THE ADJUTANT GENERAL. WAR DEPARTMENT, July 5, 1939. 1. By preceding endorsement (AG 201 Harman, James R. (6-21-39) Enl.) dated June 27, 1939, report has been requested as to whether the record of trial of James R. Harman, formerly private, Sixty-fifth Service Squadron, A. C. (DS and Hq. Det., H. G. D.) contains anything which would justify favorable consideration by the War Department of the bill H. R. 6782, and such recommendation as may be deemed appropriate. 2. The records of this office disclose that Harman was tried by a general court martial at Fort Shafter, T. H., July 11, 1930, and convicted of the following charge and specification: Charge: Violation of the Eighty-sixth Article of War: Specification: In that Private James R. Harman, Sixty-fifth Service Squadron, Air Corps, now on detached service with Headquarters Detachment, Hawaiian General Depot, being on guard and posted as a sentinel, at Hawaiian General Depot, on or about May 31, 1930, did leave his post before he was regularly relieved. Harman pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty of the charge and specification. The court sentenced him to be dishonorably discharged, total forfeitures, and confinement at hard labor for 1 year. The sentence was approved but the execution of the dishonorable discharge suspended until his release from confinement. He was dishonorably discharged on May 15, 1931. p. m. 3. Harman was regularly detailed on guard on May 31, 1930, at Fort Armstrong, T. H., and was assigned to post No. 1 for the first relief, p. m. to 11:30 On this post the sentry carried a time clock, a key for which was secured by a chain at each of the six stations. The sentry was required to make the rounds of his post, punch the clock at each station, and report at the main gate once each hour. Harman entered on his duty at 5 p. m. He failed to report at the main gate as required. Shortly after 8 p. m. the corporal of the guard investigated. Harman was missing from his post, as were the keys from each of the six stations. The corporal found Harman in a poker game with all six keys in his pocket. He had been there since 7:30 p. m. at least. 4. In an unsworn statement Harman claimed that due to phlebitis he was not in fit condition to do guard duty. This was disproven by two medical witnesses, both stating that Harman had no symptoms of phlebitis, no temperature, no tender veins, and that his legs did not hurt him. 5. It is the view of this office that there is nothing in the record to justify favorable consideration by the War Department of the bill, H. R. 6782; accordingly an unfavorable report thereon is recommended. For The Judge Advocate General: Lieutenant Colonel, Judge Advocate General's Department, L. H. HEDRICK, Chief of Section. APRIL 30 (legislative day, APRIL 24), 1940.-Ordered to be printed Mr. THOMAS of Oklahoma, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 3524] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3524) providing for the conferring of jurisdiction upon the Court of Claims to hear and determine the claims of the Choctaw Indians of the State of Mississippi, having conducted hearings thereon and having considered said bill, report thereon with the recommendation that it do pass without amendment. The purpose of this bill is to provide for a judicial settlement of all the claims of the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi against the United States. The record shows that the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi have for over a hundred years asserted their claims in one form or another, and Congress beginning with the enactment of the act of August 23, 1842 (5 Stat. 513), has on a number of occasions evidenced its desire to provide means for a settlement of the rightful claims of the Mississippi Choctaws, but due to the fact that jurisdiction was never conferred upon the courts for the settlement of these claims the purpose of Congress has not been carried out, and the Mississippi Choctaws, through no fault of their own, have been denied the rights which they were entitled to receive under the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (7 Stat. 333) and various acts of Congress. Of all the American Indians the white man found when he came to this country, the Choctaws were among the most advanced, cultured, and peaceful. They have been noted throughout the annals of our history as uniformly friendly to the white people, and many hundreds of them have rendered invaluable service as soldiers in the service of the United States in times of war. Originally, the Choctaws owned and controlled over one-half of the territory within the boundaries of the present State of Mississippi. At the time of the acquisition of the Mississippi Territory by the United States the Federal Government recognized them to be the lawful owners of over 14,000,000 acres of land in the State of Mississippi. After the War of 1812 the tide of emigration of white settlers from the Eastern States to the Mississippi Territory became irresistible. To satisfy the demands of the white settlers for cheap lands in Mississippi, the United States concluded a treaty with the Choctaws on October 18, 1820 (7 Stat. 210), whereby the Choctaws ceded approximately 4,000,000 acres of their land in the State of Mississippi to the United States in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River in the Indian Territory. The lands thus acquired by the Choctaws comprised all of the lands afterward known as the territory of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma. This treaty of 1820 did not require that any Choctaws remove to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, for after that cession was made the Choctaws still had remaining 10,423,139 acres of land in Mississippi upon which they resided and which was ample for their needs. However, in the decade from 1820 to 1830 thousands of white settlers moved into the Mississippi Choctaw