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Show REPORT OF THE CO3IXISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. LXI and from t,he proceeds of the sale of which their debt obligations are to be discharged. It was further stated that the sums of money advanced by the government to the Indinns for ailvertising in connectioll with the sale of their lands, for their proper care and subsistence, for the pur. chase of agricultural implements and pa.y of employ6s, for the erection of agency buildings, &c., must be refunded to the government from the sale of their lands before any of the obligations of the tribe repre-sented by scrip certificates can be paid in cash. Since the rendition of the report the moneys received from such sales have beeu more thau sufficient to discharge the balance then dne the government on account of moneys so advanced, which balance was stated to be (approximately) $11,475.86. There is now on the boolrs of this office to the credit of sa,id Indians, being the proceeds of the sale of their lands, a balance of $26,064.00, after pa,ying certificates amounting in the a,gg'regate to $13,483.28, uuder the authority of the recent act hereinbefore referred to. (Act approved August 5,1882.) This amount will be increa,sed as the sales progress, and as it appears that the lands are being disposed of more rapidly thau formerly, it is gratifying to know that an early settlemelit of this entire inAebtedness is within the range of possibility However, notwithstanding there are fi~ncls available to the amount stated, in the present posture of the case none of these certificates can be paid immediately, nor until legislation shall have beeu had legalizing the entire indebt,edness as represented thereby, and for the following reasons, briefly: Therc mas really no antl~orityo f law for the issuance of certificat,es of the first-class-t,he so-called Stevens scrip. (There were three clxsses of scrip issued). The treaty of 1559 (17 Stat., 1111) merely directed a port,ion of the Kaw lands to be sold, the proceeds thereof to be applied in improving the conrlition of the Indians in such manuer as the Secretary of the Interior might deem proper. Xerertheless the scrip was issued and has ever been regarded as formiug a part of the proper 1iabilitit.s of the govern~nent. Fortilermore, certificates of class 2 were not only issued prior to the ratifioation of the treaty authorizing their issuance, but are supposed to have been issued in excess ofthe an. thorized amount. So also io the. case of certificates of class 3, with the possible exception that no certificates of that class were issued prior to the ratification of the treaty. That all of this scrip, of the several classes, was issued in the utmost good faith, and with the design of carrying out the beneficial purposes of the treaties of 1859-'62 in a manner that would seem to insure the best results, cannot be questioned. That the long delay in the settle ment of this indebtedness, resulting from inability to sell the lands has worked great hardship to individual holders of thia scrip, must also be admitted. For years past appeals have been made for some sort of settlement. These appeals have amounted to entreaties: as the delay has continued; in one instance, at least, the holder offering to surrender all claim to interest (now amounting to considerably Inore than the |
