M.E-14-9121125 INDIAN TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA. COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, The committee this day met, Hon. Homer P. Snyder (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The hearing this morning is with reference to H. R. 4383, a bill authorizing any tribes or bands of Indians of California to submit claims to the Court of Claims. Representative Raker is present and will make the initial statement with regard to the matter. STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN E. RAKER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Mr. RAKER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the matter involved is provided for in H. R. 4383, and I ask, Mr. Chairman, that the bill, together with the report of the Secretary of the Interior, be inserted at this point. The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection, it will be so ordered. (The bill and report referred to follow:) [H. R. 4383, Sixty-seventh Congress, first session.] A BILL Authorizing any tribes or bands of Indians of California to submit claims to the Court of Claims. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all claims of whatsoever nature which any tribes or bands of Indians of California may have against the United States may be submitted to the Court of Claims for determination of the amount, if any, due said tribes or bands from the United States for lands formerly occupied and claimed by them in the said State, which lands are alleged to have been taken from them without compensation; and jurisdiction is hereby conferred on the Court of Claims, with the right of either party to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, to hear and determine all legal and equitable claims, if any, of said tribes or bands against the United States and to enter judgment thereon. SEC. 2. That if any claim or claims be submitted to said court, they shall settle the rights therein, both legal and equitable, which shall be based upon the fair value of any such lands at the time the treaties were ratified by the several tribes or bands of Indians, not to exceed $1.25 per acre, of each and all the parties thereto, notwithstanding lapse of time or statutes of limitation, and any payment which may have been made upon any claim so submitted shall not be pleaded as an estoppel, but may be pleaded as an offset in such suits or actions, and the United States shall be allowed credit for all sums heretofore paid or expended for the benefit of said tribes or any band thereof, including gratuities. The claim or claims of the said tribes or any bands thereof shall be presented jointly by petition, subject, however, to amendment; suit to be filed within two years after the passage of this act; and such action shall make the petitioner or petitioners party plaintiff or plaintiffs and the United States shall be the party defendant; and any other band or bands or tribes of California the court may deem necessary to a final determination of such suit may be joined therein as the court may order: Provided, That said court shall settle and determine the claims or rights of any such band or tribe as may be joined in said suit. Such petition, which shall be verified by the attorney or attorneys employed by the aforesaid tribes or bands of Indians of California, shall set forth all the facts on which the claims for recovery are based, and said petition shall be signed by the attorney or attorneys employed, and no other verification shall be necessary; official letters, papers, documents, and public records, or certified copies thereof, may be used in evidence, and the departments of the Government shall give access to the attorney or attorneys of said tribes or bands thereof to such treaties, papers, correspondence, or records as may be needed by the attorney or attorneys for said tribes or bands of Indians. 141 |