OCR Text |
Show and t l ~Per esident not having approved it at tlie expiration of theFifty-first Coiigress. Bills hal-e beell time and again iiltroduced in Congress having in view the correction of the wroligs that have been done the aggrieved elenlent of the tribe, but they have bee11 met with such strong aggres-sire opl>osition eitlier iin the Senate or House of Representatives that none were ever enacted illto law until on March 3,1803, the President. approved " An act for the relief of the Stockbridge and Mnnsee tribe of Indians in the State of Wisconsin" (2'7 Stats., 744), which provides as follows: Whereas a treat!- mas entered into on the lift11 day of February eighteen hundred and fiftr-six, b~ and lbetveeu the Government of the United States and the Stack-bridge .end Mullsee Indians, in which the said Indians ceded certain lands to the . United St,ates, sllll accepted in considerntion thereof certain lancls &8 & reservation, to whioll said Indinus removed, and ulron vhioh they have ever sil~oeresided; and Whereas by theinterpretation placed by Government offloial8 on the aot of Feb-ruary sixth, eigl~teenhuudreda nd sevanty-one, an not for the relief of said Indians, a largepart of saidIn~1ians( and their descendants) who signed asid treaty of eighteen hundxecl and fift3--six, anrl hiwe continned with said tribe from the making of said treaty to the present time, are excluded from participating in tribal funds and the right to oocnpy wid reservation: Therefore Be it enaoted by t7beSenate n%d Hottseoj-'I<ryrsnentatiucs of the U?t+.tedS tatcsof America in Cong~.assa saen~blerl,T hat all persona who were actual members of said tribe of Indians at the time of the execution of t.he treaty of February fifth, eighteen hun-dred and fifty-sis, and their delesoendants, and all persona who boome members of the tribe under the provisions of article sir of said treaty, andtheir descenrlants, who did not in nua by said traat,y, anfi have not since it8 execution, separated from said tribe. are hereby declared members of said Stockbri<-lx ea nd Munsee tribe of Indians and entitled to their pro rata share in tribal funds and in the aeonpmoy of tri1,al lantls: and all members 1%-r-heon tered into passessiot~o f lands under the allot-ments of sighteenhnndrel nndfiftg-giz and of eighteen hundred and saveuby-one, and wl ~ o1,y themselves or lly their 1nwf11l heir8 have resided on said lands continuously since, are Irereby tloclored to be owners of xuch landsin fee simple, in severalty, and the Gaiaxnment shall issne patents to them therefor. SEC. 2. That it shall the duty ofthe Secretary of the In6erior,withont unneoes-nnq- <delay after tlrc 1,nssnge of this act, to osnse to he taken an enrollnlent of said tllbe on the basis of the 1,rorisions of this aot, :vhiclr enrollment shall be filed, a copy in the Depnrtme.nt of tlle Interior rind a copy in the records ofsaid tribe: Pvo-uided, That iu nll ewes ,>-here allotnlents of eighteen hundred and seventy-one shall couiiiot mitlt allotment8 of eighteen hundred and fifty-six, the latter shall prevail. Gnder date of bl1ril22, 1803, a draft of instructions for the guidance of the persons to be designated by the Department to make the enrol-ment provided for in the lar, as above quoted, was transmitted for the approval of the Secretary, and the same mas approved July 7,1893. &ITC.. C. Painter, agent of the Indian Rights Association, has been detailed to do the work. The act carries no appropriation to pay for the malci~igo f the enrolla~ent,a nd Mr. Painter's expenses will have to be paid out of tlie &ppropria,tion for the contingencies of the Indian Department. |