# Neal commission *Interior Department commission of 1871–72 on Chippewa half-breed scrip* The **Neal commission** was a commission of the United States Interior Department, dated 1871–72, that examined [[Chippewa half-breed scrip]].[^1] A validated chronology compiled for this record states that the commission "finds the Chippewa half-breed scrip fraudulent".[^1] The same chronology records what Congress did next. It passed a corrective act that let purchasers perfect title to prime pine "at a fraction of its value." The bill was expedited by the senator who chaired Public Lands, who, the chronology states, "had acquired an interest."[^1] The chronology does not name that senator. The record here does not give the act's title, date, vote or text.[^1] The chronology, *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18), places the Neal commission's finding after an 1854 federal commission finding on the sum withheld from the 1851 Sioux treaty fund. It places it before the 1919 report of the [[Minnesota]] Commission of Public Safety.[^1] The record does not establish the commission's membership, its procedures, the number of scrip claims it examined, or the dates of its proceedings. It also does not establish the identity of the senator or his reasons for expediting the bill. The record shows the sequence of a finding followed by an act; it does not establish why.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### What - The Interior Department's Neal commission found the Chippewa half-breed scrip fraudulent, according to the chronology. Congress then passed a corrective act letting purchasers perfect title to prime pine.[^1] ### When - 1871–72: the Neal commission's finding. The chronology dates the corrective act only as following the finding.[^1] ### How much - The chronology states that the act let purchasers perfect title "at a fraction of its value." No dollar figure is given.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18), validated master text, entry "1871–72" — records the Neal commission's finding on Chippewa half-breed scrip, the corrective act of Congress, and the role of the senator who chaired Public Lands. The pack carries no URL for this text. The only allowed URL, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_commission, has no cached sections and so cannot be shown to support these statements.