United States to secure oughly debated during the last session of the last Congress. It that to them. Yet here we are proposing to violate it openly and haS been discussed in previous sessions of Congress for the last defiantly by national legislation. five or six years. The question has been gone over in every pos Now., when did the right first accrue to establish courts, because sible shape in the Senate for the last five years. In the last ses this provision, you will see, deprives the Indian of all his rights? sion of the last Congress, this provision, not more drastic than it is It reads: now, was debated here at great length. The Senator from Ten That on and after January 1, 1898, the United States oourts in said Terri neSii6e was heard, with a number of other Senators, and the Sen tory shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction and authority to try and ate, by a large majority, on a yea-and-nay vote, put the provision determine all civif causes in law and equity thereafter instituted and aJl criminal causes. in the bill which passed, but was not signed by the President. I d.o not care at this late hour of the evening and at this time to That destroys, of course, all the courts of the Indians and puts go at length into the question discussed by the Senn,tor from Ten it entirely under the jurisdiction of the United States, in open nessee. The Senate will bear in mind that four years ago a com and flagrant violation of the tl'eaty which I have just read. mission was created for the purpose of negotiating some kind of Now, when did we first get the right to establish any kind of a an arrangement or agreement, wit}) a view to make that a Terri court there? Not, sir, until1866; and from the thirteenth section tory, and eventually a State of this Union. Rapid progress has of the treaty of 1866 I wish to read a few lines: been made in that direction within the last year. If the provision The Chero1rees also agree that a court or courts may be established by the in the pending bill stands, I believe and all those who are familiar United ~tatesin said Territory with snch jurisdiction and organized in snch mnnner as may be prescribed by law: Provided- with that country believe that before another year has gone by an agreement will be reached whereby all these questions of differ It is qualified, yon see- ence between the tribes and the United States will be settled; that That the judicial tribunals of the nation shall be allowed to retain exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases a1'ising within their country in it will come in ~san ordinary Territory of the United States, and which members of the nation; _by nativity or adoption, shall be the only par that very soon thereafte~ it will be one of the States of this Union. ties, orwhero the cause of acvion shall arise in the Cherokee Nation. except That is what is desired by the most intelligent men in the nation., as otherwise provided in this treaty. by a great many of the full-bloods, ~nd by a great many of the We had such a treaty as the one I read, made in 1835, not only half-breeds. The conditions that eXISt there can not continue. guaranteeing them this privilege, but agreeing to secure it unto They ought not to continue. They have been in mn,ny respects a them. Then in 1866, as time progressed, the Unitea States came blot and a disgrace to this nation. Bad men have taken refuge along and appointed commissioners to treat with the Indians in there; robbery after robbery of railroad trains has taken place, and regard to granti]lg jurisdiction to United States courts, and they into the surrounding States-Missouri, Arkansas. and Texas did it, but qualified it in the manner ~ which I have just read, robbers, who have taken refuge in the Territory, have gone and and now, Mr. President, in open violation of this very provision robbed town after town and bank after bank. That condition comes the pending proposition. It comes, too, with suspicion, is an injustice to the people of the sunounding States. It is an because upon an appropriation bill, when i~ is not allowable for injustice to the people who live in that Territory, and, as I said, me to make a" point of order" against it, it not being an amend it can not continue. ment. Otherwise I should do so. If this is meritorious legisla During the last Congress it was provided in the Indian appro tion, there ought to be before Congress a separate bill for this pm· :t>riation bill that on and after the 1st day of January the civil pose. Let it stand upon its merits. Let it be acted upon by the Jurisdiction of the Indial}. com·ts should be taken away and con Senate and go before the country upon its own merits, and not ferred upon the courts of the United States. It furthermore pro sheltered under the wing of an appropriation bill. vided that the criminal jurisdiction should be taken away imme If it is p1·oper that we shall take all of these rights away-f1·om diately upon the passage of the bill. That was in the bill as it the Indians,destroyjng their courts and putting them into United passed. Complaint was ~de by the representatives of the Chero States courts regardless of their wishes, overriding their wish kees, who were here, that their-people understood that the jtlris· and without their consent, let us do it in a manly, frank, open diction, both criminal and civil, was not to be disturbed before way, and not under shelter of an appropriation bill. Let it be the 1st of next January, They stated that u~on an examination understood that the United States does not intend that the In- of the bill they found that the criminal jurisdiction of the United 1897. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 737
States courts was to take effect at once. They stated that their granted he knows to·be true, or else he would not have stated it, councils had appointed commissions to treat with the. Dawes that sixty-one men own a vast amount of land there, and control ,Commission, which were in process of agreement, and they thought it and take the proceeds from it. But let us look around. Are we that if they were deceived in regard to the time when the criminal doing better? I read but yesterday morning in the papers where jurisdiction should be taken away, it being immediately rather there was a factory worth $2,000,000 and works 1,000 hands, owned than the 1st of January, it would tend to create suspicion and by two men; and does that make them dishonest? They have a probably would defeat the agreement about to be made. right to own it if they come by it honestly. They have a valuable In view of that fact, my colleague and I went to the Senator who property, and. they have men under them who get only $1 a day has the b1ll in charge, and urged upon him that in order that the for their services. Ought we to take it away from them because lndians might have no complaint, in order that they might not they own it, as do these Indians their lands? have any reason to say they were misled: or that Congress had not I do not believe in that kind of talk. I do not believe in that . dealt fairly with them, if they had understood it in that way, and kind of legislation, either. If it is true that sixty-one of the Indians if they had appointed these commissioners to treat and were trying have this amount of land, let them be regulated by the Indian in good faith to treat with the Dawes Commission, then it ought to court. They can do it. It is not ours, and we should not inter be carried out in the way in which they understood it. The Sen fere with it without their consent. ator, after much reluctance, finally yielded, and yesterday con One thing I do know, Mr. President-! know how to read the sented that the provision should be