OCR Text |
Show laws of the United States which would warmt the Government in undertaking to compel said companies to refuse to receive hay for shipment until the royalties required by the laws of the nations have been paid. It is thought, however, that if the Secretary of the Interior would inatruct Inspector Wright to communicate with the managere of the companies, laying the whole situation before them, and request the iesuance of such instructions &s were first issued bv them. this request would be complied with. * " * As to the matter of extreme measures, the Department has already authorized the inspector to rcruovr tau partirs r r t p~t.~rs ietl in i~noringh is suthoriry and in nhip-o. inc- hu -v witl~outt he ilavment of the rovalts. Thi~anthtwitvu f the Drwmnent was telegraphed to 1ns;e&r Wfight on ~ipt imbe2r7 , 1899. . October 13,1899, the Department advised the inspector m followd: The Department is not prepared to concur in the statement made by the Acting Commissioner relative to the lack of legal authority to require said railroad companies to refuse to remove hay from the Cherokee Nation upon which the tax has not been paid. If the Department is required to collect mid taxes, as seems to be the weunder the provisions of section 16 of the aet of Congress approved June 28, 1898 (30 Stat., 495), then it is authorized to take such measures as may be necessary toinsure the collection of said taxes, and there does not seem to be any good reason why the rail-road com~aniess hould be ~ermittedto take hav out of the Territor.v uo.o n which the tale5 hare not bcru paid, any more thau woulsl he npplivalrle to indiv;rluals aerking tar i,wrrv away hay rut from the Jomain of rhr C'herokee Uation "!,on whivlr the tax 1 had nit been paid; but it is not necessary at this time to pass upon that question. It is sw3cient for the present to hare the whole matter presented to the several rail-road companies by you with a request that they issue instructions to their agents not to receive bay for shipment until proper evidence is produced that said tas has been paid. The Department concurs in the belief expressed by the Acting Commissioner that the railroad companies will comply with mid request, and in case any of them refuse so to do you will reporJ the matter at once for further action by the Department. July 10,1900, the inspector submitted correspondence between him-self and Mr. Clifford L. Jackson, general attorney for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company, wherein Mr. Jackson stated that for a long t i e , acting upon the suggestion and request of the inspec- I tor, the company had refused to receive for shipment hay cut from Cherokee lands until it was shown that the royalty on the hay offered for shipment had been paid, and that by reason of this action the com-peting lines were transporting nearly all of the hay that was shipped beyond the limits of the Cherokee Nation. He therefore asked the inspector to withdraw his request that the company require parties offering hay for shipment to produce satisfactory evidence that the royalty had been paid. The inspector stated that July 9,1900, he had replied to Mr. Jackson as follows: The request baretofore made of your road is hereby withdrawn until such time as other roads in the Indian Territory shall take action in reference to the request them tofore made of them not to ship hay until the royalty thereon had been paid, ond he recomwcnded that the Department communicate with the St. Loukand S ~ FI ~Ix nciscoR t~ilroadCompanyw ith n view to getting them |