OCR Text |
Show . 46 REPORT OF. THE C O ~ 8 8 I O N E I 1O F INDIAN AITAIBS. issue, thus depriving the wife and surviving children of any share in the property. Enoughland has been conveyed to test thoroughly the practicability of the amended rules, and they have so far met all requirements, and a few amendments of an explanatory nature rather than amendatory are all that have been .found necessary. These amendments were approved by the Department September 18,1903, and are as follows: Paragraph 5 of section 1 was amended by providing t h a h Bids sill be received for inherited Indian lands up to 12 o'clock noon of the day upon which bids are advertised to be opened, at whieh hour they will be opened. Paragraph 6 of section 1 was amended by directing Indian agents and other officers in charge of agencies, as follows: You are directed to w s e to be inserted in the ad~ertisements published by you concerning the sale of inherited Indian lands notice to the effect that the sealed envelopes containing bids should not have noted thereon descriptioneof the lands to which the bids relate, hut that there shall be noted onsuch envelopes thedatesupon which the same are to be opened. You will further notify all prospective bidders of the change in the amended rules, as indicated in this paragraph, furnishing them with a copy of this circular letter. Paragraph 8 of section 1 was amended to read 89 follows: Purchasers shall pay all costa of conveyancing, and, in addition thereto, the fol-lowing sum, to wit: If the ourcham mice is $1,000, or leas, $1: if it is more than $1,000 and l r j t~ha n 92,000, $1.50; and when, thcpurrha.e prier ir moretharr $2,000, $2, to l,r. tuwd hy the Commi s~ioo~f~ Irn dian Affairs for g.iv ing. d uc yuhlic noticc, as hereinafter provided, that the lands will be sold. Paragraph 11 of section 1 was also amended by adding the following: A list of the lands offered for sale will he published in the weekly edition of the newspaper of widest circulation in the county in which wch lands are situated, such list to be corrected on Monday of each week, adding thereto such other lands aa may have been listed and removing therefrom such lands as msy have been sold during the prior week. It is believed that these rules protect the interests of the Indian heirs as fully as they can be protected under the law, and at the same time they are in no way complex and leave the Indian heirs to the free exercise of their discretion in determining whether or not they will sell their inherited land. The provision in the amended rules that sealed bids for the land offered for sale must be deposited with the lndian agent or other o5cer in charge is no doubt productive of better prices, as is evidenced by the sale under the amended rules of lands which haa been sold under the rules approved June 26, 1902, but which sales had never been approved by the Department. A comparison of the prices agreed to be paid under the former rules and the prices paid for the same land under the amended rules shows that the latter will average from 10 to 50 per cent higher than the former, and in some cases a much higher |