Statement of expenditures from the sum of $10,000 appropriated from the Chippewa tribal funds by the Indian act approved June 30, 1919 (Public, No. 3, p. 13), for 1920 on account of councils, delegations, eto., to Dec. 15, 1919. Statement of expenditures from the sum of $6,000 appropriated by the act ap proved May 18, 1916, from the Chippewa tribal fund for council and delegation expenses for the fiscal years 1915, 1916, and 1917. National Hotel. Gus. H. Beaulieu, Wm. Lodging, etc.......... Madison. Gus H. Beaulieu. Traveling expenses.. ..do. ..do.. .do. .do.. ..do. .do. .do. ..do. .do. ..do.. waybe. Lodging, etc.. Traveling expenses.. .do.. ..do.. ..do. .do.. Stephen Caswell. Traveling expenses. .do. ..do. Meals. 8.00 3. 71 3.58 3. 88 15.83 9.67 80. 40 28. 55 268.00 32. 39 19.00 Statement of expenditures from the sum of $6,000 appropriated by the act ap proved May 18, 1916, etc.—Continued. Statement of expenditures from the sum of $6,000 appropriated by the Indian act for 1918, approved Mar. 2, 1919 (39 Stat. L., 979), for council expense, etc., of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota. $400.00 37. 40 132. 44 5.56 3.03 5. 56 4.92 6.96 3. 28 48.00 18.00 910. 0535. 40 16.63 15. 63 3.53 27.35 19.98 5. 75. 3.53 55. 33 16.25 32. 48 49. 15 9.74 13.05 303542 Webster Ballinger. Webster Ballinger. Services.. Traveling expenses.. Subsistence and travel ing expenses. Traveling expenses. .do. ..do. 304311. David Ruttle. David Ruttle. ..do. 304314. Wm. 0. Coffey. Wm. 0. Coffey ..do. 304310. Wm. Hawes. Wm. Hawes. .do. 304318. Foley's garage.. Various delegates. Auto hire.. 301317. Brose Hotel Lodging 303697 Hotel Markham.. ...do. Board and lodging 304824. E. L. Warren.. .do. Auto hire.. 304819. J. G. Montferrand. J. G. Montferrand. ..do. .do. Auto hire and meals. Traveling expenses. .do. ...do... 304399. Svea Hotel.. Various delegates. Board and lodging 304837. Alexia Bushman. Alexia Bushman. Traveling expenses.. 305245. Wm. A. Brunette. Various delegates. Auto hire. B. L. Fairbanks. Traveling expenses. ..do.. Stationery lishing Co. 305359. J. G. Morrison, jr. Various delegates. Traveling expenses. 298755. Gus H. Beaulieu ..do.. Board and lodging. 306422. Agnes C. Campbell. General council. Stenographic services.. 306420. Cora Coffey. .do.. do... Various delegates. Traveling expenses.. Stenographic services. Services.. Auto hire. 308522. Lake Shore Hotel. Various delegates.. Board and lodging. Traveling expenses. ...do.. 305354. Paul H. Beaulieu. Paul H. Beaulieu. Salary. Traveling expenses. Board and lodging. C. H. Beaulieu, Gus H. .....do....... Beaulieu. Board and lodging, etc. Joe Corbao, George Da- .....do.. vis. 296624 Mrs. W. E. Fink do.. Lodging... Board and lodging. Traveling expenses. Board and lodging. John Warren, John Lin- Lodging.... coln, Thomas Reed. 298199. National Hotel.. John Lincoln, Thomas ..do.... Reed. 298751 ...do... John Warren.. do.. Railroad fare. .do... .do.. 300627 Pullman Co.. ...do.. Pullman fare. 302076. C. &0. Ry. ..do... Railroad fare.. 298197 Hotel Gratz.. .do... Board and lodging 297468 Pennsylvania R.R. Railroad fare... 298363. National Hotel. .do... Lodging, etc.... 300020 Nah-mah-we-nee-nee. Nah-mah-we-nee-nee. Traveling expenses. ..do.. .do.. 290677 Orient Cafe.. Various delegates. Meals. 290681 Nicollet Hotel. ...do.... Lodging 298757 Gus H. Beaulieu. ..do.. Traveling expenses.. 298758 .do.. do.. .do.. Total..... 167.09 337.44 50.00 50.00 95.68 50.00 245.65 5.00 38. 38 11. 28 20.71 600.00 45.03 78.00 467.68 2. 10 21.00 3. 00 6.00 42. 57 11.00 189.00 26.00 22.50 29.71 65.06 128.97 50.70 120.57 246.72 65. 76 245.95 40.84 40.84 2. 43 61. 85 35. 50 111.25 147. 18 5,857.36 Mr. Roach. I want to inquire if these are the same items given us by Mr. Meritt? Mr. STEENERSON. No; he only gave those sums paid to Mr. Ballinger. Mr. BURTNESS. Have you any idea how they happened to overlook a few dollars in each year's appropriation ? Mr. STEENERSON. I assume there might be some few contingent expenses waiting. Mr. JEFFERIS. Are these supposed council men getting this money? Mr. STEENERSON. These are the men running the council, and there is the expense of the annual meeting. Mr. Roach. I wish to ask a question on these particular figures. Mr. STEENERSON. These figures I have read are here in detail and represent the amount paid out of these appropriations for each year to Mr. Ballinger and to Mr. Fairbanks, who is the president of the general council, and to Mr. Beaulieu, who was also acting as sort of attorney. Now, have extracts here from the testimony that is on file here, first on page 1645, volume 2, report of an investigation of the White Earth Band, and so on, with reference to the pages there; instead of taking these volumes over from the Library, I simply had them copied. This simply shows the position of these men who assume to be the guardians of these Indians and what their position was toward the Indians. One gentleman here the other day inquired about the lumber interests and fraud by