country. They settled not only on the lands which had been ceded by the Treaty of 1820, but a great many of them became squatters on the lands in Mississippi retained by the Choctaws. The rapid development of the State of Mississippi by 1830 created a demand for a still further curtailment of the remaining Choctaw lands in Mississippi as well as a demand for the removal of a majority of the Choctaws to the lands acquired by them in the Indian Territory. As a result, on September 27, 1830. the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was concluded between the Choctaws in Mississippi and the United States, the purpose of which was to induce the Choctaws to remove to their Indian Territory lands west of the Mississippi River. That treaty provided that the Choctaws who would so remove and give up their lands in Mississippi would share in a large annuity, as well as in certain other cash benefits and inducements. About one-fourth of the tribe were unwilling to leave their native country in Mississippi and go to the new lands in the West. The Commissioners appointed by the United States to negotiate the Treaty of 1830 were soon convinced that no treaty for removal could be obtained without recognition of the rights of those Choctaws desiring to remain in Mississippi. So, in order to get the greater portion of the Choctaws to remove and thus make available for sale their valuable lands in Mississippi, article XIV was placed in the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which provided that those Choctaws who desired to remain in Mississippi might do so, and it guaranteed to them the rights of Choctaw citizens, and provided that they would receive allotments of land in Mississippi. But since the primary purpose of the treaty was to effect the removal of as many Choctaws as possible, it was also provided in article XIV that no Choctaws who remained in Mississippi could share in the large annuity to be paid to those going to the West. Of a total of approximately 20,000 Choctaws affected by the treaty of 1830, about 5,000 chose to remain in Mississippi. Article XIV of said treaty provided that with regard to those Choctaws who remained in Mississippi each head of a family would receive an allotment in the ceded territory in Mississippi of 640 acres of land, each unmarried child over 10 years of age would obtain an allotment of 320 acres, and each child under 10 years of age would receive an allotment of 160 acres. It has been ascertained that the Choctaws who remained in Mississippi after 1830 were entitled to allotments aggregating 1,399,920 acres. Article XVIII of said treaty provided that no white person would be permitted to settle within the ceded territory in Mississippi and that none of the lands should be sold until the Choctaws should remove to their territory in the West, and it was further provided in said article: * * that in the construction of this Treaty wherever well founded doubt shall arise, it shall be construed most favorably towards the Choctaws. The Government permitted these provisions of the treaty of 1830 to be violated. Malfeasance on the part of the then Indian agent in Mississippi was so gross and unjust with reference to those Choctaws who chose to remain in Mississippi that in spite of all efforts on their part only 143 of them actually received allotments of land in Mississippi. The Government proceeded to and did sell these lands to white settlers without regard to and violation of the specific terms of the treaty and, as a result of that action, it soon became impossible for the Government to comply with the terms of the treaty without ousting white settlers who had purchased the lands and actually entered upon them and built homes, which the Government was unwilling to do. This condition was brought to the attention of Congress, and as a result, the act of August 23, 1842 (5 Stat. 513), was passed. That act provided for the issuance of scrip to the Choctaws who remained in Mississippi which might be used in purchasing any of the public land subject to entry at private sale in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The act further provided that the second half of the scrip should not be issued to the Indian "until after his removal to the Choctaw territory, west of the Mississippi River." Scrip for approximately one-half of the land, namely, 700,080 acres, was issued and delivered to the Choctaws in Mississippi, but that proved to be of no practical value to the Indians, who, being without proper guidance, traded this scrip to white men for material things of no substantial or permanent value. Thereafter on March 3, 1845, the Congress enacted a statute (5 Stat. 777), which determined the lands to which the Choctaws were promised under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830, "but which it is impossible for the United States now to give them," to be of the value of $1.25 per acre. That act further provided that the second half of the scrip (which had been authorized by the act of August 23, 1842, but which had not yet been issued) "shall not be issued or delivered in the West"; and it also provided that the second half of the scrip— shall carry interest of 5 percent, which the United States will pay annually to the reservees under the treaty of 1830, respectively, or to their heirs and legal representatives forever. The second half of the scrip not having been delivered, and there being accumulated interest due thereon, the Congress on July 21, 1852, appropriated (10 Stat. 19) $872,000 to pay the principal of said second half of undelivered scrip, and $21,800 for the payment of accumulated interest thereon, making a total appropriation of $893,000. That act shows on its face that the moneys there appropriated were for the Choctaw claimants, under the fourteenth article of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, of September 27, 1830, for the lands on which they resided, but which it is |