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Show COMMISBIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 127 of the lands for which bids have heretofore been rejected or of those for which no bids were received. 8UPEBP18rON OB =BASES. As stated in the last annual report of this Ofice, the Assistant Attorney-General, in an opinion of September 30,1903, held that the Department had no duty to perform in the matter of the leasing and sale of lands allotted to members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. However, the act of March 3, 1905 (33 Stat. L., 1048), provides : It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to investigate, or cause to be investigated, any lease of allotted land in the Indian Territory which he has reason to believe has been obtained by fraud or in violation of the terms of existing agreements with any of the Five Civilized Tribes; and he shall, in any such case where in his opinion the evidence warrants it, refer the matter to the Attorney-General for suit in the proper United States court to cancel the same, and In ail cases where it may appear to the court that any lease was obtained by fraud, or in violation of such agreements, judgment shall be rendered can-celing the same upon such terms and conditions as equity may prescribe; and it shall be allowable, in cases where all parties in interest consent thereto, to modify any lease and to mntinue the same as modifled: Prouided, No lease made by any administrator, executor, guardian, or curator which has been investlgated by and has received the approval of the United States court having jnrlsdiction of the proceeding shall be subject to suit or proceeding by the Sec-retary of the Interior or Attorney-General: Provided further, No lease made by ' any administrator, executor, guardian, or curator shall be valid or enforcible without the approval of the court having jurisdiction of the proceeding. This provision'is equally applicable to allotted lands in all the five nations, and on July 22, 1905, the Department authorized the agent for the Union Agency to employ three clerks, competent as field men, at a salaq of $100 per month each, to investigate alleged rases of fraud or irregularities in the procurement of leases of Indian lands, and three stenographers, at $85 per month each, to assist in P U C ~in vestigation. These employees are also allowed their actual and necessary traveling expenses, which, together with their salaries, will be paid from the appropriation for the completion of the work among the Five Civilized Tribes. Suit against Cherokees.-In the last annual report of this Office, the suit, entitled The Delaware Indians v. The Cherokee Nation," was fully discussed. The Delawares claimed that as a band or tribe they purchased in fee, under the agreement of April 8, 1867, 157,600 acres of land from the Cherokee Nation, which were to be set off to them east of the 96 meridian, and that therefore the allotment which a deceased registered Delaware would have received-if living when allotments were made-descended to his heirs: but that these heirs, |
