some provision for his wife and children. This he did by borrowing money from a white rancher, and we are wondering how he was able to do it. His father left his four sons quite a large ranch and over $20,000, but they only have a few acres to show for it and no money. So please do not permit this man to be palmed off on you as a chief, or even a fair representative of the Indian of the Klamath.

With kindest wishes, I am sincerely,

CHARLES WILSON BAKER.

P. S.-I might have told a lot more of this representative (?), but I have pity on

you.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. Is that in response to any inquiry?
The CHAIRMAN. No, just a voluntary letter.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. May I ask a question, Mr. Chairman?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, sir.

C. W. B.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. Did you ever have any trouble with this fellow who wrote that letter?

Mr. WILDER. Yes, sir.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. So he has it in for you, has he?

Mr. WILDER. Yes, sir.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. Would you mind telling us what it is for?

Mr. WILDER. For one thing we sold him lumber and he would not pay his bill. If you want more, I will give it to you.

Mr. MONTOYA. You could write another letter in the same strain as that with regard to him, could you?

Mr. WILDER. I would like to have a copy of that letter. I think that is a basis for a suit, too, for libel.

The CHAIRMAN. It is in the record now.

Mr. WILDER. He makes statements that are absolutely false. The trouble is that he and I have always been on opposite sides. I take the side of the under dog, the Indians, the side of the Indian that is helpless and trampled, and he has always been on the other side.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. Is this man who wrote this letter against you an Indian?
Mr. WILDER. No, sir. He is a missionary. He is not of any Indian blood.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. What kind of a missionary?

Mr. WILDER. Episcopalian.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. What is he living off of?

Mr. WILDER. His salary and with the Indians..

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. His salary for a missionary?

Mr. WILDER. Yes, sir. My wife plays the organ in his church. He comes right into our meetings and says, "I am the friend of you Indians" and he has fought this bill and he has fought Mr. Collett and he has fought the Indians all the way through. Mr. LEATHERWOOD. This wife who lives in this hovel is not so poor that she can not play the organ in his church, is she?

Mr. WILDER. No, sir. My wife has deserted me. She lives in a fine two-story house. Mr. Collett has seen me in my home.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. Statement of Albert R. Wilder, California Indian delegate, for amplifying his testimony in the hearings of Saturday, April 29, 1922:

I inherited nothing from my father, as he willed his entire property, appraised at $17,000, to my mother. At her death, years later, the real estate was divided among six children, I getting one sixth of the real estate. There was no cash to be divided. I voluntarily paid on the eve of my departure for Washington, D. C., January 10, 1922, $50 in cash to apply on my store account and made arrangement with the grocer, F. W. Gent Co., for supplying her with groceries for three months at $30 per month. I paid $50 more on March 7, 1922, and on April 8, 1922, $20 additional. Also, on this date, April 8, 1922, I sent $20 to the other store there to enable my wife to secure provisions and supplies at either of the stores in my home town, namely, Orleans, Humboldt County, Calif. This makes a total of $140 for the use of my wife and children during my stay of a little more than three months at Washington, D. C.

ALBERT R. WILDER.

STATEMENT OF MR. T. W. BILLINGS.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Billings, will you kindly give your name in full, your occupation, and what branch of the tribe you belong to?

Mr. BILLINGS. Thomas W. Billings, miner, Scott Valley Tribe, Yreka, Siskiyou County, Calif.

The CHAIRMAN. You are one of the representatives here?

Mr. BILLINGS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Of this body?

Mr. BILLINGS. Yes, sir. I have been sent here by the Indians of the northern part of the State, about 1,000 to 1,500 I think in that part of the country. We organized into these auxiliaries for the purpose of securing funds to finance this delegation to Washington, and, of course, I was chosen as one of them, and our object was to encourage the passage of this Court of Claims bill, that we might get our case adjudicated properly. We feel that we are in need; we feel that something should be done. We know that the Indians have been sadly neglected and are to-day sadly in need of help. We have waited all these years for some one to take hold of this case. Finally, Reverend Collett took up the matter and has worked with the Indians for quite a number of years. About three years ago I met Mr. Collett, and he told me of his mission with the Indians, and about a year ago I had found that his work was good.

