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Show XXVI REPORT OF COMMIBSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. The work under the act referred to (March 3,1885) commenced in the following July, and is compliance with the specifin requirements of said act, lists of all claims were prepared, showing as to each, as far as could be ascertained, the name and addles8 of claimant, the date of the alleged depredation, by what tribe it was committed, the date' of ex-amination and approval of the claim, with a reference to the date and clanse of the treaty creating the obligation for payment. Considerable correspondence was reqoired to obtain the proper addresses of a large number of the claimants, and the reqniremerrt' that the clause of the treaty creating the obligation" be given necessitated a thorough and careful investigation of all the laws applicable to such cases, and of all the treaties with the various Indian tribes. This preliminary work was performed as expeditiously a8 possible, and the lists were submitted to the Department on the 10th of Marqh last. Since that date 109 addi-tional claims have been filed in the office, a,ggregating $391,652.84. On the 31st of Msrch a schedule of 914 claims, which had been exam-ined by the ofilce in-pursuance of the act of March 3, waa submitted to the Department and transmitted to Congress,.said claims aggregating + $3,015,997.70. This list embrived nearly all the claims on file which ..were barred by the limitation clause of the act of June 3,1834. On the 16th of May lmt an act waa passed by Congress nuder which a11 of said claims have been returned to t.his office for further examination. The oBce recads of depredation claims had become so def& and worn that it was found necessary to prepare new records or dockets, and to transfer thereto nearly all tbe claims which had been filed in the Indian Office for the past thirty years, with % record of the action had ' upon each. This work has bwn completed, and the records are now in good permanent shqpe for use and reference. Reports upon depredation claims made prior to the act of March 3, 1885, were very meager, embracing.no abstractof the evidence, and merely stating the couclusions drawn therefrom. Henwtf at any time Congressshould desire to judge for itaelf as to the correctness of the conclusions arrived at by the oficc, it would be necessary to make a re-examination of all the original papers. Every report made since March, 1885, embraces a liberal abstract of all the testimony, the reasons for the decision made by the office, And the history of all previous action had upon the om. Of course more time and labor must be expended in the preparation of such reports, but the results will be far more sat-isfactory to all parties interested. Olaimants are afforded opportunity to file additional proof, if they desire to po so, and claims involving considerable amounts of money are investigated and reported upon to the ofice by special agents in the field. . . Sinc6 tbe acts of March 3,1885, and May 15,1886,'claimants and their attorneys have been unusually active in their endeavors to secure early consideration for their respective claims, and this pressure has corre- |