| OCR Text |
Show afterwards as an Indian inspector, and whose qnalifications for the work were beyond question. Inspector Wright was first ordered to locate at Muscope on August 17,1898, to which place he at oncerepaired for the purpose of a preliminary investigation of the situation gen-erally. October 6, 1898, he was given detailed instructions by the Department, in which his authority was fully defined and in which he was directed to return to the Indian Territory and take complete super-visory control of all the affairs of the Indian agency, and of all other matters whatsociver over mhich the Government was charged by the act or any other law of Congress to exercise authority, except the matters coming under the control of the Commission to the Five CivilizedTribes. Since his assignment to this work Inspector Wright has been constantly engaged in dealing with the many questions that have arisen in the Territory, and the manner in which he has treated the subjects on which it has been necessary for him to report through this office gives proof that no mistake was made in his selection for the important station of United States Indian inspector for the Indian Territory. The matters in the Territory may be divided for convenience into threa parts, the &st being matters over which Inspector Wright and the Indian agent under his supervision have control, and embrkc-ing three general subjects-to wit: (1) Edncationalmatters; (2) mining leases, and (3) collection of revenues; the second being matters with which the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, otherwise called the Da~vesC ommission, have to deal, and the third embracing the matters relating to the laying out, surveying, appraising, and selling the tom sites in the various nations. Taking up for discussion the subjecb in the order in which they are above given, the first subject in the first division is- EDUCATION. Under the authority vested in him by section 19 of the act of Oongress approved June 28,1898, entitled cLAn act for the protection of the people of Indian Territory, and for other purposes," commonly known as the Curtis act, which provides- I That no payment of any oloneja on aog aceounr whatever nhall hereafter be mado hy the llnited Sratas ro auy of the tribal government* or lo any oficer th~raof for I disbursement, but payments of all ~ nmsto members of said tribes shall be made underdireotion of the Seoretary ofthe Interior by an oI3ioer appointed byhim. ' * the Secretary of the Interior has assumed charge and control of the schools and orphan asylums of each of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations in Indian Territory. These comprise all of the Five Civilized Tribes with the exception of the Seminoles, between which nation and the Dawes Commission, representing the United States, an agreement was entered into and approved July 1,1899, in which agi-ee-ment it is provided that- Five hundred tbouaand dollars of the fumh belonging to the Seminoles, now held by the United States, shall be set apart as a permanent sahool fund for dhasdnoation |
