The Department of the Interior has recommended the enactment of S. 2085, a bill authorizing the use of a judgment fund of approximately $1,860,000 awarded to the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indian Tribes of Oklahoma by the Indian Claims Commission, it was announced today.
The Department’s report, signed by Assistant Secretary Roger Ernst, says the basis for the judgment was an inadequate and unconscionable compensation for lands ceded to the United States by the Tribes under legislation enacted in 1900. In 1957 the Tribes were awarded a net judgment of $2,067,166. After deduction of attorney’s fees in the amount of $206,716.60, the balance of $1,860,449.40 was appropriated by Congress last May and is now on deposit in the U. S. Treasury bearing interest at four percent.
S. 2085 would make the money available for use as determined by the tribal governing body subject to approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
The population of the three tribes is estimated at around 8,000 including about 4,000 full-bloods.
