much money because these lands are not opened; and the 

 development of all Northern Minnesota is thereby retarded; 

 and, 



WHEREAS, such improvements as have been made on these 

 government lands are entirely the result of the labor and 

 money of settlers; and, 



WHEREAS, under present conditions, by reason of the al- 

 ready heavy bonded indebtedness of the various counties in 

 which these government lands are located, it will not be pos- 

 sible to establish drainage ditches and roads on the lands 

 where they are most needed, and thus afford fire protection 

 to the settlers; and, 



WHEREAS, the United States government is the owner of 

 all these unentered lands, and, as such, should justly bear 

 the financial burden of their improvement; 



BE IT RESOLVED, That the delegates here present from 

 the commercial clubs of International Falls, Koochiching 

 county; Roseau, Roosevelt and Warroad, Roseau county; 

 Thief River Falls, Pennington county; and Spooner and Bau- 

 dette, Beltrami county, in joint meeting assembled declare 

 it to be their unanimous desire that Representatives Steen- 

 erson, Lindbergh and Manahan, and Senators Clap and Nel- 

 son, of the Congress of the United States, exert every effort 

 to procure an appropriation by that Congress to aid in the 

 improvement by means of roads, fire protection and drainage 

 of unentered Chippewa lands on the ceded Red Lake Reser- 

 vation in Beltrami, Koochiching, Clearwater, Marshall, Pen- 

 nington and Roseau counties, in the State of Minnesota; and 

 to that end, a bill be introduced in both house of the Congress 

 providing for an appropriation of fifty cents (50c) per acre 

 on all this ceded land to cover such improvement expense, 

 to be expended under the supervision of the Land Division of 

 the Department of the Interior. 



Adopted October 2, 1913. 



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