lumber companies. Here is Mr. Beaulieu's testimony: EXCERPTS OF TESTIMONY. Examination of Gus Beaulieu. Mr. GRAHAM. Have you, Mr. Beaulieu, at any time been in the employ of the Commonwealth Lumber Co.? Mr. BEAULIEU. Yes, sir. Mr. GRAHAM. That company evolved or was changed into the Nichols-Chisholm Lumber Co.? Mr. BEAULIEU. Did you ask me if I had been employed by the Commonwealth Lumber Co.? Mr. GRAHAM. Yes. Mr. GRAHAM. Do you draw a salary or compensation from them for any purpose ? Mr. BEAULIEU. Well, I have been drawing a salary this year; a small salary. Mr. GRAHAM. How far back does your employment with the Nichols-Chisholm Lumber Co., or its members-stockholders—date? Mr. BEAULIEU. Well, I can't- Mr. GRAHAM. Well, you were interested in obtaining contracts for them somewhat in advance of the appropriation or passage of the Clapp rider of 1906, were you not? Mr. BEAULIEU. No, sir. Mr. GRAHAM. You were not in their employ at the time you were in Washington in 1906 ? Mr. BEAULIEU. In 1906 ? Mr. BEAULIEU. Well, I had been looking after some matters for them previous to that time; that is, inherited lands. Mr. GRAHAM. Yes, exactly ; on the reservation. Mr. BEAULIEU. Yes. (P. 669, vol. 1, report in the matter of the investigation of the White Earth Reservation in the State of Minnesota. H. Rept. No. 1336, 62d Cong., 3d sess., 1913.) Mr. BEAULIEU. Another thing I wish to say: I understand that the NicholsChisholm Lumber Co. had organized in 1903 or 1904. A short time after it was organized I was employed. (P. 1663, id.) Examination of Benjamine L. Fairbanks. Mr. GRAHAM. Well, are you interested in any real estate on the reservation? Mr. FAIRBANKS. Yes. (P. 1645, vol. 2, report in the matter of the investigation of the White Earth Reservation, in the State of Minnesota. H. Rept. No. 1336, 62d Cong., 3d sess.) Now I call attention to the fact that these men had been buying Indian allotments under the Clapp Act. That was an act that removed all restricions on mixed bloods, so that if a man was ever so incompetent-he might not know enough to charge more than a few dollars for 80 acres of pine land worth $13 or $15 a thousand, and they were absolutely incompetent, a great many of them, and as you perhaps all recall there was the worst scandal ever known in the history of Indian affairs, and these lumber companies, employed-now, Mr. Fairbanks claimed to be a mixed blood; I suppose he had some Indian blood in him, but a good many years ago—I do not know just when he was entirely emancipated; he had been allotted land which made him a citizen, and in fact all these Indians are citizens of the United States, but because of the property rights they have in these funds in the United States they claim to be tribal Indians, and they organized this general council of tribal Indians, whereas 90 per cent of all Indians are citizens of the United States, and it has been the aim of this Government for years to wipe out the tribal organization, but lo and behold they come here, as you will see when you examine those articles of incorporation, it is a self-perpetuated organization. A majority are wealthy; a great many of them are well-to-do people and well educated and competent to attend to any business matter, and they controlled out of 100 delegates the majority, and, as you will see by these expenses here, when they have a council they pay the expenses of those Indians from White Earth or any other reservation who come and attend out of the funds appropriated for this general council. One council meeting was held at Bemidji, which is quite a distance, and the amount paid for expenses of delegates was quite large. Mr. McCORMICK. Does this amount come out of the general tribal fund? Mr. STEENERSON. Certainly. So we have this Mr. Morrison, who is a trader at Red Lake, but a citizen of the United States, the president of the council; Mr. Fairbanks was also an officer of the council. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Fairbanks is now dead. Mr. STEENERSON. Yes; I think he died recently. The officers have been the same, so far as I know, from the very start, and notwithstanding the fact these full bloods have been down here to Congress and appealing to the department to pay their expenses, they come down here to protest against this. Mr. LEATHERWOOD. Mr. Steenerson, may I ask you a question, if you don't mind? Mr. STEENERSON. Surely. Mr. LEATHERWOOD. What is there before this committee to show the individuals you have named were trafficking in the allotted lands? Mr. STEENERSON. This is the evidence; no question about that. The lands were bought for less than they are worth. Here is the Assistant Attorney General who looked up the records. There were eleven hundred law suits brought to recover lands that were bought for less than they should have been bought for, and Mr. Beaulieu was one of them, and Mr. Fairbanks's 20,000 acres. He paid this money to settle the suits the United States brought against him for defrauding the Indians. |