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Show ~ COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN .AFFAIRS. 37 are fulfilled, it is, in my opinion, just and ria h t that the Indians themselves should have their wishes respected w en they request that their own money-not the money of the public-be applied to the support of certain schools to which they desire to send their children. A communication addressed by this O5ce to the Secretary of the Interior on June 3, 1905, cited the foregoing passages, and added: It would appear from the above quotations that the funds designated as (I), I (2), (3), and (4) are applicable for ihe education of Indian children in the sectarian schools, to be supported by the tribe for whom the funds above stated are applicable. The following miasion schools on the Sioux agencies, having contracts during the current fiscal year for the education of Indian pupils-Immaculate Con-ception, Holy Rosary, and St. Francis--are paid from "Education, Sioux I Nation," the appropriation for which appears in the Indian appropriation act 1 for the fiscal year 1905, as follows: "Sioux of diflerent tribes, including Santee Sioux of Nebraska: For the sup port and maintenance of day and industrial schools, including erection and repalm of school buildings, in acwrdance with article 7 of the treaty of April 29,1868, which article is continued in force for twenty years by section 17 of the act of March 2, 1889, $225,003." ' I I For the payment of claims arising under the contract for the St. Mary's Mission Boarding School, on the Quapaw Reservation, the fund known tech- ! nicaliy as " Support of Quapaws, Education," is used. This fund is appropriated in the Indian appropriation act for the fiscal year 1905, as follows: "For education per third article of treaty of May 13, 1833, $1,000: Provided, I I That the President of the United States shall certify the same to be to the best interests of the Indians." As these funds. "Education, Sioux Nation" and "Support of Quapaws, Education," are now being used for the above purposes, and said appropriations I being continued in the Indian appropriation act for the flscal year 1906, in order to remove any doubt, it is respectfully recommended that their availability for the purposes indicated be submitted to the Attorney-General for a deflnite opinion, whether they are "moneys belonging to the Indians themselves, and not to the public," and whether in each case these several funds can be so used, provided "the money appropriated for any given school represents only the pro rata proportion to which the Indians making the petition .are entitled." I In accordance with this recommendation the questions here raised were submitted to the Attorney-General for an opinion, which, up .to the date of this report, has not been rendered. On June 6, 1905, the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions an-nounced that it was "prepared to care for and educate during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, Indian pupils at the several schools now carried on by it among the Osage, Menominee, Sioux, Northem Cheyenne and Quapaw tribes, upon the same terms and conditions," and requested that it be granted contracts " payable in each case from ! the trust and treaty funds of the tribes among which the school is located," for the same number of pupils and at the same rate per annum as granted in the contracts for the then current fiscal year. I A similar request, dated September 20, 1905, signed by Rev. R. ~ |
