| OCR Text |
Show COMMISBIONER OF INDIAN AQFAIRB. 67 these the area is given as 640 acres, in others as about 640 acres; in some the area is less, and in stdl others it is nat given at all. These allotments are of irregular shape, having been made prior to the extension of the public surveys over that region. There is a great demand for these lands by the whites, who have tried to obtain possession of them sometimes by lease and sometimes by purchase. Under existing law the Indians have no authority to sell their allot-ments; their right to them is that of use and occupation only. House bill 11598, Fifty-eighth Congress, third session, which pro-vides for the issuance of patents for the lands allotted to Indians under the Moses agreement, was referred to this Office for report. A substitute for the hill was prepared, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to issue patents to those Indians who had been allotted lands under the agreement, such patents to be of the legal effect and declare that for ten years from the date of the act the United States would hold the land allotted to any Indian in trust for his sole use and benefit, or, in case of his death either before or after the issue of the patent, for the benefit of his heirs according to the laws of the State of Washington; that at the expiration of the ten years the United States would convey the same by patent in fee to the Indian or his heirs, discharged of said trust and free of all incumbrance what-soever; and that if any allottee or his heirs should make, before the expiration of the ten years, and conveyance of the lands so held in trust, or any contract touching them except as therein provided, such conveyance or contract would be absolutely null and void. It was further provided in the substitute that any allottee to whom such trust patent should be issued might sell and convey all the lands covered thereby, except 80 acres, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior; that the heirs of any deceased Indian who had received a patent might in l i e manner sell and convey all of the inherited allotment except 80 acres; that the interests of minor heirs should be sold only by a guardian duly appointed by a proper court, on the order of such court, made on petition filed by the guardian; that all such conveyances should be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and when so approved should convey a full title to the purchaser, the same as if a final patent without restrictions upon alienation had been issued to the allottee, and that all allotted land alienated under the provisions of the substitute should thereupon be subject to taxation under the laws of the State of Washington. It is urged that the substitute bill, or one similar thereto, be passed by Congress at its coming session. The Umatilla act, approved March 3,1885 (23 Stat. L., 340), pro-vided that the President should cause agricultural lands to be allotted |
