This did not conclude the long drawn out matter. Pieces of scrip accompanied with powers of attorney in blank had been freely bought and sold for use in locating pine. These vouchers fell into the hands of bankers, and represented considerable investments. It seemed a hardship that these holders should suffer loss. On June 8, 1872, Congress passed a bill with the innocent title “An act to quiet certain land titles.” It provided that “innocent parties” holding Chippeway half-breed scrip in good faith, for value, might purchase the corresponding lands at a price to be fixed by the Secretary of the Interior, not less than one dollar and a quarter an acre. The Jones commission, appointed to ascertain the innocent holders, reported thirteen individuals and firms entitled to the benefits of the act, and approved 216 entries conveying 17,280 acres of the best pine in Minnesota, worth eight to ten dollars an acre. As to the price to be paid, the commissioners advised the department that it would be useless to ask more than two dollars and a half an acre, for if put up at auction, combinations of bidders would hold bids to that figure. The commission vindicated the claimants from any participation in the original frauds, but found that they had been much too careless in their investments, and so had become victims of persons who had “got up a scheme with wonderful prudence and caution.” These victims, thus resorting to Congress for relief, were the sharpest pine land operators ever known in Minnesota. This recital may teach how and why liberal gratifications were always desired for mixed bloods, when Indian treaties were negotiated.