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Show 168 REPORT OF THE COMNI~SIONER OF IFDIAN AFFAIRS. PAYMENTS FOR OTO AND MISSOURI LANDS IN KAKSAS AND NEBRASKA. This long-pending matter has finally been disposed of. The last annual report contains the proposition of settlement which was snb-mitted April 20, 1899, by Mr. J. A. Van Orsdel on behalf of the settlers as to the price to be paid by delinquent aettlers'for Oto and Missouri lands in Nebraska which they had been occupying for many years. This proposition wau rejected by the Oto and Missouri Indians. Subsequently Inspector McLaughlin, acting,nnder Department instruc-tions, again conferred with the Indians, with the result that on Novem-ber 20,1899, they.entered into a formal agreement, signed by more than three-fourths of the male adult members of the tribe, consenting to a revision and adjustment of the land sales as to the delinquent purchasers. This agreement is as follows: We, the undemigned adult male members of the Otoe and Missouriatrihe of Indians, having been assen~blect in council this 20th day of November, 1899, at the Otoe sub-agency, Noble County, Oklahoma Territory, in response to the request of Janles McLaughlin, United States Indian inspector, for the purpose of considering a propo-sition for the settlement of differences with the delinquent purchasers of lands in our late reservation in the States of Nebraska and Kansas, and being fully advised by said Indian Inspector McLaughlin as to our rights and interest in the premises, do hereby agree to a settlement of said differences on the following basis: I. The original appraised value of said lands, together with twenty-five per eent (26 per cent) of such ilppr~isedv alue, shall for the purposes of this settlement rep-resent the purchase price of said lands. 11. Interest shall be computed on the purchase price so ascertained at the rate of five per cent (5 per cent) per annum, simple interest., from the date that interest should he computed under the original act of Congress providing for the sale of said lands to date of payment. 111. From the amount so ascertained to he due in each instance shall he deducted all payments heretofore made on said lands, both on axcount of principal and inter-est. toeebher with simple interest thereon, at the rate of five per cent (5 per cent) per mnum, from date of payment until date of final payment, and the balance remaining after deducting said payments and interest thereon, as aforesad, from the purchase price with interest thereon, as aforesaid, shall be considered the amount still due from said settlers and purchasers in each instance. IV. All com>utations to he made under the direction of the Seerehry of the Inte-rior, and we fully authorize the adjustment of the matter on the basis as above set forth and as provided by the act of March 3, 1893. V. It is further understood that this agreement and compromise shall apply only to the purchase nloney now delinquent, and that Twe will in no event agree to any further adjustment or refunding of any money whatever to those who have paid the full an~ountsd ue on their purchases made at the sale of said lands. In a communication. dated February 1% 1900, addressed to the chair-man of the Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, the Secretary of the Interior said: This plan of adjustment does not include the full-paid purchasers, and I do not feel authorized to give it my approval and carry it into effect, considering the pro- |