changed, whereby neither the English language and to fairly interpret it, and I know what the civil nor criminal jurisdiction should be taken away before the treaty of 1835, the context of which I presented to the SenatB a '1st of next January, and it will only be taken away then in case few moments ago, says and what it means. It says these rights the Indian tribes refuse to make the agreement which is now being and the right of courts among themselves to try their own people contemplated and in process with the Dawes Commission. will be secured by the United States Government, and it will The Senator from Tennessee is mistaken as to the conditions. enforce it even if it has to use force to do it. I know that when He misunderstands the situation. If this provision is knocked they gave up a qualified jurisdiction and allowed the United States out of the bill, I firmly believe that it will defeat all the efforts Government to establish a court there they put the qualification 'that have been so earnestly made in the last four years to bring upon it that it could only be done by the consent of the Indians, about an agreement,_which will be greatly to the benefit of the and they have prescribed it. Now, we are violating that with a Indians in that country, and which they realize. The Senator, by shameless effrontery, and I regret to see it. attempting to interfere with this arrangement, will make go for Although I have never seen the unhappy condition which is so naught the labor of ;years here by the parties who have had this mat strongly pictured by the Senator from Arkansas, yet I can read ter in charge. Until one yearagotherewereanumberof thetribes these treaties and see and know that is the high moral and legal who would make no concession and no agreement, and it was only obligation that belongs to the United States, and that she ought to when they found that Congress was determined that the present assert her right to carry them out, even if it should require her condition should not continue that they came forward, and to-day, Army and Navy to do it. I say, as I said in the last Congress, I beliBve that they are in That is my idea of government. That is my idea of propriety earnest; I believe they anxiously desire to make an agreement, and and right and justice. and I want to see it done to these unfortu I believe they will make it, unless Congress shall go back and undo nate and unhappy Indians. that which it has taken so many years to accompUsh. Again, Mr. President, 1 think it is very ungenerous, not to say If the Senator from Tennessee were familial' with those Indian cowardly, upon the part of our Government that they have sent courts, if he were familiar with the causes which have been tried, the Dawes Commission down, clothed with certain powers, and he would appreciate the condition there. I do not like to say before the Indians have time to consider the measures proposed unkind things about any human being. I dislike above every they are met with this drastic legislation that will sweep away thing to speak about men who are not here to answer charges rights and treaties. that are made; but I do assert that the Indian courts within the Yes; while the Dawes Commission are yet at work, we are putting Cherokee Nation have been the most corrupt courts that have drastic legislation through here on our statutes that will require ever disgraced any land, civilized or uncivilized. They ought to certain things to be done that will sweep from the Indians all their be abolished. The judges of the United States ought to have the rights. We hold in a cowardly manner a club over their heads, trial of those causes. Nothing could have induced me to have and virtually say that unless they conform to the measures set consented that the time should be postponed when that jurisdic forth in the Dawes Commission we will give them this bludgeon in tion should be abolished save and except the fact that I believed the form of the statute here which we are now about to enact. I the Indians would treat with the Dawes Commission, and before say it is unmanly and it is cowardly in the United States to do it, another year had gone by all these questions would be settled as well as immoral and illegal. Yet we are doing it. by an amicable agreement; that the conditions there would be Mr. President, I care to say nothing more. I did not want those changed, and changed with their free consent; and that the change statements to go upon the record uncontradicted. I desire to put would be not only for the benefit of the surrounding States, but in the RECORD, with the permission o:i the Senate, the appeal made greatly for the benefit of all those who reside in that Territory. by the Cherokees. It is short and pjthy, and explains this matter Mr. President, to show the state of affairs in some of those na most lucidly. tions, take the Creek Nation. They have, I think, 3,000,000 acres The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there be no objection, such of land. Sixty-one men have under fence more than 1,000-lOOO will be the order of the Senate. acres of that entire territory and own and control it to-aay. The document referred to is as follows: Those are white men or half-breeds; they are intermarried citi [Senate Document No. 24, Fifty-fifth Congress, first session.] zens, or those who have white and Indian blood mixed in their Appeal of the delegates of the OheTokee Nation in 1·ejerence to pending legisla veins. There a.re 14,000 Creek Indians, having equal rights in all tion affecting thei1· in terests with the Government of the United States. that land, pledged to give every citizBn an equal part of it, and [April 6, 1897.-Presented by Mr. CULLOM, referred to the Committee on yet und.er thE;Jir present government sixty-one mep have fenced Indian Affal.l's, and ordered to be printed.] and. have under their control and receive the profits which arise WASHINGTON, D. C., April 6, 1897. from more than one-third of the entire part of that territory The Senate of the Un ited States. GENTLEMEN: The Cherokee Nation, by the undersi~ned, wb.o are its· au more than a million acres-and it is the best land in the Territory thorized delegates and representatives in this city m re~a.rd to matters and as· fine land as there is anywhere in the United States of affecting their interests with the Government of the Untted States, be~ Amer:l.ca. . leave to invite the special attention of your honorable Senate to that proVI sion of bill H. R.l5 which commences on page 58, line 6, and is concluded on I say, then, if the Senator from Tennessee could have his amend pa_ge 59, line 12. ment adopted, which I trust he can not, he would do infinite dam It is the purpose of that amendment, without the cc,nsent of said nation, to age to the S.t~tes surrounding that Territory and to the poorer accomplish the following results: - First. To destroy the courta which now exist in the Cherokee Nation for Indians, for who~ he expresses so much sympathy. The men to the protection of property and the punishment of crimes COJnmitted by their whom this b~ll gives relief are the poor, uneducated full-blood own citizens against each ot her, which court s exist by virtue of the consti- · !l}dian,s, who have been crowded back into the hills and hollows, tution and laws of that nation, aud are authorized by treaties made between men~ave the United States and said nation. wl:Ple the half-breeds and the squaw men and the white Second. To confer upon t he United States courts now established in the ' gott~n possession and control of the most fertile part of the Indian Indian 'l'erritory ori~inal and exclusive jurisdiction and authority to deter Territory. This legislation is in the interest of the