We have always been rather skeptical with the white men, especially the sharp ones and the crooked ones. You can not trust them-not all the time. If an Indian has anything these fellows are sticking around to get something and, therefore, we have reason to believe that they are crooked. But after following Mr. Collett's work, we found that he has been a great support to the Indians. He has even put his hand in his pocket to furnish money to telephone to the county authorities in my county of a sick case, 75 miles from the county seat, and got her to the hospital. I know this to be a fact. I know of many other things that are very interesting in this line, where we have many Indians that have fallen down and could not help themselves, that have been taken into the hospitals and have been cared for. The county board of supervisors have made provision for those helpless ones during the winter months. During the winter months they get down and they can not help themselves. They will not ask for help, but they look out for them and when they get them into the hospitals the county pays the bill. This has been done for the last 40 years, to my knowledge. I have lived with the Indians for the last 49 years. I will be 50 years old soon.

I know that many Indians are in need to-day on the Klamath Kiver. There are a great many of them who live in shacks that are not fit to live in. There are a few that have gotten little places once located as mining camps and places that have been deserted by mining men. The places have been mined out and these Indians have moved in there and call that their home. Here last fall, to show you how the Indians are unprotected and uncared for, there is an old Indian about 62 or 70 years old, who lived in Scott Valley. This happened last fall. He lived on a piece of railroad land that had been claimed by him for years. He had lived there, I suppose, all his life. Last fall he was over at Fort Jones, which is about 4 or 5 miles distant. He went there to get provisions, and had these provisions on his back, consisting of two or three cans of cream and a small parcel of flour and someone evidently shot him from up in a tree. The bullet took effect in the back part of his head, high up, and lodged in the jaw. The authorities looked into it. The sheriff told me that he was going to press the case as far as he could, and then he could go no further. Now that is the care and attention that is given the Indians. No one cares for them. No one has looked into that case. That old fellow was shot down in cold blood, simply because somebody wanted to get him out of the way. He was on a piece of railroad land. They wanted that to graze on. They rented from the Forestry Service to graze cattle on

Well, that has happened many times. My mother is still alive to-day. She is about 82 years old. She knows of the signing of the treaty and the way the white men came in there. Of course my father was an eastern man. He was born in Nashville, Tenn., and went to the west in 1849; landed there in 1849. I have heard his story in many cases, but my mother tells me that in 1852 a great many renegades and deserting sailors from ships in San Francisco came into California. They did not only take the lands away from them, but robbed the maidens of their virtue, which caused trouble, and that is the reason there are so many half bloods in that country. After the white women got into that country, as it was stated here just a few minutes ago, they took white women and left their children to do the best for themselves and homeless and without a possible chance of getting anything, and the chances for labor in that country are very poor. The Indians work when they can. They are all honest. I have never heard of a case of one being brought to justice for beating a bill. They pay their bills from year to year with these merchants,

and many times they fall down on their payments. They make their living from their hay. The seasons are short and they do not pay the Indian like they do the white man. They seem to want to hold him down. They seem to have a throttle hold on him. We feel that we have been in this clutch as long as we can stand it. and it is time for us to step out and do something for ourselves. We came here for the purpose of laying a proposition before you gentlemen to get justice, that we might get out of the hardships and from being trampled upon by our white, pale-faced brother. If we had stood up and fought for our rights at that time, it would have been much better than to have yielded to the smooth talk that was handed to us.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman's time has expired, and I think we will recess until 2 o'clock.

Mr. ROACH. Before taking a recess, and for the benefit of the others who are taking part in this, I for one, from the little information I have on this subject, which is very limited, am of the opinion that great wrongs have been done the California Indians in the past. There are, perhaps, many instances that could be related here where they have not received fair treatment. I think we are all more or less agreed upon that. The subject that is under consideration by me, at least, as a member of this committee is whether that can best be corrected by the enactment of the bill we have under consideration, or by following the policy that has been advocated by the Secretary of the Interior. Thus far, no witness who has appeared here has argued the relative merits of these two propositions, one way or the other, as to whether it is best to meet this situation by enactment of this bill under consideration or by following the advice given by the Secretary of the Interior. I would like to hear some one discuss that feature. I make that statement at this time so that if there is any witness who wishes to discuss the relative merits of the two plans, by which we hope to right some of the wrongs that have been detailed here this morning, and which we all believe occurred, they may present arguments on it, and I hope some of them will try, if they can, to convince this committee it is best to pass this bill and not to follow the advice of the Secretary of the Interior to handle it in another way.

(Thereupon, at 1 o'clock p. m., the committee adjourned until 2 o'clock p. m.)

AFTER RECESS.

The committee reassembled at 2 o'clock p. m., pursuant to recess.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. Is Mr. A. J. Hogan present? (No response.)

