OCR Text |
Show 26 REPORT OF THE COM3lISSIONER OF IRDIAN AFFAIRS. behalf of the India11 party shall he one-half of the fees provided by law in such cases. It also provides that "in all States a11d Territories where there are reservations or allotted Indians the Ullited States district attoruey shall represent them in all suits at law and in equ~ty." With the new legislation now in force it is believed that this ofice will be better able to protect the interests of the Indians, and to secure to / them the rig.hts to which they are entitled u~lderth e laws of the Onited States. LEASING IYDIAN LANDS. The third section of the act of Cougress approved Febrwary 28,1891 (26 Stats., 794), authorizes the leasiug of both allotted and nnallotted or tribal India11 lands. Said section is as follows: SEC.3 . That whenever i t shall be made to ~ p p ~ tao rth e Secratary of the Interior that, by reason of age or other disability, auy allottee nnder thapruvisions of tiaid act or any other aat or treaty om uot personally and with benefit to himsolf occ~zpyo r improve his allotment or any pert thereof, the same may be leased upon snoh terms, regulations, and oonditioos an shall bo prescriber1 by auoh Seoretzry for s. term not exceeding three year8 for farming or grazing or ten yoilra for mining pur-pores: Prooided, That where lands nra aocapied by Indians who have bonght and paid for the same, a11d which lands ere not needed for farming and agrionlturnl pur-poses, and are not desired for individral allotments, the aame may be leaned by autl~orityo f the uouucil speaking for snoh Iuclinus for w period not to oxceatl live year* for grazing or tan years for mining purposes, in snoh quantities and upon such terms and oonditions as the ageut in ch.&rgeo f auoh reservation may reoom-mend, su4iaot to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. ALLOTTED LANDS. I The policy of the Government iu the allotment act and in the other I acts and treaties providing for allotments in severalty was, as viewed by this office, to lead the Indian into habits of self-support and to fit him for citizenship. The consensus of opinion of those most familiar I with Indian affairs seems to be that these much-desired ends can better be accoml~lishedt hrough allotment of laud in severalty than in any other way. An allotment in severalty, however, is but an opportunity of which the l n d~a nm ust take advantage. If he has no desire to better I his condition at the cost of personal asertiorl and through the means thus opened up to him and can not be made to appreciate the benefits conferred on him, but little good will have been accomplished by the allotment. The object is to make him feel a personal interest in a par-ticular piece of land; to have him learn by its cultivation with thelahor of his own hands how to gaiu a better subsisteuce tlian he has previously enjoyed, and at the same time acquire the arts of civilieatiou andlearn the means of self-support thereby. But to permit the indiscriminate leasing of allotted lands would defeat the purpose for which allotments are made; so the lam provides that the allottee mill not be permitted to lease his lands untll he slrall have made it appear to the Secretary of the Interior that "by reason of |