THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, 1863-65. 691 



ginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Washington bonds, $95,000, 

 beside $26,200 in gold.' 



I have heard it said that we ought to pay the Smithsonian 

 Institution this money in gold, because we pay some of the 

 Indians by treaty stipulation in gold. I think the Senators 

 who are members of the Committee on Indian Affairs will 

 bear testimony to the Senate that we have paid gold to no 

 Indians except where there was an express agreement in 

 the treaty that payment should be made in coin. We have 

 had, and have, an abundance of treaties with the Indians; 

 we hold their money in trust ; but in no instance, I under- 

 take to say, has the money been paid to these Indians in 

 gold except when there was an express stipulation in the 

 treaty that it should be paid in gold. I know of no reason 

 why there should be an exception made in favor of this rich 

 corporation, the Smithsonian Institution why they should 

 be treated any better than our Indian tribes are treated. 



Mr. COLLAMER. Are they not paid in gold? 



Mr. GRIMES. I undertake to say that there are not and 

 have not been any Indians paid in gold except where there 

 was an express stipulation in the treaty that they should be 

 paid in coin. I asked the gentlemen on the Committee on 

 Indian Affairs, when the Indian appropriation bill was un- 

 der consideration the other day, if that was not so, and they 

 said it was so. The Senator from Kansas [Mr. Lane] bowed 

 his head and said it was so. There are treaties made with 

 the Indians, I admit, by which we have agreed to pay them 

 in coin ; and then there are other treaties in which we have not 

 that stipulation ; but where that stipulation is not embodied 

 in the treaty we do not pay them in coin. There is lying 

 on your table at this moment a communication from the 

 Secretary of the Interior, asking that we shall do for these 

 Indians precisely what the Smithsonian Institution asks we 

 shall do for them that we shall pay them in coin in the 

 future. But this Senate, so far as I know, has refused to do 

 that ; so far as I am informed, the Committee on Indian 

 Affairs have utterly refused to do it. I do not see the chair- 

 man of the Committee on Indian Affairs present, nor my 

 colleague ; but there are gentlemen here, I think, who know 

 what the facts are in regard to the payment of these In- 

 dians. Now, I ask, if it be true, and I think it will be de- 

 monstrated in a few minutes that it is true, that this is the 

 method in which we treat the Indians whose funds we hold 

 in trust, is there any very substantial reason why we should 

 deviate from this rule in favor of this corporation, the 

 Smithsonian Institution ? 



