500 Reporter's Statement of the Case the allotment of tribal lands to the individual members of the tribe, there was no express provision that the United States should bear the expense of said allotment; it is held that an obligation to bear such expense cannot be implied. Choctaw Nation v. United States, 91 C. Cls. 320 cited. Same; schools attended by children not members of tribe.—Where by the Act of April 21, 1904, Congress made appropriation for tribal schools and provided that such schools might be attended by children of nonmembers of the Indian tribes, and where such schools were in fact attended by white and Negro children as well as by children of the Indian tribes; said schools being maintained both by appropriations from Congress and tribal funds; it is held that such funds so expended not only for the benefit of the plaintiff but also for the benefit of white and Negro children cannot be charged against the plaintiff as gratuities. Same; sums spent for plaintiff and other tribes; proportionate offset.-Under the decisions of the Court of Claims and of the Supreme Court (see The Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Indians, 42 C. Cls. 416, 429; 208 U. S. 561, 567), it is held that the defendant is entitled to an offset against the claims of plaintiff of a proportionate amount of the sums spent for the joint benefit of the Seminole and other tribes of Indians. The Reporter's statement of the case: Mr. Paul M. Niebell for the plaintiff. Mr. W. W. Pryor was on the brief. Mr. Wilfred Hearn, with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney General Norman M. Littell, for the defendant. Mr. Raymond T. Nagle was on the brief. The court made special findings of fact as follows: 1. By an act of Congress approved May 20, 1924 (43 Stat. 133), it is provided: That jurisdiction be, and is hereby, conferred upon the Court of Claims, notwithstanding the lapse of time or statutes of limitation, to hear, examine, and adjudicate and render judgment in any and all legal and equitable claims arising under or growing out of any treaty or agreement between the United States and the Seminole Indian Nation or Tribe, or arising under or growing out of any act of Congress in relation to Indian Affairs, which said Seminole Nation or Tribe may have against the United States, which claims have not heretofore been determined and adjudicated on their merits by the Court of Claims or the Supreme Court of the United States. Reporter's Statement of the Case 93 C. Cls. SEC. 2. Any and all claims against the United States within the purview of this act shall be forever barred unless suit be instituted or petition filed as herein provided in the Court of Claims within five years from the date of approval of this act, and such suit shall make the Seminole Nation party plaintiff and the United States party defendant. The petition shall be verified by the attorney or attorneys employed to prosecute such claim or claims under contract with the Seminoles approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior; and said contract shall be executed in their behalf by a committee chosen by them under the direction and approval of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior. Official letters, papers, documents, and 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 Indian nation to such treaties, papers, correspondence, or records as may be needed by the attorney or attorneys of said Indian nation. SEC. 3. In said suit the court shall also hear, examine, consider, and adjudicate any claims which the United States may have against said Indian nation, but any payment which may have been made by the United States upon any claim against the United States shall not operate as an estoppel, but may be pleaded as an offset in such suit. SEC. 4. That from the decision of the Court of Claims in any suit prosecuted under the authority of this act, an appeal may be taken by either party as in other cases to the Supreme Court of the United States. SEC. 5. That upon the final determination of any suit instituted under this act, the Court of Claims shall decree such amount or amounts as it may find reasonable to be paid the attorney or attorneys so employed by said Indian nation for the services and expenses of said attorneys rendered or incurred prior or subsequent to the date of approval of this act: Provided, That in no case shall the aggregate amounts decreed by said Court of Claims for fees be in excess of the amount or amounts stipulated in the contract of employment, or in excess of a sum equal to 10 per centum of the amount of recovery against the United States. SEC. 6. The Court of Claims shall have full authority by proper orders and process to bring in and make parties to such suit any or all persons deemed by it necessary or proper to the final determination of the matters in controversy. 500 Reporter's Statement of the Case SEC. 7. A copy of the petition shall, in such case, be served upon the Attorney General of the United States, and he, or some attorney from the Department of Justice to be designated by him, is hereby directed to appear and defend the interests of the United States in such case. This act was modified by joint resolution of May 19, 1926 (44 Stat. 568), permitting plaintiff to bring separate suits on one or more causes of action, and by the act of Congress approved February 19, 1929 (45 Stat. 1229) the time for filing such suits was extended to June 30, 1930. Under the provisions of said act the original petition herein was filed on February 24, 1930, and an amended petition was filed on September 19, 1934. 2. Subsequent to the decision of the Supreme Court on January 14, 1931, in United States v. Seminole Nation, 299 U. S. 417, holding that there could be no recovery for items included for the first time in an amended petition filed after the expiration of the statute of limitations, Congress passed an act, approved August 16, 1937 (50 Stat. 650), which provided: * * That in suits heretofore filed in the United States Reporter's Statement of the Case 93 C. Cls. Under the terms of said act this case was reinstated on September 30, 1937. A second amended petition was filed on November 8, 1937. 3. Under the terms of article VIII of the treaty of August 7, 1856 (11 Stat. 699, 702), between the United States and the Creek and Seminole Tribes of Indians, the United States agreed in respect of the Seminoles, among other things: to provide annually for ten years the sum of three thousand dollars for the support of schools; two thousand dollars for agricultural assistance; and two thousand two hundred dollars for the support of smiths and smith shops among them, said sums to be applied to said objects in such manner as the President should direct. For each fiscal year during the ten-year period from 1858 to 1867, inclusive, Congress annually appropriated as provided by article VIII of the said treaty the following amounts: $3,000 for support of schools; $2,000 for agricultural assistance; and $2,200 for the support of smiths and smith shops, or a total of $72,000, the amount due the Seminoles under these provisions of the treaty. While the said amounts were duly appropriated by Congress and made available for the purposes named, only $10,436.58 of the amounts so appropriated was disbursed in payment of the above treaty obligations. The balance of $61,563.42 was disbursed by the United States prior to June 30, 1866, for the purpose of clothing and feeding refugee and destitute Indians who had been driven from their homes during the Civil War on account of their friendship for the government. 4. Under the provisions of article IX of said treaty of August 7, 1856, the United States agreed to expend for the Seminoles then in Florida, after they had all removed to the Seminole country west, the sum of twenty thousand dollars in improvements. Accordingly, in March 1857 Congress appropriated $20,000 to be expended for improvements for the Seminoles in Florida after they had removed to the Seminole country west. After a number of them had been so removed, there was disbursed from this appropriation for improvements the sum of $18,210.00. 500 Reporter's Statement of the Case 5. Under the provisions of said article VIII of the treaty of 1856 the United States further agreed in respect of the Seminoles: to invest for them the sum of two hundred fifty thousand dollars, at five per cent per annum, the interest to be regularly paid over to them per capita as annuity; the further sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall be invested in like manner whenever the Seminoles now remaining in Florida shall have emigrated and joined their brethren in the west, whereupon the two sums so invested, shall constitute a fund belonging to the united tribe of Seminoles, and the interest on which, at the rate aforesaid, shall be annually paid over to them per capita as an annuity; * After the passage of the act of July 26, 1866 (14 Stat. 263, 264), Congress annually appropriated for each fiscal year from 1867 to 1909, both inclusive, the sum of $25,000 as proIvided for in the above article. * During each year through and including the year 1906 the United States disbursed the sums thus appropriated either by making direct per capita payments to members of the tribe or by cash payments to the treasurer of the Seminole Nation, except for the following years when the amount so disbursed was as follows: The excess of the foregoing deficits over the overpayments is $92,423.74. In the following years the United States disbursed the following amounts of said appropriations for the benefit of the Seminole Nation, but for purposes other than that 323387-41-vol. 93- -34 |