full-blood mine all civil causes m law and equity instituted after the 1st day of January, Indian, the uneducated Indian, who is entitled to participate in 1898, and to try and determine all criminal causes for the punishment of any offense committed b;y any p arson in the Indian TerritE>ry. an equal d.egroo with every other Indian in the rights and privi Third. That the United States commissioners for said Territory, whose leges of t~e Indian Territory. appojntment was authorized by the act of Congress approved March 1, 1895, I hope, therefore, that the Senate will vote down the amendment shall have and exercise the p owers and jurisdiction already conferred upon , proposed by the Senator from Tennessee. them by existing laws of the United States as respects all pe1·sons and prop· Mr. BATE. Mr. President, a word in conclusion. er~~t:~4rt:~7~~rla~s of the United States and the State of Arkansas in I know nothing about what the Senator from Arkansas said as force in the Territory shall apply to all persons therein, irrespective of race, said courts exercising jurisdiction thereof as now conferred upon them in to the condition of things, unhappy as it may be, in the Indian the trial of like cases. Territory. I know nothing about his statement, which I take for Fifth. That a~y citizen of any one of said tribes otherwise qualified, who 738 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. APRl.!..l 15,
can SY,eak and unders~and the English language, may serve as a. juror in any T)le representatives of the Cherokees, as well as of those of the United StateD, ·of sa1d courts. evidently foresaw that many noncitizens would find residence in the Chero Sixth. That on and after January 1, 1898J all acts, ordinances, and resolu kee Nation under the terms of various treaty stipulations, as well as by the tions pa.s.o;ed by the council of either of tne Five Civilized Tribes shall be consent of the Cherokees themselves. Hence this reservation for the estab certified immediately upon their passage to the President of the United lishment of a Federal court in their midst. You will observe that the repre States, and shall not take effect if disappr<>.se of these provisions becomes evident from their the lndians. slightest examination. There can be no doubb that this legislation is only the This article expressly provides that the judicjal tribunal of the nation initial proceeding or action by means of which the tribal independence of shall be allowed to retam exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases these Indians is to be destroyed. Their character as distinct political com arisin~ within their country in which members of their nation by nativity or munities is to be obliterated, and then their extermination as independent adoption should be the only parties. For thirty years this provision or this political organizations whose rights have been assured by the solemn cove treaty has been studiously observed by the Government of the United States. nants of treaty stipulations becomes easy of accomplishment. This legisla While the United ~::>tate-s, so far as the spirit of the treaty is concerned, has tion is inspired by that greed and selfishness which usually precedes an as not always kept its faith, yet it never has by a positive statute absolutely sault upon the rights of those Indians who are so fortunate as to possess annulled in the open any provision of a treaty heretofore entered into with valuable lands which are coveted by their white brethren. the Cherokee Nation. You have refused to complr, with a great many pro The success of the attack becomes easier and less liable to resistance if it visions of the treaties heretofore entered into, but 1t was always argued that is preceded by the assertion that the occupants of the territory set apart to anot}!er construction than that placed upon it by the Cherokees was ·the rea the Indians of said tribes have become lawless, dissolute, immoral, and vio son given. lent to such an extent as to require the protecting care of the United States. But it i'l argued as a reason why tli.e tribal courts should be abolished and Hence it became necessary for the "Dawes Commission" to paint a most the jurisdiction transferred to the Federal courts that the tribal courM are lurid picture of lawlessness. violence, immorality, disorder, and consequent corrupt. that they are subject to wholesale bribery, and that no protection is danger to life and property existing within the territory occupied by said a.fl'orded to life and property. It is easy for anyo"ne to make these charges. tribes. It is believed that the imaginary and baseless character of the re It is never difficult to deal m generalities; but we, as the representatives of '()orts which asserted the existence of such an unhealthy and dangerous con the Oherokee people, beg of the Senate of the United States that when these dition of affairs in that part of the Indian Territory occupied by these tribes charges are made on the floor of the Senate, the member making such has been not only asserted but demonstrated. charges be specific and give one single instance where corruption has been If, however, such a condition of immorality and violence does in fact exist practiced or bribery used in the trial of a single case, either. criminal or civil, in said Territory as justifies legislation of a character so extraordinary as by the tribal courts in the Cherokee Nation. that proposed in said bill, we assert without the slig-htest fear of successful Certainly if the India.ns themselves are satisfied with their own courts we contradiction that the United States, and not the Indians, are responsible can see no good reason why the United States should complain. Under the for its existence. We make this statement because the power to prevent act of March 1, 1889, as amended by act. of Ma.y 2, 1890, and March 1, 1895, Fed the existence of lawless violence and that immorality which shocks society eral courts were established in the Indian Territory unde? and by virtue of is vested by the statutes in the United States. the thirteenth article of the treaty of 1866, as above quoted. As now consti There would have been no opportunity for so vicious an arraignment of tute(), there are three divisions of this court, presided over by separate judges, ilhese people as is contained in the several reports if there had been a proper and each judge holds two terms of court annually in four different places in observance of the treaties existing between the United States and those In his division. These courts have both civil and criminal jurisdiction over all dians who are to become the unwilling victims of the proposed legislation, or causes except those between the Indians of the same tribe or nation. any attempt to enforce the statutes of the United States against those who Hence it can not be argued that there is no protection to the noncitizen have come within the limits of the territory ceded to and occupied by the residing in that country, because he has the same protection now as would Indians of said Five Civilized Tribes, in violation of the provisions of treaties be afforded him in case this bill is passed. The only jurisdiction that is re and statutes concluded and enacted for their protection. tained to those tribal courts, as above observed, is over citizens of their own The treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation, concluded tribes, and inasmuch as there has been no complaint by the citizen.'