The CHAIRMAN. Is Harrison Diaz here?

(Mr. Diaz reported "present.")

The CHAIRMAN. You may take the stand, please, Mr. Diaz. Give your name in full, your occupation, and tell us to what branch of these Indians you belong and how you represent them.

STATEMENT OF MR. HARRISON DIAZ, OF BISHOP, CALIF.

Mr. DIAZ. Harrison Diaz is my full name. I am from Bishop, Calif. I am a rancher, what you might call a "near-trader" also. I work at trading, not a regular trader, but work at it once in a while. I represent the Piute Tribe. I represent about 1,000 of them. These people are scattered throughout the southeastern part of the State of California. I am sent here by them through their Indian auxiliaries or Indian Board of Cooperation that we have organized among ourselves. I represent eight auxiliaries scattered in various parts of my district that I represent.

Mr. LINEBERGER. Mr. Chairman, will you permit me to ask, so as to get it into the record, just what counties are the gentleman's tribes located in? You say they are in the southeastern part of the State?

Mr. DIAZ. I say on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, including the three counties, Alpine, Mono, and Inyo.

Mr. LINEBERGER. You do not get down south of Tehachepee into Riverside or Orange or San Diego Counties?

Mr. DIAZ. No. There was a reference made by Mr. Collett as to why we would rather have our Court of Claims bill pushed through and why we did not agree to what was proposed by the Secretary of the Interior. I would just like to say a few things about it.

We know that after the money is appropriated it does not seem to get anywhere at all. In case of land purchased for the Indians out of an appropriation, I know of a case at home where land was bought for a family. I do not know just how long ago it was, but probably over 10 years ago. It was bought for them at a great price. It was on a rocky place. The Indians had been living there so long, their ancestors had been

there, and they thought it was best to buy that land for the Indians in order not to have to move them out. They were to be evicted, I suppose, and according to my hearing it seems to me that there were 15 acres that was bought for the Indians, and the price was also, according to my hearing, $1,125 for 15 acres, and I myself would not give $100 for that place at the time it was bought. I know the place and just where it is.

The CHAIRMAN. You say that was 10 years ago or thereabouts?

Mr. DIAZ. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you know of any case where land has been bought out of recent appropriations for Indians that would approximate the same situation you are speaking of?

Mr. DIAZ. Not lately. A purchase was made lately of 80 acres. The Indians moved on it last summer.

The CHAIRMAN. What have you got to say about that purchase? Was that a good purchase or a poor one?

Mr. DIAZ. It is a pretty fair purchase, but I do not know just what the price is on that. It has just been made lately, land that never was worked for many years. That was practically what was left. Part of it was used by the owner of the place. The CHAIRMAN. Now right down to the present time, purchases that are being made for Indians out of appropriations that were made last year and the year before, do you know whether those are being handled so that it is pleasing and satisfactory to the Indian, or is he disappointed in the purchases that are being made?

Mr. DIAZ. They seem to be disappointed with the purchase there, for this reason: We find that the Indians have no title to that land at all. It seems to be under Government control and we find that the Indians can not even get a trust patent to their allotment. They were allotted two acres apiece, and there is no chance of ever getting a patent to that land until, as I understood it, 25 years.

The CHAIRMAN. Now suppose this bill should be enacted and you had an opportunity to go to the Court of Claims, how would that affect that situation?

Mr. DIAZ. Well, the Government would probalby, as I understand it, settle with the Indians.

Mr. ROACH. You do not understand that you would get title to any land if this bill became a law, do you? You do not understand that you would get any allotment or title to land if this bill did become a law?

Mr. DIAZ. According to my understanding we will have some kind of a settlement, if this bill goes through.

Mr. ROACH. Let me state for your information that you would not get any allotment of land or any title to any land. It would simply mean that your tribes could elect to pay for land that they wanted to own.

Mr. DIAZ. That is what I meant, we would have some kind of a settlement; a money settlement, I have thought. I do not really mean by that, that we would get land, and that is one of the reasons that we oppose that plan of the Government buying land for us and allotting it. It may go year after year that the Indians would never have title to that for a long time, and they have no encouragement to build homes and make improvements on such land for the reason they have no title.

The CHAIRMAN. You seem to be a very intelligent man and seem to know what you are talking about. Do you understand that in case the Government, after this decision, should grant the Indians, say, $6,000,000 to be distributed among them, that that would be in full payment of all the obligations that the Government has to the Indians, and that the activities of the Indian Bureau would then cease?

Mr. DIAZ. I could not say just as to that.

