THE UNITED STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3609, 15 May 1923, Page 20

THE UNITED STATES.

ENORMOUS SUM CLAIMED BY INDIANS.

NEW 7 YORK, Mav 7

The largest claim ever filed against the I ederal Government has been instituted in the United States Supreme Court at Washington by the Sioux Indian tribe, numbering 25.000 persons, who are asking for approximately 700,000,000 dollars, representing 200,000,000 dollars as principal and tlie remainder as interest, arising from the Government’s alleged confiscation in 1875 of more than 8,000,000 acres of land which was granted to the Indians by a treaty with the United States Government.

These lands comprise the famous Black H ills gold lands (in South Dakota and Wyoming), which were overrun by prospectors shortly after the Civil War. A special Act of Congress was recently passed to permit the Indians to consolidate all their claims and to present them against the Government. They have engaged, with the Government’s consent, two of the finest attorneys in the United States.

WALL STREET CAUGHT NAPPING NEW yORK, May 7.

A gigantic hoax, which may have resulted in large profits for the unidentified perpetrator, was played on Wall street, Boston, Philadelphia, and other eastern city stockbrokers. Spurious buying orders, accompanied by forged cheques,

were dumped into the brokers’ offices through the mail. The market boomed, and then the cheques were proved to oe forgeries. The market thereupon crashed, and the whole list of stocks dropped to the lowest levels for some time. FATAL EXPLOSION. NEW YORK, May 8. At Kerens, in Texas, 13 men were burnt to death by an explosion at newly-sunk oil well, which a worker attempted to close when the oii began to gush. The friction ignited the gas and oil, resulting in a vast pillar of flame IUO feet high. An attempt to extinguish the flame was unsuccessful. May 10. The casualties in an oil fire which occurred here are 16 dead and 20 missing. WORLD SHORTAGE OF COTTON. WASHINGTON, May 8. The Department of Commerce has issued an estimate of the existing world stocks of cotton, which indicate that when the year ends on July 31 there will be carried over for the following year only half as much cotton as was carried over on July 31, 1922. This is due to the increased world consumption. There were available for the current year 27,291,000 bales, and the world consumption during the first eight months totalled 15,281,000 bales. Thus, if the consumption continues at the same rate during the last four months, the total consumption will be 29,922,000 Bales ; and there will remain for the following year 4,370,000 bales, compared with 9.536,000 hales remaining at July 31, 1922. The American carry-over of stocks at the last named date was 5,123,000 bales, and it is estimated that the carrv-over of stocks at July 31, 1923, will be only 1,529,000 bales. The department points out that this indicates that the world will be faced with a most serious shortage of cotton. The publication of these figures caused great excitement on the New York Cotton Exchange, and prices went up 4dol per bale within a short time. LORD ROBERT CECIL IN AMERICA. NEW YORK, May 9. Lord Robert Cecil, in a special article contributed to the New York Times, regarding the results of his mission to the United States, says that many of the objections to the League of Nations here are due to the innate conservatism of American opinion. He points out that his audiences were so polite that he could not determine their true feelings. Therefore it was more than possible he would return with an incomplete view of the American attitude towards the League. ECONOMIC EQUILIBRIUM. NEW YORK, Mav 11. The United States Chamber of Commerce has adopted a resolution advocating the calling of an international conference for the purpose of establishing economic equilibrium throughout the world. The chamber also advocated that the United States should join the World Court.