! of the on the 29th day of December, 1835, made a covenant with these Indians which Oherokee Nation we can see no good reason why their system of government was designed to secure them in the absolute and continued possession of their should be interfered wlth. own territory, the right to adopt their own forms of government, make their In case this bill is passed you will observe that their judiciary is destroved. own constitution, and enact their own laws. These rights were secured by Without courts, why enact laws? There will be no need then of any leglsla article 5 of that treaty, which is as follows: tion. Hence, their local self-government is ab olutely destroyed. We are "ART. 5. The United States hereby covenant and agree that th.e lauds not at this time disposed to argue the constitutional phase of this question. ceded to the Cherokee Nation in the fore~oing article shall in no future time, We will a~ree that Congress has the pow:er to annul treaties conferring only without their consem. be included within the territorial limits or jurisdic polltica.l rights, yet we very much question whether or not there are not tion of any State or Territory. But they shall secure to the Cherokee Nation vested rights given these people in their local self-government, guaranteed the right by their national councils t-o make and carry into effect all such to them most solemnly by all the treaties heretofore made with them, that laws as they may deem necessary for the government and protection of the Congress has not the constitutional power to annul. , . persons and property within their own country belonging to their people or Asid.e from the constitutional question and the keepingof faith with these such persons as have connected themselves with them." Indians, we desire to call your attention to the bad policy of enacting this You will observe that the amendment to the bill aforesaid is in direct con legislation at this time. flict with this section of the treaty. The last part of this amendment pro Unde1· the act of March 3, 1893, and subsequent acts of Congress, a commis vides that no acts, ordina.ncest or resolutions of the legislatures of any of the sion was sent to the Indian Territory to negotiate with the Five Civilized Five Civilized Tribes shall taKe effect unless approved by the Pres1dent of Tribes, looking to a change in their form of government and their system of the United States, or rather if disapproved by him. This, of course, is de land tenure. True, several years have elapsed, and no favorable reports structive of local self-government. The President of the United States with until last year have been made of the work of this commis..,ion. his many duties to perform can not in person investigate the needs of the Each of the Five Civilized Tribes have appointed commissions now to ne several nations in the Indian Territory, and, as a consequen~t can not know gotiate with the Commission on the part of the United States along the lines the advisability or the necessity for the enactment of any of r..ne laws passed indicated by the several acts of Congress. Last year the Choctaws entered by their legislatures or national councils. into an agreement with the Commission, commonly known as the "Dawes Hence when one of these acts or ordinances is certified to him as provided Commission," but because the consent of the Chickasaws was not obtained Ill this bill, he would, of course, refer it to the Secretary of the Intenor, who and other minor changes deemed necessar¥J the agreement was no~ ratified, in turn would refer it to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for a report. but returned to the Choctaw Nation. The uhickasaws and Choctaws are now The Commissioner of Indian .Mfairs would also refer it to some clerk iii one in conference with the "Dawes Commission," and the newspapers report of the divisions of his office for a report to him. Tllls clerk would, in fact, be that an agreement has been reached. the executive of all of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory. The Cherokees last summer appointed a commission to meet and confer As is always the case, there is no legislation that absolutely meets with with the Commission on the pa:rt of the United States, but because of the universal approval, and yhere will be some who will object to tlie enactment extra duties imposed upon sai!lt Commission by the act of June 10,1.896 viz, to of any law, howsoever frur and necessary it may be for.the general good, and make a roll of the Five Civilized Tribes, it was found impossible ror1 the those objecting would file protests and affidavits galore, which would be Cherokee commission to meet the Dawes Commission in trme to make an referred to the clerk in the Indian Office to whom the bill was referred for a a,greement to be certified here before the convening of the last session of report, and he would make his report upon the ex parte statements of those Congress in regular session. interested in the disapproval of the legiSlation. The two commissions had agreed, however to meet soon after January 1, We can see no good reason why, inasmuch as these tribes have enacted and see if terms could not be agreed upon whereby a change in the form of their own laws for half a century, that they should not be permitted, in the government of the Cherokee Nation could not be effected when the Dawes brief time that is allotted to their future e~tencel to enact legislation foJ," Commission was summoned to Washington, D. C., by the Seci'etary of the their own people themselves. Their constitution ana their laws are modeled Interior for consultation. They were detained here until the close of the last after the constitution and laws of the various States of the United States, session, and have only recently met again in the Indian Territory. and, as modifled\. of course, to meet the peculiar conditions of their people and their above observed, are now busy m attempting to negotiate with the Choctaws system or land tenure, which is one in common. Their legislature is divided and Chickasaws. 11l.to two branches, the members of which, together with their governor, are Inasmuch as these two commissions are about to come together, we hope elected by the people at regular biennial and quadrennial elections. Hence, you will pardon us for saying that we deem it exceedingly ba.d policy, if not if laws not for the benefit of their people are enacted or approved, they are dangerous to negotiations, for the enactment of this le~lation, destructive removed at the next regular election by the people. · of the past solemn agreements you have entered into Wlth our people. Your attention is particularly invited to the other part of the amendment Our people are very greatly concerned over this action, and they are now proposed in the aforesaid bill which takes away the jUrisdiction of the tribal seriously debating in their minds the advisability of making any further courts and vests it in the Federal courts in the Ind.lim Territory. This part agreements with the Government of the United States if those you have made of the amendment is designed evidently to take effect on and after January 1. are not to be kept or respected. We have heretofore sent. you the corre 1898. As to the transfer of civil jurisdiction, the language is quite plain, but spondence l>etween these commissions, found in Senate Document No. 112, YQU will observe that as to crimrnal causes the language reads "for the pun Fifty-fourth Congress, second session, which shows conclusively that our ishment of any offense committed after the passage of this act by any person peopte had determined to negotiate before the introduction of this legislation. in said Territory." Your Commission will be seriously embarrassed in attempting to convince It is doubtful as to when this clause takes effect, so far as criminal causes a trusting people that you aro sincere, and that you mean to keep faith with are concerned, whether immediately