REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. CLAIMS OF INDIANS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. The practice of approving contracts to collect from the Government money due the Indians is one that, in my judgment, ought not to exist The Government claims to be the guardian of the Indians, and as such is clearly under obligation to guard their interests and protect them in their rights; but, under section 2103 of the Revised Statutes, it has for years been the practice to approve of contracts by which outside parties have taken from the Indians hundreds of thousands of dollars for serv- ice which ought not to have cost the Indians one cent. If the Gov- ernment, acting as guardian, owes, or holds in trust for the Indians, money or property belonging to them, the clearest and plainest dictates of common sense and common honesty require that the ward should not be compelled to suffer loss to obtain what is justly due him. During the last four years agreements have been entered into between Indians and different attorneys by which these attorneys were to receive from the Indians $755,221.28 for collecting from the Government money said to be due the Indians. Now it is very certain that if money is due any tribe of Indians that fact can be ascertained by some officer of the Gov- ernment who has access to all the treaties and the laws made in pursu- ance thereof as readily as by any other person, if not more readily, and 1 submit that it is the duty of the Government to see that the wards of the nation receive, free of cost, what is justly due them, while it is equally the duty of the Government to see that no unjust claim is paid. During the last session of Congress I had the honor to address a letter to you on this subject, which I believe met with your entire approval, in which I suggested that provision should be made by law for the appointment of an officer who should attend to all cases where money might be justly due from the Government to the Indians; that this should be his entire business; and that he should receive such a salary as would secure the services of a person with sufficient legal ability, integrity, and business capacity to see that no injustice is done either the Government or the Indians. It may be said that this is a departure from the rule that has governed the Department for many years, but I submit that that is no argument against it, unless it can be shown that age sanctifies error.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 04:14:31 +0000
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