OCR Text |
Show 120 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. judicial districts and the sale of the same for the benefit of the nation, etc. The abolition of all judicial officers carried with it the extinction of the office of sheriff in the CherokeeNation, and the peculiarity of the law made it impossible for the inspector to deal with this class of rev-enue- yielding matters in accordance with the statute. The Depart-ment, however, was of the opinion that the common-law rule should be observed, and the inspector was instructed accordingly. Thequestionas to the right of the agent to collect royalties accruing to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations on account of coal and asphalt prior to the date of the Cnrtis Act, has also been considered. In its report of March 14,1899, the offioe took the position that the Choctaw and Chickasaw agreement related back to the date of its ratification, April 23,1897, and that therefore royalties accruing snbseqnently and outstanding, were to be collected by the Indian agent and not by the authorities of the tribe. In this the Department concurred and in its letter of March 17,1899, addressed to the inspector for the Indian Terri-tory, instructed him accordingly. TgE DAWES OOIYIMISSION. From the preparation of the original instructions in this offioe on November 28,1893, until after the passage of the Curtis Act, the Dawes Commission correspondence had been addressed to the Interior Depart-ment, and the work of the commission has not been conducted under any supervision of this office, nor has the office been called on, except when agreements were submitted, to consider or report upon matters that have been presented by the commission for the consideration of the Department. Several acts have been passed since the original act of March 3,1893, extending and modifying the jurisdiction and authority of the commission. The personnel of the commission bas also twice been changed by law. Since the passage of the Cnrtis Act, however, the Department has. instructed all of its officials in the Indian Terri-tory, including the Dawes Commission, to address its correspondence through this office. Consequently the offioei s this year better informed as to the work of the commission than it has been heretofore. Citizenship.-The most important modification or extension of the authority of the commission was the jurisdiction given it by the act of June 10, 1896, over citizensEp matters in the Five Civilized Tribes. By this act the commission was authorized to investigate all applica-tions submitted to it of persons claiming to be entitled to membership in law and fact in any of the Five Civilized Tribes. Three months were given for the filing of applications, and the commission was given ninety days after the filing of the application to render its decision thereon. So far as this office is informed, the commission has not been given any instructions whatever in the carrying oat of the new authority given to it under the various acts that have been passed, but the commission has proceeded without instructions, construing the law for itself. |