after the passage of this act or whether them in the future agreement if, pending the making of that agreement, you after January 1, 1898. The language should at least be plain and not capable strike with a fatal blow their local self-government. This amendment will of a double construction. • not go into effect until the 1st of January, 189 , anyway, and if no agreements The whole of this amendment is in dir~t conflict with article 13 of the are reached between now and the convening of the next regular session of treaty entered int-o by and between the United States and the Cherokee Congress, you will then have ample time to enact legislation to meet the wants Nation of Indians, concluded on July 19,1868, which is as follows:, and needs of those people. " The Cherokees also agree that a court or courts may be established by the Youra, very respectfully, G. W. BENGE. United States in said Territory with such jurisdictio~ and organized in such W. W. HASTINGS, manner as may be prescribed by law: Prov-ided, That the judicial tribunals Cherokee Delegates. o! the nation shall be allowed to retain exclusive jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases arising within their country in which members of the nation Mr. BATE. I desire to say in this connection that the treaty py nativity or ado1'tion, shall be the only parties, or where the cause of in action shall arise hi the Cherokee Nation except as otherwise pro-vided in spoken of that document, while relatingexclusivelyto the Chero this treaty.11 kees, applies to all in substance-at least to all the civilized tribes. 1897. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE. 739
Mr. :MORGAN. Mr. President, the Five Civilized Tribes, per~ children in such a way as shall best subserve the interests of each haps with good cause, are a very impressible and a very jealous particular child. These people stand in the relation of wards to race of people. They think, along with all the other Indians of us, notwithstanding they hold, in their tribal relation, nominally the United States, that they have great cause of complaint against the title to this land. They can not and never have attempted to the people of the United States. Ve1·y much has been done to dispose of the land in severalty to their own people. aggravate that opinion and to irritate them in their judgment Not one of the Five Civilized Tribes has ever made a deed to one npon our conduct toward them. foot of land to any individual in it. They have not done so for the The truth is that those Indians have been fairly and justly dealt Teason that they have respected the oriental fashion of holding with by the people of the United States as far as has been possible lands in common amongst themselves, and prefer that kind of in the changed conditions that necessarily follow upon the fate of ownership and occupation. The title that has been conferred by all nations as they progress, either in civilization or in the other these different Indian tribes upon the. individual Indian has been direction. There is a false impression among those Indians, a mere right of occupation that has been very well provided for, greatly encouraged by discussions here in Congress, that they and it is a permanent right until the Indian chooses to abandon it, have two supreme sovl3reign rights, when the fact is that they have for it goes to his heir upon his death. It can not be sold for debt, not any. The first supreme sovereign right that they think has for the reason that the child remains in the tribe, and they 'have been guaranteed to them by the treaties is the right of local self never consented that it shol}.ld be sold for an individual's personal government in a new form, in a tribal form. debt. You can not get a judgment and execution against an Indian Mr. BATE. :May I ask the Senator a question right there? to sell out his occupancy. It stays there lmtil he sells it, or, dying, Mr. MORGAN. Yes. he disposes of it by descent or by will. They hold on to the title, Mr. BATE. Will not this provision destroy that local self- denying the right of the individual Indian, in order that they may government entirely? hold their lands in common for the benefit and use of all the Indians Mr. MORGAN. I hope it will. in that country. · 1\Ir. BATE. That is the question exactly. In their practice they have at last arrived at the condition Mr. MORGAN. I hope so. They have an idea that they have which the Senato1· from Arkansas [Mr. BERRY] so well described supreme sovereignty, to be exercised, I repeat, in the form of when he said that sixty-one persons there in. the Creek country local self-government or tribal government. That right does not actually occupied, under their laws, a million acres of land; the exist under our treaties, because if it did it would violate the balance of them being left out in the woods, or in the cold, or Constitution of the United States. There can not be in this Gov wherever they are left. ernment any imperinm in imperio except in the form of a State l\1r. President, it is the duty of the Government of the United sovereignty. There are but two sovereign powers in this Gov States1 perhaps not exactly at one step, to do two things. One is, ernment-one limited to international and interstate affairs of the 'to provide for the distribution of these lands according to honesty, Government of the United States, the other the States themselves. right, justice, and equity among the beneficiaries. Another is, The Territories are not sovereign, nor any other class of depend~ inasmuch as their civil government out there has proved to be an encies that we have got within the States or within the Territories, utter, absolute, horrible failure, to substitute a Territorial govern ~ it makes no difference what formalities or solemnities have been ment in the place of the government of tribes that they have employed in the effort to give them absolute rights. there; or, if they will accept statehood and adopt a constitution, The Indians, however, think they have a sovereign right in their admit them, if they are fitted to be admitted, as a State into the tribal authority and relations with the United States, not being a Union at once, without the interposition of a Territorial govern State, not being a Territo1·y, being nothing but an Indian tl'ibe. ment. That proposition need only to be stated before an audience of They object to a Territorial government, and they say that their Americans, particularly an audience of American jurists and pub treaties and the statutes heretofore enacted protect them against licists, to show its absolute fallacy. There can be no such thing going through the Territorial stage of government. . That is a mis~ i,n this country at all as a sovereign government except in the interpretation of the treaty and the statute. That was put in there form of a State of the United States. expressly, carefully, and the context admits of no doubt when you This disposes of all I have to say about that matter, and I say come to read it together for the purpose of preventing the white that now merely for the pupose of trying to correct some impres Ten·itorial government from usurping authority over the Indian sions which seem to have gone abroad, that are doing damage to tribes. It was put there to prevent the annexation of the Indian those Indians and to OUl' relations with them, and are helping tribes to the white Territorial government. We have always re them to resist the real march. of civilization amongst themselves. spected that. Effort after effort has been made here to attach the The other great error that they have fallen into is that they have Five Civilized Tribes to the Territory of Oklahoma, and we have got the