OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF TBE COMMISSIONER ON INDIAN AFFAIRS. 55 they are required by law to perform for the relator; that the matter of citizenship of the relator has nothing whatever to do with the case; and that the result of the writ of mandamus here would he to control the administrative action of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior, which it is not competent for the courts to do. The rule to show cause was therefore discharged, and the petition was dismissed. The opinion is published in full at page 465. Menominee Reservation, Win.-On December 15, 1902, the Depart-ment approved the amended rules to govern the cutting and banking of saw logs by the Menominee Indians on their reservation. On the same date the Secretary also granted authority for the cutting and banking of 15,000,000 feet of grem pine and hemlock timber during the logging season of 190%3. The full amount covered by the authority was cut and banked under thirty-eight contracts with the Indians, which were approved on Jmuary 14, 1903. The logs were sold by hank scale to the highest bidder after due advertisement in three leading newspapers. The purchaser was S. W. Hollister, of Oshkosh, Wis., at $16.30 per thousand. On February 12,1903, the Department granted authority for the cutting and banking of 5,000,000 feet of dad pine and hemlock tim-ber during the season of 1903-4. Authority was also granted, on August 20, 1903, for the cutting and banking of 15,000,000 feet of grem pine and hemlock timber during the logging season of 19034. Fifty-six contracts with the Indians for the cutting and banking of the latter amount of timber were approved on September 22. LEASING OF INDIAN LANDS. ALWTI'ED LANDS. The terms for which Indian allotments may be leased were given in the annual reports of this office for the years 1900 and 1901. The maximum ia three yearsfor grazing lands or farming and grazing, and five years for farming, business, and mining; except that unimproved lands on the Yakima Reservation, Wash., may be leased for not exceeding ten years for agricultural purposes. All approved grazing leases for terms in excess of one year provide for fencing the lands, in addition to the cash rental, and all approved farming and grazing leases for terms in excess of two years have provision either for plac-ing some substantial improvements on the premises, or for breaking new lands, or for both. The amended rules governing the leasing of allotted lands, approved March 21, 1902, provide that- Every d u l t male able-bodied Indian not engaged in some permanent businem or oecu~t ionb y which he is gaining a livelihood for himself and family will he required . to reserve not less than 40 acres of cultivable land from his own allotment for occu-pancy and cultivation by himself, which shall always be exempt from leasing. |