OCR Text |
Show 138 REPORT OF THE UOKWI8SIONER OF IXDIAN AFFAIR8. Chickasaw Nation shall pay a tax of 1 per cent on the amount of their capital stock invested. As already stated, the Government has never collected any of the rents, royalties, or taxes in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations accruing by reason of noncitizen6 being engaged in business within the limits of said nations, except the royalty on coal and asphalt. All other taxes, royalties, and rents have been collected by the national collectors of those nations. The national collectors have experienced considerable difficnlty in collecting what is known as the merchandise tax, and the inspector June 22,1900, forwarded a letter from the governor of the Chickasaw Nation, in which he requested that 47 citizens, whose names were given, be removed from the limits of that nation for the reason that they had refused to pay the merchandise tax in accordance with Chick-asaw laws. The inspector also transmitted clippings from different newspapers in the Indian Territory, which were to the effect that certain merchants residing in Ardmore had assembled a mass meeting and protested against the payment of the merchandise tax, and had agreed to contribute one-sixth of the amount for the purpose of con-testing in the courts the legality of the collection of that tax. The inspector requested to be advised as early as practicable whether the tribal laws were to be further enforced. July- 3, 1900, the o5ce reported to the Department as follows: Without entering into anv discussion of the matter under consideration, and as it inof p a r impumnve, 1 rzcun,~ttru,lt hat tlrr s holea~t~rivrt wfrrrrd 10 thr. Asdial-ant Attorney-(ienrral for rhr Interior 1)qmnmrnt with request that he Hdviw you whether or hot, in view of the fact that the Choctaw and Chickasaw agreement pro-vides that the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribal governments "shall continue for the period of eight years from the 4th day of March, 1898," and that section 26 of the Curtis Act provides, "That on and after the passage of this act the laws of the various tribes or nations of Indiana shall not be enforced at law or in equity by the courts of the United 8tates in the Indian Territory," it is incumbent an the Government to col-lect or assist in collecting taxes from merchants and others in accordance with the laws of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. If it should be determined that it is the duty of the Government to collector assist in the collectionof said taxes aceruingunder the laws of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, I favor the use of such force in accordance with law as may be necessary to properly collect said taxes. July 16, 1900, the Department replied that on the 13th of that month the Assistant Attorney-General had rendered an opinion relative to the right to collect taxes from citizens who had purchased lots in towns in the Indian nations, generally, which would awwer the ques-tions submitted as to the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. That opin-ion, which sustains the legality of the tax, is published in full in this report on page 5i4. July 26,1900, the inspector advised the Department that a large number of merchants residing in Ardmore, Chickasaw Nation, Ind. T., had refused to pay the tribal tax in accordance with the laws of that nation, and he forwarded a letter from Governor Johnston, of the |