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Show xliv FIFTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF right of the Sisseton Agency Indians to market such timber from their seservation in Dakota. The decision was as follows : D~ABTXENOPT T EE IXTERIOR, Washington, May 19,1@82. SIR: I have rotlr letter of the 18thultimo, asking that I ap. p.r ove of the ap. p. lication af Agr%rtCria~ey,oftliofiiawthong rne~.,tonllon1,1 1,:i ndia~baunr hat reservsrian tocnt dnul awl falle#l timber and 10 sell Ilia dams . The Imi inn~ui tlmt n:er,cy lrold thuir reservation bv virtue of a treatv made with the United Statas in I&. It is reoited i n the treaty that, in aaeaidetation of certain co~sionam sde by the Indians to the United States and the faithfnl conduct of the Indisoq the Government set %part the reservation for theuse of said Indians as a permsnent home. I t is not claimed, how- .ever, that theee Indians hold by other and different title from othar Indians who oc- Gn.p.y their reservations by treaty. stip.u lations. The fee to the reverva,tion is in the Government, and the right of the lndiaus to the . eocopation thereof is as onqoestioned as the right of the Government to the fee. Io 'suehoooupation they oan not he distnrhsd by the Government, Rave throngh ite legislative departmsnt; and it ought not to he supposed that such occapatiou will be interfered with without the consent of the Indians, unlesa, by misoonduct on their -uart., the ri-g ht to oocu-m - should be lost. It appears that it was the intention of the Government to give the Indiana a per-manent home on the reservstiou,reaerving to itself the fee, with the right to dispose af it should the Indians abandon it. The Government, then, has no right to complain of the character of the Indians' oacnpation unless they commit waste. What is waste mustalways depend npon the ohareoterof the holding as well as the acta complained .of. It wai heG by the SupremeCourt of the united-States in the case of ~ h . U; nited States vs. Coolc (19 Wall., 591), that the cutting of pine trees and selling the logs was waste ; but the Eourt declared that if the trees had been cnt for the improvement of the estate it wonld not have baan wmte. Cm it be ssid to be waste to cut, even for the purpose of sale, theu, the dead and fallen timber on Indianreservations* I thinknat. I t is true that it baa been repeat-edly held that the timber cast down by the winds belonged to the lessor and not to the lessee, yet the relation of lessor and lessee does not exist between the Govern-ment and the I ~ d i a n son the reservation, and i t must be held that the Indians have the right to nae the entire prodnote of snoh reservation,sa they do not commit wirata; and what might be waate if dona by a tenant might not be waste if done by an in-dividnal Indianorbythetrihe. If thaIndianswillout.hso1, andeell thedeadand fallen timber on the reservation it will be a benefit to them, not oounhing alone t,he moueg value to be received from the sale of ssid dead aod fallen timber, but they will thereby acquire some of the habits of industry so essential to their future prosperity, if not to their verg existeooe. Yo11 will therefore instruct the agents of the various agencies where timber isfonnd growing that no l i ~ tere es are to be out except far use on the reservation, except on individual allotments; butthat dead and fallen timber may heout, and, if not needed for the nse of the Indiana on the reservation, may be sold. Very respectfully, . H. M. TELLER, Sew8tary. Hon. HlxAN PRICE, Comn~ixsionno.f Indian Affab.8. The Menomouees having again asked permission to continue the work during the coming winter, I submitted their request to the Depa;tment, recommending that it be granted, and suggesting at the same time that, if authority existed for such restricti011, none be allowed this privilege |