The CHAIRMAN. Would that be agreeable to you? Do you think that in lieu of all that the Indian Bureau is now doing and has done, and may do in the future, and if this claim should be allowed and this $6,000,000 should be paid, that that would be in full compensation and that you would be willing to have the Government then refrain from any further activities in behalf of the Indians?

Mr. DIAZ. You mean after our bill goes through and is passed upon in the Court of Claims?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. ROACH. You would never get anything more out of the Government.

Mr. DIAZ. We are supposed to just have the matter drop there and the Indians would be turned loose.

The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you take that money and the Indian Bureau withdraws its activities from the State of California?

Mr. DIAZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROACH. Do you think that would be in the best interests of the Indian tribes out there?

Mr. DIAZ. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROACH. Now, after they had spent this money, then what would they do? At the rate they have been spending money now, or at the rate the Government has been helping them, it would be but a year or two until they would be down to bedrock again and would not have anything at all, and the Government, having settled its debt to them, would not owe them anything at all.

Mr. DIAZ. I do not believe that it would apply in California. We are all workers, and we know what the value of money there is, and I do not believe very many of them would spend their money foolishly. Many of them have already said, "In case we should have a settlement, we would buy a little home land," and so forth.

Mr. ROACH. At the rate the Government has been helping the tribes in California, and the money that they have been spending for their benefit and assistance, it would amount to many million dollars more than what you would recover in this bill in the course of the next 10 years.

The CHAIRMAN. On the average, if there are 20,000 involved, the average payment would be, if they recovered $6,000,000, about $300 per capita.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. What is the annual appropriation now?

The CHAIRMAN. You would be surprised to know what the annual specific appropriation is.

Mr. LEATHERWOOD. I will put it this way: What is the annual expenditure since this question has come up in California?

Mr. MERITT. I would like to bring that out later.

The CHAIRMAN. A little later we are going to bring that up, Mr. Leatherwood.
Mr. MERITT. I will bring that out in my statement.

The CHAIRMAN. We will get that into the record later in a concrete statement in sequence, so you will get it then.

Mr. DIAZ. Mr. Chairman, I want to also say, since the Indians have these lands that were bought by the Government, they do not feel safe; they think that in moving on the place, in case they should not comply with the regulations of the agent there, they would be kicked out from the place also. A case like that happened there already in my own district. A family, a couple, got into trouble by themselves; I do not know just the reason why, but it was reported to the agent there, and they were ordered off the place, after moving their old shack to the place. They were still off the rancherie that was bought for them the last time that I knew of them, and for that reason the Indians did not want to move on the place, because if they did that they think they will be ejected from that place and probably be in the same fix that that family is, and they think that they are just as well off where they are. The CHAIRMAN. That is, you mean, they think they are just as well off now? Mr. DIAZ. Yes. The Indian thinks he is as subject to eviction on that place as he is where he is now. We look at it that way at least. I do not know, it may be something else, but they have a rule in there that the Indians, after so many stayed off so long from the place, the place was supposed to be turned over to some one else.

The CHAIRMAN. As a matter of fact, how many Indians do you know of your own knowledge who ever moved in on to these homesteads that have been purchased for them by the Government?

Mr. DIAZ. I know of but 14 who have moved on to this place so far.
The CHAIRMAN. How many of those 14 are still living on those places?

Mr. DIAZ. Well, they are all living, I suppose. They just moved on last summer.
The CHAIRMAN. That is just recently.

Mr. DIAZ. Just recently; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How many do you know of your own knowledge in the past 10 years who have moved on to these properties which were purchased for them by the Government, and then moved off for some reason or other?

Mr. DIAZ. I know of no others.

The CHAIRMAN. You know we found in our investigation of Indian affairs throughout the country that it is pretty difficult to get an Indian, a real Indian, or a fellow that is a three-quarter blood Indian, to live in any kind of a house at all. We have built a good many houses for them in the United States and we find them keeping their pigs and their horses in the house and the Indian living in a tent near by. It has been very difficult to get them to occupy reasonably decent homes, and I am wondering if that situation prevails out in your own country?

Mr. DIAZ. Well, just what I have told you prevails out there, and as I said, they do not feel safe to move on to the place.

The CHAIRMAN. Now is that all you have to say?

Mr. DIAZ. That is about all I can say.

The CHAIRMAN. Does any one desire to ask the witness any questions?

The next witness is A. J. Hogan. Will you kindly give your name in full, your place of residence and occupation, and whom you represent?