such acceptance, and on the 7th of January, 1895, the Secretary of the Interior reported the entire matter to the Congress in the following words: "SIR: I have the honor to herewith transmit, in compliance with the provisions of the third subdivision of article 2 of the agreement made December 19, 1891, with the Cherokee Indians, ratified by the act of Congress approved March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. 643), a certified copy of 'a complete account of moneys due the Cherokee Nation under any of the treaties made in the years 1817, 1819, 1825, 1833, 1835-36, 1846, 1866, and 1868, and any laws passed by the Congress of the United States for the purpose of carrying said treaties, or any of them, into effect,' prepared in accordance with the provisions of the said act of March 3, 1893, together with a certified copy of an act of Cherokee National Council accepting such accounting. "The Speaker of the House of Representatives.' House Ex. Doc. No. 182, 53d Cong., 3d sess. "XX. "The report and accounting made by said James A. Slade and Joseph T. Bender, referred to in the foregoing finding, is in the words and figures which appear in House Executive Document 182, Fifty-third Congress, third session. The conclusion thereof is as follows: "The foregoing statement covers, it is believed, every point at issue which can be raised under the treaties described in the articles of agreement [a number of demands made by the Cherokee Nation were disallowed], and the result of the finding is submitted in the following schedule: Under the treaty of 1819: Value of three tracts of land containing 1,700 acres, at (With interest from February 27, 1819, to date of pay- $2,125 00 Amount paid for removal of Eastern Cherokees to the Under treaty of 1866: Amount received by receiver of public moneys at Inde- Under act of Congress, March 3, 1893: Interest on $15,000 of Choctaw funds applied in 1863 to "Washington, D. C., April 28, 1894. 432 28 20,406 25 (Signed) "XXI. JAS. A. SLADE. Jos. T. BENDER.' "In arriving at the item of $1,111,284.70 the accountants among other tabulations made the following statement of the account. 666 'Figuring upon the basis stated in the ninth article of the treaty of 1846, and following the Auditor's and Comptroller's figures in the accounting of December 3, 1849, and eliminating from the charges made against the total fund of $6,647,067 the excess of payments over the amounts appropriated by the United States for that purpose, the true statement of the account is as follows: For improvements. For ferries.. For spoliations.. For removal and subsistence, being the amount actually provided and expended for these purposes, and consisting of the following items. $1,540,572 27 159,572 12 264,894 09 ($335,105 91 For debts and claims upon the Cherokee Nation.... 101,348 31 500,000 00 Statement of the Case. For amount invested as the general fund of the Nation..... For subsistence furnished after expiration of one year, under agreement that it should be charged to treaty fund.... For lands and possessions.. For spoliations.... Balance of $600,000 applicable to removal. From which deduct charges as above. Balance to be distributed per capita..... Deduct amount actually distributed as already explained... Balance due .. 202 U. S. 500,880 00 172,316 47 4,621,756 17 5,000,000 00 264,894 09 335,105 91 1,047,067 00 6,647,067 00 4,621,756 17 2,025,310 83 914,026 13 1,111,284 70 "The sum of $914,026.13, actually distributed to the Eastern Cherokees in 1852, out of the above balance of $2,025,310.83, was appropriated as follows: Amount found due by Treasury officials, under article 9, 1846, in the report of the Auditor and Comptroller of December 3, 1849.... $627,603 95 Erroneous charge corrected by act of February 27, 1851.... Erroneous charge account subsistence, corrected by Congress, September 30, 1850.. 96,999 42 189,151 24 914,026 13 "This amount of $914,026.13 was distributed solely to 14,098 Eastern Cherokees in the West and 2,133 Eastern Cherokees who remained East. "Interest on the above sum of $914,026.13 at 5 per cent from June 12, 1838, was also appropriated by Congress and distributed per capita to said Eastern Cherokees in the same payment. The balance to be distributed per capita according to the above report and which was not distributed, to wit, $1,111,284.70, is the sum of which the Eastern Cherokees complain they were deprived in the settlement of 1852; that while they received only $56.31 per capita, excluding interest, they should have received the further sum of $1,111,284.70, or a total of $2,025,310.83, as appears in the above account rendered as the true balance under article 9, making them a total per capita of $124.78. "The settlement made with the Old Settlers was as set forth in Finding XVII. "XXII. "Neither the whole or any portion of the various sums with interest found and stated by the concluding schedule of the so-called Slade-Bender report to be due to the Cherokee Nation under the treaties and acts of Congress therein referred to have been paid to the Cherokee Nation, or to any officer, agent, or other person acting in its behalf. "With the exception of the provision contained in the act of March 2, 1895, making appropriations for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government, directing the Attorney General to review and report upon the conclusion of law disclosed in the account of Slade and Bender, and the passing of the provisions of the acts of July 1, 1902, and March 3, 1903, conferring jurisdiction upon the United States Court of Claims to hear and determine these causes, the Congress has taken no action whatever with respect to the said account of Slade and Bender or the amounts found due thereunder. "Acting under said direction of March 2, 1895, above referred to, the Attorney General of the United States, on December 2, 1895, addressed a communication to the Congress wherein he advised that body of his disagreement with the conclusions reached by said Slade and Bender. Said communication of the Attorney General was, on December 2, 1895, by the Congress referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed, and the same appears in Senate Executive Document No. 16, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session." May 18, 1905, the court "adjudged, ordered, and decreed that the plaintiff, the Cherokee Nation, do have and recover of and from the United States as follows: Item 1. The sum of... With interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent from Item 2. The sum of... $2,125 00 1,111,284 70 With interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent from Item 3. The sum of.... 432 28 With interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent from 20,406 25 Item 4. The sum of... With interest thereon from July 1, 1903, to date of pay ment. "The proceeds of said several items, however, to be paid and distributed as follows: "The sum of $2,125, with interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent from February 27, 1819, to date of payment, less 5 per cent thereof contracted by the Cherokee Nation to be paid as counsel fees, shall be paid to the Secretary of the Interior in trust for the Cherokee Nation, and shall be credited on the proper books of account to the principal of the 'Cherokee school fund' now in the possession of the United States and held by them as trustees. "The sum of $432.28, with interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent from January 1, 1874, to date of payment, less 5 per cent thereof contracted by the Cherokee Nation to be paid as counsel fees, shall be paid to the Cherokee Nation, to be received and receipted for by the treasurer or other proper agent of said Nation entitled to receive it. "The sum of $20,406.25, with interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent per annum from July 1, 1893, to date of payment, less 5 per cent thereof contracted by the Cherokee Nation to be paid as counsel fees, shall be paid to the Secretary of the Interior and credited on the proper books of account to the principal of the 'Cherokee national fund,' now in the possession of the United States and held by them as trustees. |