allodium, therealabsolutetitleto the lands that have be>en always resisted it. We said, "No; we will not do that. We conveyed to them by patent and otherwise, and that that right pledged ourselves not to do that, no matter how beneficial it rises above every right of the Government of the United States, must be." such as the right of eminent domain and other rigli.ts that are What next? There is but one of two things to do: Either to vested in the United States Government by the Constitution as to allow the tribal government to remain there, with all the Wl'Ongs these people as against every class of people in the United States and imperfections that attend it, or else we must create for those and .every political organization except the States that comprise Five Civilized Tribes, upon that area of land, a Territorial govern the Union. ment. Let them participate in it. Give them the right of suf We have made treaties with them and confeiTed the title to frage, if you please. If there are white men who are intruders, these lands upon them in the most solemn possible form. We disqualify those men, at least for quite a long period of time, from have issued patents to them and conveyed the lands by patent, so voting. Let the Indians who have been born and raised in that that they have every muniment of title which any man in the country, and who belong to the tribes, vote; let the squaw men United States holds to his land. But those treaties and those vote; let all vote who are actually identified with the tribe and patents wel'e made to the tribes by that name; for instance, to are not otherwise disqualified; but the right of suffrage is some the Cherokee tribe of Indians, to the Creek tribe of Indiana, etc.l thing that can be regulated, and it ought to be regulated so as to all along through the entire number of the Five Civilized Tl'ibes. give the Indian a fair voice in the government. Nevertheless, Now, when land is conveyed to a tlibe which is not a sovereign we must have there an efficient TeiTitorial government which de power, the disposal of that land must be by the consent of the rives its authority from the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States Government afterwards obtained. When you take United States and will execute the sovereignty of this c.ountry as it out of the tribal ownership and confer it upon individuals it it is expressed in the law. must be done in accordance with law, and law enacted by Con I have made these remarks, Mr. P:l'esident, simply because I gress, not by an Indian t1ibe. The title while it resides nominally, hope that, having many friends in that country (for I have anum or pel'haps you may say actually, in the hands of the Indian tribe ber of friends living in that Western land), what !"say on this sub as such, is a title in trust for the benefit of the membership of ject may at least reach their ears and be considered by them, and that tribe. If you look into the patent and find that the land is that they will be persuaded to abandon the foolish idea th~y have conveyed in absolute fee, there is nothing remaining but that the that they can continue to sustain a tribal government in the area tribe shall in accordance with law apply that fee to the uses and called the Indian Territory. purposes for which the ~rant was made. Mr. BATE. I desire to reply to one point made by the Senator Inasmuch as the tribe Itself can not be sovereign, and inasmuch from Alabama [Mr. MORGAN] in regard to the title of the land of as it r~uires sovereign power to execute that use or that trust, these Cherokees. I do not care to say anything, but simply wish it must follow that only the laws of the United States enacted by to read an extract from the very deed itself, which I have before Congress can apportion and apply and execute that public trust. me. It is the strongest argument and the highest evidence. I Now, what do we propose to do? We propose to do absolute read the conclusions of that treaty, and it is the treaty signed b:y equity and -justice between these Indians, just exactly as a guard the then President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. It ian who has three or four children under his care, one 5 years is as follows: old, another 10 years old, and another 15 years old, exercises a Therefore, in e!r.ecuti"'on of the agreements and stipulations contained_A discretion to use the benefit of the estate of the three or four the said several treatieS, the United States have given and granted, and b7 740 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SEN ATE. APRIL 15,
hese presents do give and grant, unto the said Cherokee Nation, the two of Cedar and State of Iowa, in the place of Charles H. Long, whose tracts of land so surveyed and hereinbefore described, containing in the whole fourteen millions three hundred and seventy-four thousand one hun commission expired March 20, 1897. dred and thirty-five acres and fourteen-hundredths of an acre, to have and James A. Mcintire, to be postmaster at Sidney, in the county of to hold the same, together with all the rights, privileges, and appurtenances Fremont and State of Iowa, in the place of Moses R. Yowell, re thereto belonging to the said Cherokee Nation forever. moved. Imo Yowell was appointed by the President during re That is a fee-simple title, if I understand wha.t that is, and I think cess of the Senate, but failed of confirmation. I do. Charles J. Wonser, to be postmaster at Tama. in the county of Mr. MORGAN. Mr. President- Tama and State of Iowa, in the place of Stephen Smith, whose Mr. BATE. Pardon me a moment. Now, how do they denude commission expired March 20, 1897. themselves of that title, or can they? Simply in the title deed, Alexander Barron, to be postmaster at Kirwin, in the county of which shows how, in the very execution of it. Then, how can Phillips and State of Kansas, in the place of May L. White, whose they denude themselves of this right that they have, this owner- commission expired Janua1·y 5, 1897 . . ship in fee simple of the land? It says upon the face of it Alpheus A. B. Cavaness, to be postmaster at Baldwin, in the That the lands hereby granted shall revert to the United States if county of Douglas and State of Kansas, in the place of Edward E. Mark the word" if"- Gaddis, resigned. if the said Cherokee Nation becomes extinct or abandons the same. Oliver P. Mauck, to be postmaster at. Burlington, in the county They are neither extinct nor have they abandoned their lands. of Coffey and State of Kansas, in the place of E. M. Lockwood, Mr. MORGAN. The land there is subject to reversion to the removed. · United States upon a condition subsequent; that is, that the na John W. Nyce, to be postmaster at Caldwell, in the county of tion becomes extinct, or that the nation has abandoned the land. · Sumner and State of Kansas, in the place of William A. Sturm, This proves that it was not intended to be an absolute fee forever; removed. it is a fee subjE>ct to conditions subsequent. . But· without refer Joseph M. Hollywood, to be postmaster at Brockton, in the ence to that, it is a grant to the nation in express terms. A grant county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, in the ·place of to a nation is nothing more than a grant to a corporation, and Joseph M. Hollywood, whose commission expired January 6, 1896, when a grant is made to a corporation it is always made for' cer William H. Jordan, who was appointed by the President during tain uses. Take a religious or eleemosynary corporation; it is the recess of the Senate, not having been confirmed. made for certain religious or charitable uses, and when it is mis Cyrus W. Rowell, to be postmaster at Amesbury, in the county applied and put to any ot.her uses, the grant absolutely f~ils. A of Essex and State of Massachusetts, in the place of Daniel W. grant to a tribe or a nation, as the Cherokees are called m that Davis, whose commission expired May 27,1896, James H. O'Toole, treaty, is a grant that necessarily shows upon the face of it that· who was appointed by the President during the recess of the Senate, it is not granted to something which shall be a permanent sover not having been confirmed. eignty in the United States, but it is granted to the nation as a Charles L. Scranton, to be postmaster at Cottage City, in the trustee for the benefit of certain cestui que trusts, who are the county of Dukes and State of Massachusetts, in the place of Charles tribe who represent that nation. L. Scranton, whose commission expired December 20, 1893. