Grand Rapids Herald Review

CHIPPEWA INDIANS HOPING FOR FUNDS ANTICIPATE EARLY PAYMENT- SOME DISCUSSION OF STATUS OF MEMBERS OF TRIBE.

Two recent announcements are of interest to the several thousand people of Chippewa blood in Itasca and surrounding counties. One is the order from the Indian Department at Washington to the Consolidated Chippewa Agency in Cass Lake to prepare the rolls for a payment of $9.50 to each Minnesota Chippewa Indian living on the date of payment. The date has not been fixed, but is expected to be some time during the present month.

The second announcement is that Congressman W. A. Pittenger of this district has stated that he would introduce a bill in Congress this month, to pay $100 to each Chippewa of record. The bill, it is said, will also be sponsored by Congressman Harold Knutson of the Sixth district, and a Chippewa by adoption. Mr. Pittenger stated that owing to the widespread hard times in the Indian country, and to the lack of probable employment in logging camps, there was every prospect of a serious situation this winter, and that nothing better could be done for the Chippewas than to pay them a considerable sum out of tribal money now in the possession of the government. It must not be considered that the money is a gift from the Federal government, but a distribution of tribal funds held in trust by the Indian department for many years.

There is a great deal of discussion, even among the members of the Chippewa tribe, as to who are entitled to share in these payments.
CHIPPEWA INDIANS
HOPING FOR FUNDS
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Chippewa tribe, as to just who is entitled
to a share in the tribal funds. Accord-
ing to a decision on January 8, 1927
to share in the division of funds the
Indian must possess the following
qualifications:
1. Descent from an ancestor
who was a member of one of the
bands or tribes as they existed
in 1889.
2. The person must have been
born on a tribal reservation.
3. The person must be recog-
nized by the band or tribe as
belonging thereto, and must have
been affiliated with the tribe or
band.
Some of these regulations have
been difficult to meet. In order to
agree with the second one, the Fed-
eral bureau which administers the In-
dian affairs has decided that tribal
reservations included all land which
at any time was included in an In-
dian reservation, although the land at
the time of the birth of the indivi-
dual in question might have been in
white ownership for many years. In-
dians have been advised by the In-
dian bureau officials to seek for work
outside the reservations, hence they
are found in all parts of the country.
One former member of the Ball Club
band is now a well known railroad
engineer, working out of Superior.
Another is living in Chicago, still
another teaching in an Indian school
in Colorado. All. however. have their
rights in the tribal funds, as do their
children.
Many conferences have been held
during the past month, at Washing-
ton, to determine how the Chippewas
may best prosecute their claims
against the United States. James
Coffey, whose allotment was at the
north end of Ball Club lake, and who
is a very well educated member of
the tribe, is at Washington, doing his
best to secure for the Chippewas the
funds which are theirs. and held in
trust. It is expected that the coming
session of Congress will see some
legislation enacted which is of im-
portance to all who are of Chippewa
blood.