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Show LXVIII REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. Another crying evil, and a never-ending cause of complaint to this office, is the ineffective character of existing laws to preveut- Timber depredntio?~tg~u n I?idian 7a1ids. Especially in the Indian Territory, spoliation of valnable w'lnut timber has been and is st,ill being constantly carried on, and unless some sthgent and effectire measures are devised to stop it, that tihole section of co~ui~t,wrji-l l be completely deiinded qf timber ; and it is all-prehended b~ those competent. to jndge, that disastrons climatic effects will follow. The whole snbject was fully presented in the report. of the Hon. Commissioner of Indiaa~ Affairs for lSi9 (pp. XLYII-XLVIII), and the inefficacy of the lam poiuted out, with a recoinmendation for the enactment of such measures as would effectually prevent the man-ton cutting or destruction of timber on Indian reservations. At the second ,session of the Forty-sixth Congress, Senate bill No. 1812 was introciuced, so extending the provisions of section 5388, Re~ised Statutes, and of other lams of the United States for the protection and preservation of timber belonging to the Unitetl States, and for t.he pun-ishmentof offenders who cnt,destroy, or take the sitme, as to malre them apply t,o tlie preser~mt~ioonf timber upon the followiilg classes of I n j dian reservations, riz : Lands to tihich tho original Indian title .has . I never been extinguished, bnt which ha^-e not. been specially reserved, by treaty, act of Congress, or other~risef,o r the use of t,he Indians, or I for other purposes, althobgh t,he Indiails' right of occ~~l~atuhceyre of has been tacitly recogxized by t,he government ; lands eslxessly re-served by treaty or act of Congress or set apart for the use of the In-dians by executive order of the President; lands allotted or patentcd to individualInclians who are not under the laws of any State or Terri-tory ; lands pat,ente.d to Iiidian tribes; and lands ~ h i c ha ve been pnr-chased by or ceded to the United States for the purpose of settling In-dians thereon, but mhich are as yet m~occnpied. The punishment of offenders committing depredations upon such timber was also provided for by said bill. I cannot too strongly urge the absolute necessity for the early passage of aome kindred measure in this behalf. For the Iast four years urgent appeals have been made bj- this office for- The ermct?)ient of laws for Ifedian veaeruntio?cs. Various measures looking to this end have been introduced iu Con-gress, among the lahst being House bill No. 350, Forty-sixth Congress, second session, which, as amended, mas. favorably reported by the House Committee on Indian Affairs. This bill reads as follows : BB it enwted by the Serials and House of Representatice8 of the United States of dmerioa in Congress asambled, That the proviaions of the laws of the respective States and Ter-ritoriea in whioh tare located Indian reservations, relntiog to the orioles of m-rder, manslaughter, arson, raps, borglary, larceny, and robbery, shsll be deomed and taken |