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the amend Mrs. Elizabeth W. Smart, to be postmaster at Merrimac, in the ment proposed by the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. BATE]. county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, in the place of Mrs. Mr. BATE. I should ordinarily call for the yeas and nays upon Elizabeth W. Smart, whose commission expired December 20, 1896. the amendment, but I will not do so to-night. Irvin S. Catlin, to be postmaster at Barnesville, in the county of The amendment was rejected. Clay and State of Minnesota, in the place of Grovenor D. McCubry, Mr. PETTIGREW. I give notice that on Monday, immediately whose commission expired January 23, 1897. after the conclusion of the morning business, I shall again call up Henry Kemper, to be postmaster at Perham, in the county of the pending appropriation bill, and hope to complete its consider Ottertail and State of Minnesota, the appointment of a pogtmaster ation. for the said office having, by law, become vested in the President I now move that the Senate adjourn. on and after January 1, 1897. The motion was agreed to; and (at 5 o'clock and 6 minutes p.m.) John P. Mattson, to be postmaster at Warren, in the county of the Senate adjourned until Monday, April19, 1897, at 12 o'clock Marshall and State of Minnesota, in the place of Arnolphus R. meridian. Gordon, removed. Herschel P. Kinsolving, to be postmaster at Malden, in the county of Dunklin and State of Missouri, in the place of Charles NOMINATIONS. E. Hill, resigned. Executive nominations received by the Senate April15, 1897. John Marshall, to be postmaster at Bonneterre, in the county of St. Franyois and State of Missouri, in the place of Thomas H. POSTMASTERS. Walker, d(leeased. Joe J. Nix, to be postmaster at Fort Payne, in the county of Charles A. Long, to be postmaster at North Bend, in the county Dekalb and State of Alabama, the appointment of a postmaster of Dodge and State of Nebraska, in the place of Albert L. Norris, fo1· the said office having, by law, become vested in the President whose commission expired December 14, 1896. on and after January 1, 1897. Benjamin F. S. Brown, to be postmaster at Matawan, in the Samuel Davis, to be postmaster at Russellville, in the county of county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, in the place of Pope and State of Arlransas, in the place of Reese B. Hogins, whose Charles E. Clark, whose commission expired March 27, 1897. commission expired March 23, 1897. De Witt C. Middleton, to be postmaster at Watertown, in the J. E. Jarvis, to be postmaster at Van Buren, in the county of county of Jefferson and State of New York, in the place of Charles Crawford and State of Arkansas, in the place of William T. Eng W. Clare, whose commission expires April15, 1897. land, whose commission expired 1\farch 27, 1897. Alexander P. Milne, to be postma-;ter at Palmyra, in the county J. R. Snodgrass, to be postmaster at Paragould, in the county of Wayne and State of New York, in the place of Jennie A. Har of Greene and State of Arkansas, in the place of Thomas R. Will mon deceased. cockson, Tesigned. William V. Molloy, to be postmaster at New Rochelle, in the Henry M. Sugg, to be postmaster at Dardanelle, in the county county of Westchester and State of New York, in the place of of Yell and State of Arkansas, in the place of Julius W. Lancas William V. Mo!loy, whose commission expired February 1, 1897. ter, whose commission expired March 23, 1897. Frank H. Atkinson, to be postmaster at Cadiz, in the county of John C. Scott, to be postmaster at Sterling, in the county of Harrison and State of Ohio, in the place of Nel'i A. Hanna, whose Logan and State of Colorado, in the place of Robert W. Smith, commission expired March 27, 1897. 1·esigned. Jacob F. Huffman, to be postmaster at Bradner, in the county James W. Hague, to be postmaster at Torrington, in the county of Wood and State of Ohio, the appointment of a postmaster for of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, in the place of Frederick the said office having, by law, become vested in tho President on G. Alldis, whose commission expires April 15, 1897. and after January 1, 1897. Levi F. Burkett, to be postmaster at Bainbridge, in the county John B. Brown, to be postmaster at Newcastle, in the county of of Decatur and State of Georgia, in the place of Isadore Zacharias, Lawrence and State of Pennsylvania, in the place of George B. whose commission expired April 8, 1897. Gibson, whose commission expired Apri114, 1897. Jacob C. Garber, to be postmaster at Grangeville, in thecounty Sallie A. Ramsey, to be postmaster at McKees Rocks, in the of Idaho-and State of Idaho, the appointment of a postmaster for county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, in the place of the said office having, by law, become vested in the President on Sallie A. Ramsey, whose commission expired January 5, 1897. and after April1, 1897. Thomas Breen, to be postmaster at Mineola, in the county of Wilbur T. Norton, to be postmaster at Alton, in the county of Wood and State of Texas, in the place of James M. Robins, Madison and State of Illinois, in the place of John Buckmaster, deceased. deceased, Julia Buckma.ster, who was appointed by the President · Helen I. Campbell, to be postmaster at Saxtons River, in the during the recess of the Senate, not having been confirmed. county of Windham and State of Vermont, iri the place of Helen Harry L. Brotherlin, to be postmaster at Tipton, in the county I. Campbell, whose commission expired April5, 1897. 1897. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 741
Peter E. Olsen, to be postmaster at Rice Lake, in the county of taries, who also announced that the-President had approved and Barron and State of Wisconsin, in the place of J. E. Horsman, signed the joint resolution (H. Res. 47) authorizing the Secretary whose commission expired March 29, 1897. of War to use rations f.or the relief of destitute persons in the dis George W. Hoyt, to be postmaster at Cheyenne, in-the connty trict overflowed by the Mississippi River and its tributaries and of Laramie and State of Wyoming, in the place of George A. b;t the Red River of the North, and making an appropriation to Draper,removed. - relieve the sufferers .by said overflow. James A. MeAvoy, to be postmaster at Lander, in the county of PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. Fremont and State of Wyoming, in the place of Stephen A. D. Keister, whose commission expired March 23, 1897. The SPEAKER. The Chair lays before the House a message UNITED STATES ATTORNEY. from the President of the United States, which will be read. Mr. SIMPSON of Kansas. Mr. Speaker-- GreeleyW.-Wl:,.itford, of Colorado, to be attorney of the United The SPEAKER. The Clerk will read the message of the Presi States for the district of Colorado, vice Henry V. Johnson, whose dent. 