Montana Attorney General Opinion 16-45

Opinion No. 45. Relief-Montana Relief Commission -Indians. HELD: The Montana Relief Com- mission is not authorized to use funds appropriated by Chapter 56, Laws of the Extraordinary Session, 1933-34, to furnish relief to those Indians who are wards of the Federal Government. February 16, 1935. Dr. W. J. Butler State Administrator Montana Relief Commission Helena, Montana You have asked us to advise you if the Montana Relief Commission is authorized to use funds appropriated bv Chapter 56 of the Extraordinary Session Laws of 1933-34, to furnish relief to those Indians who are "wards of the Federal Government." Chapter 56, supra, provides: "The funds herein appropriated shall be ad- ministered by the Montana Relief Commission under the authority and provisions of Chapter 20, of the Laws of the Extraordinary Session of 1933, and under the same rules and regula- tions provided by such Commission for the administering of Federal Re- lief Funds, and for providing means of employment for the unemploy- ed * * */' OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 43 Chapter 20 of the Extraordinary Session Laws of 1933-34, makes it the duty of the Montana Relief Commis- sion to administer the Emergency Re- lief Fund "in such manner as to effec- tuate the purpose of this act as here- in set forth" in Section 1 of the Act, which is as follows: "There is hereby created a state institution to be known as Emergency Relief, the pur- pose of which shall be to provide means for the sustenance of life and the relief of distress among people of the state whom economic condi- tions, industrial inactivity, or other cause over which they have no con- trol has deprived of support." It is exceedingly difficult for us to understand how those Indians who are "wards of the Federal Govern- ment" (31 C. J. 492), altho residing within this state, could be considered persons in distress "whom economic conditions, industrial inactivity or other cause * * * has deprived of sup- port." Sections 91 to 163, inclusive, 25 U. S. C. A., provide in elaborate de- tail for the distribution of annuities, provisions, goods and supplies to the Indians under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior and the Bu- reau of Indian Affairs. A broad man- tle of protection has been covered over them by Congress, which has as- sumed from the beginning, the duty of exercising a general supervision over their affairs and protecting them not only from the encroachments of the whites, but also from the conse- quences of their own ignorance and improvidence. (31 C. J. 493, and cases cited in note 25.) While it is true that some may say that the provisions made by the Fed- eral Government in its role as guard- ian, are not adequate or satisfactory, we do not believe that it was ever within the intention of the legislature to authorize the Montana Relief Com- mission to gratuitously give such per- sons an additional largess. If the time comes when the Federal Government shall abandon its wards to let them fend for themselves, or, if the time should come when the Federal Govern- ment is no longer able to provide for them, at such time we think that the Montana Relief Commission would be authorized to include such Indians among its beneficiaries. Until that time comes, however, it is our opinion that your question must be answered in the negative. (13 Report and Opinions of Attorney General, p. 11; State v. Big Sheep, 75 Mont. 219, 243 Pac. 1067; State v. Phelps, 93 Mont. 277, 19 Pac. (2) 319; U. S. v. Kagama, 118 U. S. 375, 6 S. Ct. 1109, 30 L. Ed. 228; In re Lelah- puc-ka-chee, 98 Fed. 429; People v. Daly, 212 N. Y. 183, 105 N. E. 1048; Rubi v. Mindoro Provincial Board, 39 Philippine 660.)