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Show I REPORT OF TIIE COMMISSIOXER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. I,V I PONCA: PAWNEE, AND OTOE AGENOT. The experience of another >-ear has confirmci1 vne in the opinion I ex-pressed in my last report, that. any att,empt tn consolidate various tribes under one agent, whcu i t is im~raeticablet o gather thon on one reser-vation, must result in failure, if the ollject desired is eit,l~rrto banefit the Indians or to manage the~nw it,h greater economy. This is particu-larly noticeable in the case of the present Pouc:~, Parvuee, alltl Otoe Agency in I~idian Territory. The beadqnarters of this agency are at Ponca, about twent,y miles from the Otoes an(1 about forty from the Pawnees. The agent also has to loolr after what mas once the Oakland Agmcy, where the Nez PcrcOs arc, which is some eighteeti miles north-west of Ponca. These subagencies are necessarily left in charge of superintendents or clerks who are not bonded officers, aud whose ac-counts are completecl and rendered by clerks at Ponca. Of course an agent cannot spend much time at either of the four reserrations. This is the greatest evil of the arrangement, as nearly all agencies require t.he continual presence of the agent, who is alono responsible for' the I Government property, and all t11at.occnrs there; ancl the Indians hare been led by the Gorernme~it to expect an agent to reside with them, and to constantly exercise a fatherly care over them. The Pawnees especially require the daily presence of an energetic a.gent, and the benefit t,hey would t l~nsd erire could not fail to be well worth a considerable additional expense to the Government. But by placing an agent at Pawnee who could a180 t,ake charge of the Otoes (which two tribes have long been rer,y friendly towards each other), and I by allowing an agent for Ponca and the subagencj of Oakland (as hefore .the consoli(latiou), the expense of caring for those four tribes wonld be 1 very litt.le, if at all, increased, as the extra traveling expenses of agents 1 and the expense of clerical servief.s, which could then be dispensed with, would go far towards paying the salary of the additional agent. I would therefore recommend that Congress be requested to provide a separate agent. for Pawnee Agency, who shall also hare charge of the Otoes. I~ICKAPOO ALLOTTEES UNDER TRFI~TY OF 1883. 111 my last two Annual Iieports atteution was called to the condition of affairs relative to the estates of deceased and minor allottees, under the prorisions of the treaty with the Kvckapoo Indians of June 28, 1862 (13 Stat., 623), and to the fact that the treaty contains no provis-ion whereby female allottees can become citieeus and obtain pateuts for the land allotted to them. Frequent application is made to this office by the heirs for the settle-ment of the estates of allottees who deceased before having, by a eom-pliance with the treaty provisions, become citizens and obtained patents for their land; aud requests are made by female allottees thst some action he taken whereby they can become citizeus and obtain |