'term expired April14, 1897. The Clerk read as follows: COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION. To the Senate and House of Representatives: : Percy C. Hennighausen, of Maryland, to be commissioner of I transmit herewith fm; the consideration of the respective Houses of the Congress a report of the Secretary of State representing the appropriate immigration at the port of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, to ness of early action in order that the Government of the United States may succeed William H. Ruby, removed. be enabled to accept the invitation of that of the French Republic to partici pate in the Universal Exposition to be held at Paris in 1900. Tho recommendations of this report have my most cordial approval, and I CONFIRMATIONS. urge upon the Congress such timely provision for this great international enterprise as will fittingly respond to the widely testified ~h and expecta Executive nominations confirmed by the Setwte April15, 1897. tion of our inventors and producers that they may have adequate oppor ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY. tunity againt as in the past., to fortif[ the important positions thev have won in the worlu's competitive fields o discovery and industry. Nor are the James B. Angell, of Michigan, to be envoy extraordinary and traditional friendships of the United States and France and the mutual ad minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Turkey. vantages to accrue from their enlarged commercial intercourse less im portant factors than the individual interests to be fostered by renewed ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF WAR. participation in a greatFreneh exposition., especially when it is remembered that the present display is projected with a degree of completeness and on a George D. Meiklejohn, of Nebraska, to be Assistant Secretary scale of magnificence beyond any of the European exhibitions that have of War. marked the close of the century. SPECIAL FISOAJ, AGENTS. It is proper that I should emphasize the need of early action, for if the pres- ent session pass without suitable provision baing made, the postponement of Isaac Seligman and Leopold Seligman, trading u,nder the name, the matter for nearl¥ alearlonger could not but operate greatly to the dis style, and firm of Seligman Bros., at London, England, to be advantage of the Urute States, in view of the elaborate preparations already special fiscal a poents of the Navy Department. making by other governments and of the danger that further delay may re 0 sult in an inadequate allotment of space to this country as well as an incom- COLLEOTOR OF CUSTOMS. plete organization of the American exhibit. WILLIAM McKINLEY. William R. Williams, of New Jersey, to be collector of customs ExEcuTIVE MANsToN, for the district of Newark, in the State of New Jersey. Washington, A.P1·il14, 1897. SPECIAL EXAMINER OF DRUGS. The SPEAKER. The message of the President will be referred Erastus Hopkins, of Massachusetts, to be special examiner of to the Committee on Foreign Affairs when appointed. drugs, medicines, and chemicals in the district of Boston and PERSONAL EXPLANATION. Charlestown, in the State of Massachusetts. ASSAYER. Mr. DINGLEY. Mr. Speaker- Mr. BAILEY rose. John W. Cunningham, of Idaho, to be assayer of the United The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Maine is recognized. States assay office at Boise City, Idaho. Mr. DINGLEY. !understand the gentleman from Texas (Mr. PROMOTIONS lN THE ARMY. BAr.uEY] desires to occupy a few minutes. Infantry arm. lYir. BAILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question -of personal be privilege. I send to the Clerk's desk and ask to have read an ar First Lieut. Edward Harrison Browne, Fourth Infantry, to ticle which I have marked. captain. Second Lieut. Paul Alexander Wolf, Third Infantry, to be first The Clerk read as follows: lieutenant. FROM MAKER TO WEARER. Candidate Corpl. George L. Byroade, Battery F, First Artillery, The leadership of young Mr. BAILEY in the House of Representatives is to be second lieutenant. the leadership of old, old Mr. REED, and the Democrats who submit to it might as consistently and more sensibly have voted for Mr. REED for Speaker. Ordnance Department. If for placeso:n prominent committees these gent-lemen are willing to barter Second Lieut. John Wan-en J oyes, Fifth Artillery, to be first their party beliefs and the interests of the country,._they could have done ;/ better for themselves by dealing directly with the ;::;peaker in the first in- lieutenant. stance. l POSTMASTERS. 'fhe Reed brand of collar~ like other modern manufactures, is cheapest ·~ when sent directly from maKer to wearer. There is no need of the middle Wallace W. Rollins, to be postmaster at Asheville, in the county man. of Buncom be and State of North Carolina. Mr. BAILEY. Mr. Speaker, there is but one answer that an hon Ellis G. Darnell, to be postmaster at Lebanon, in the county of est and self-respecting man can make to an assault like that. It Boone and State of Indiana. does not admit of argument. My only answer is this: I llenounce John W. Eward, to be postmaster at Converse, in the county of that statement as an infamous and malicious1ie, and I denounce Miami and State of Indiana. every man who has helped to circulate it as an infamous and ma William W. Hopkins, to be postmaster at Oakland, in the county licious liar. (Applause.] -of Burt and State of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, inasmuch as my attitude toward the present situ Leopold Hahn, to be postmaster at Hastings, in the county of ation in the House has been so greatly misunderstood by some and Adams and State of Nebraska. so grossly misrepresented by others, it is due to my friends that Clifford B. McCoy, to be postma-ster at-Coshocton, in the county I should embrace this opportunity to define my exact position, of Coshocton and State of Ohio. which is this: I recognize that th9 Republican party has a large E. A. Deardorff, to be postmaster at New Philadelphia, in the majority in this House and will therefore be held responsible by county of Tuscarawas and State of Ohio. the country as well for the good which it fails to do as for the William T. Pritchard, to be postmaster at Franklin, in the evil which it does; and in my judgment the Democratic party county of Johnson and State of Indiana. neither desires nor expeats that its representatives here will resort to useless and factional obstruction to prevent the Republican majority from carrying its policies into execution. Until within HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. the last few days I have understood this to be the position of all Democrats. Indeed, many of them have gone beyond me. I hold SATURDAY, Apn7 17, 1897. in my hand a copy of the greatest metropolitan newspaper which The House met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. to-day supports the regular organization of.the Democratic party. HENRY N. COUDEN. 'l~he very second sentence in the leading editorial in its issue of The Journal of the proceedings of Wednesday last was read and Aprir10 declares: approved. Tho people have given the Republicans power, and it is only right tha.t the Mr. SIMPSON of Kansas. Mr. Speaker-- latter should have liberty to carry out their policies. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT. This is followed with the further statement: The people knew when they gave the Republicans the victorv that they A message in writing from the President of the United States were voting for the party of protection. Whether the people have repontea was communicated to the House by Mr. PRUDEN, one of his secre- of their action or not is for the Republicans of the Senate to decidu.
