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Show REPORT OF THE OOMMISRIONEIl OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 75 court, npon an order of the court made npon petition filed by snch guardian, all such conveyances to be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Where all the heirs of snch decedent are minors, no authority is given to them by this act to sell their inherited land. Lands inherited from al1ottees.-As construed by parties in Indian Territory, the restriction placed in the patents for allotted lands (under the general allotment act of 1887, as amended by the act of 1891), which made the allotment inalienable for twenty-five years, does not apply to the heirs of allottees, but only to allottees, and does not attach to the land. Wherever they could induce Iudin heirs to sell their inher-ited lands they havepurchased from them, and have defied the Depart-ment in the transaction, claiming that an approval of the deed by the Secretary of the Interior is not essential to pass a valid title to the land. It is to be regretted that these parties have secured the action of the courts in support of this construction of the law by having the Indian execute a deed for the land, while the purchaser pays a small por-tion of the purchase money and gives a thirty days' note for the remainder, and at maturity he refuses to pay the note, so that the Indian may bring snit upon it in the proper court. When judgment thereon is obtained the judgment is promptly paid, and at the same time a quasi judicial determination of the issue involved has been secured. So far has this practice been carried that the courts have allowed pur-chasers of lands from Qnapaw Indians to come into court by similar process, and have decreed that the Quapaw Indians have a perfect right to sell their lands and that tihe deeds executed by them pass a clear, valid title to the land, notwithstanding the stipulation placed in the patent that the land embraced therein shall be inalienable for the period of twenty-five years. Late legislation ha.s corrected this irregnlarity so far as it relates to conveyances of inherited land by Citizen Potawatomi, Absentee Shaw-nee, Peoria, or Miami Indians. A copy of that law may be found in this report under " Indian legislation," page 531. LEASING OF INDUN LANDS. The Indian appropriation act for the 6scal year ended June 30, 1898 (30 Stats., 62), limits the term for which allotted lands may be leased for farming and grazing purposes to three years and for mining and business purposes to five years. The act approved May 31,1900, however, increases to five years the term for which such lands may be leased for farmingpurposes only, except unimproved allotted lands on the Yakima Reservation, in the State of Washington, which may be leased for agricultural purposes for any term not exceeding ten years upon duch terms and conditions as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. |
