1. The Act of January 14, 1889, pursuant to which the bands of
Chippewa Indians in Minnesota ceded their reservations to the
United States and the United States undertook to sell land and
timber, hold the proceeds in trust, expend income for purposes
specified, and ultimately distribute the principal, all for the
benefit of the Indians, did not create a conventional trust or
abdicate guardianship over the Indians as tribal Indians. P.
307 U. S. 3.
2. Congress therefore retained the power to make expenditures
from the fund for the benefit of the Indians in ways not
contemplated by that Act. P.
307 U. S. 5.
88 Ct.Cls. 1 affirmed.
Appeal from a judgment dismissing a suit brought by the
above-named Indians for restoration of trust funds alleged to have
been diverted by the United States.
Page 307 U. S. 2
MR. JUSTICE ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims
[
Footnote 1] dismissing a suit
brought to compel restoration of trust funds alleged to have been
diverted by the appellee.
In 1926, Congress granted permission for the bringing of the
suit, [
Footnote 2] which was
instituted April 13, 1927. In order to permit the claim to be
presented in its present form, the permissive act was amended in
1934. [
Footnote 3] The
appellants then filed an amended petition, to which the appellee
responded by a general traverse. The right of appeal from the
judgment of the Court of Claims is conferred by Joint Resolution of
June 22, 1936. [
Footnote 4]
The suit is for the enforcement of equitable claims arising
under or growing out of the Act of January 14, 1889. [
Footnote 5] The appellants' theory is that
the Act constituted an offer on the part of Congress for an
agreement with the bands of Chippewas located in Minnesota whereby,
if these bands would cede the Indian title to their reservations
(which they did), the United States would sell the timber thereon
and open the agricultural lands to settlement, and hold the
proceeds of the timber and the lands, in trust, to expend the
income for purposes specified in the statute, including payment of
a portion of such income to the Indians, and to distribute the
principal at the expiration of fifty years after allotments had
been completed to all the members of the various bands on specified
reservations.
Page 307 U. S. 3
The circumstances leading to the adoption of the Act and its
relevant sections appear in earlier decisions of this Court, and
need not here be repeated. [
Footnote 6]
The appellants assert that, by the Act of 1889, Congress
abdicated its plenary power of administration of the Chippewas'
property as tribal property, recognized that the reservations of
the respective bands were not tribal property, and agreed to hold
the proceeds of the ceded lands in strict and conventional trust
for classes of individual Indians in accordance with the program
outlined in the Act.
In this view, the living Chippewas are beneficiaries of the
income of the fund during the fifty-year period, and individual
Chippewa Indians who may be living at the expiration of the period,
as a class, are remaindermen. It is urged that, as Congress has,
from time to time, reimbursed the Treasury for expenditures for the
benefit of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota out of the fund, and
has authorized other direct expenditures from the fund for the
benefit of the Indians in ways not authorized by the Act, the
United States has been guilty of a diversion of trust funds, and
that the appellants, as the representatives of the remaindermen,
are entitled, on plain principles of equity, to demand restoration
of the diverted sums to the corpus.
If, as the Court of Claims has found, the Act of 1889, and the
cessions made pursuant to it, did not create a technical trust, we
are relieved from considering many of the contentions pressed by
the appellants in that court and here. We are of opinion that the
Court of Claims was right in its decision that no such trust was
created.
The original tribal status of the Chippewas is described in
Wilbur v. United States, 281 U. S. 206,
281 U. S.
208,
Page 307 U. S. 4
and
Chippewa Indians v. United States, 301 U.
S. 358,
301 U. S. 360.
It is unnecessary now to restate what was there said on the
subject.
It is true that, prior to the adoption of the Act of 1889, the
tribe had been broken up into numerous bands, some of which held
Indian title to tracts in the State of Minnesota. The Act refers to
these collectively as "The Chippewas in the State of Minnesota."
Whether or not the tribal relation had been dissolved prior to its
adoption, the Act contemplates future dealings with the Indians
upon a tribal basis. It exhibits a purpose gradually to emancipate
the Indians and to bring about a status comparable to that of
citizens of the United States. But it is plain that, in the
interim, Congress did not intend to surrender its guardianship over
the Indians, or treat them otherwise than as tribal Indians.
This is evidenced by a series of acts, the first of which was
adopted nineteen months after the Act of 1889, which are
inconsistent with the view that the Congress considered the Indians
as emancipated, or intended to enter into a binding contract with
them as individuals. [
Footnote
7] Many of these statutes refer to the Chippewas of Minnesota
as a tribe. [
Footnote 8]
Moreover, an examination of the Act
Page 307 U. S. 5
of 1889 discloses that it is not cast in the form of an
agreement, and we may not assume that Congress abandoned its
guardianship of the tribe or the bands and entered into a formal
trust agreement with the Indians in the absence of a clear
expression of that intent.
It is not contended that the expenditures made from the fund, or
reimbursed from it, were not for the benefit of the Indians or were
not such as properly might be made for their education and
civilization, the purposes stated in the Act of 1889.
We hold that the Act did not tie the hands of Congress so that
it could not depart from the plan envisaged therein in the use of
the tribal property for the benefit of its Indian wards.
The judgment of the Court of Claims is
Affirmed.
[
Footnote 1]
87 Ct.Cls. 1.
[
Footnote 2]
Act of May 14, 1926, c. 300, 44 Stat. 555, as amended by Acts of
April 11, 1928, c. 357, 45 Stat. 423, and June 18, 1934, c. 568, 48
Stat. 979.
[
Footnote 3]
Act of June 18, 1934, c. 568, 48 Stat. 979.
[
Footnote 4]
C. 714, 49 Stat. 1826.
[
Footnote 5]
25 Stat. 642.
[
Footnote 6]
Wilbur v. United States, 281 U.
S. 206,
281 U. S.
209-210;
Chippewa Indians v. United States,
301 U. S. 358,
301 U. S.
362.
[
Footnote 7]
Aug.19, 1890, c. 807, 26 Stat. 336, 357. Between 1890 and 1926,
Congress appropriated, either from the fund created under the Act
of 1889 or from public funds reimbursable therefrom, a total of
$5,105,059 for the civilization and support of the Chippewas.
(Findings 9, 10, 15.) During the period 1889 to 1934, Congress
authorized the expenditure of public funds totaling $5,065,878 for
the use and benefit of the Chippewas without any provision for
reimbursement. (Finding 20.)
[
Footnote 8]
Aug. 1, 1914, c. 222, 38 Stat. 582, 592; May 18, 1916, c. 125,
39 Stat. 134, 135; March 2, 1917, c. 146, 39 Stat. 969, 979; May
25, 1918, c. 86, 40 Stat. 561, 572; June 30, 1919, c. 4, 41 Stat.
3, 14; February 14, 1920, c. 75, 41 Stat. 408, 419; November 19,
1921, c. 133, 42 Stat. 221; January 30, 1925, c. 114, 43 Stat. 798;
February 19, 1926, c. 22, 44 Stat. 7; March 4, 1929, c. 705, 45
Stat. 1562, 1584.