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Show REPORT OF THE COM~ISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 143 Allotments to child7en.-The act of March 3,. 1905 (33 Stat. L., 1071), authorized the making of allotments to children born bet,ween specified dates to enrolled citizens of the Five Civilized Tribe:. Sec-tion 2 of the act of April 26, 1906, authorizes the eirolltnent of chil-dren who were minors on March 4,1906, and whose parents had been enrolled'as members of either of the tribes or had applications for en-rollment pending at the date of the act, and declares that allotments shall be made to such children. IIIegitirnate children n.re to take the status of the mother. . . Deficient allotments.-The same section provides that if any citizen of the Cherokee Nation fails to receive the quantity of landto which he is entitled, he shall be paid from the funds of the tribe "a silm equal to twice the appraised value of the arnoirnt of land thus de- - firient." Placing allottees in possasion of their a!lotmei~tn.--When an dllot-mcnt certificate is issue-'. the allottee is of ce>uree ntitled to the poeses- %ion of his allotment, 1 id the duty of placing him in possession d e yo1vt.n npon the Indian Agent for the Tinion hgency under 'the direction of the Department. With refe?ec.n? to the Choctaw. Chick-asaw, and Cherokee nations, the law declares that the agent's action, ellnll not "be controlled by writ or process of sny court." Instead of decreasing, as was expected, this work has increased during the last fiscal year. Thansands of allotment certificates were issued, and each allottee demanded the immediate possession of his land. Many of the persons required to remove from allotments were intruders or squatters without any right whatever, but as a rule they claimed to have taken possession thru some lease or other arrangement withIndians who formerly claimed the right to hold the land. The intruder can appeal to the Department if he is dissatisfied with the agent's decision, but very few appeals have been made. The agent reports that 2,049 applications wire made during the year, and 498 were pending from the previous year. He has investigated and Cis-posed of 2,328 applications, leaving 216 still pending. Remoual of restTictiom'on alienation of allotments.-The act of April 21, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 204), removed all restrictions on tho alienation of lands of allottees not of Indian blood in the Five Civilized Tribes, except minors and except as to ,homesteads. Rc-strictions on the alienation of lands allotted to adults of Inrlian blood, except as to homesteads, could be removed with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. No material change has been made in Department regulations of May 12, 1904, except that the Secretary's approval of any certificate , removing restrictions contains the proviso: "This approval is to be effective thirty days from date." During the fiscal year 2,083 applications were approved and 981 |
