OCR Text |
Show The regulations to govern the sale of the lands and deposits, ap-proved by the President June 17,1904, provided that no person should he allowed to bid on more than one tract, except in cases where two or more tracts would not in the aggregate exceed 960 acres, that being the maximum acreage under the law that any one person might purchase. Each bid was to be accompanied by a certified check for 20 per cent of the amount of the bid, such check to be forfeited to the use of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations if the bidder failed to comply with the provisions of his bid within fifteen days after notice of its acceptance. The right to reject any or all bids was reserved. The commission appointed by the President to be present when bids were opened "and to be heard in relation to the acceptance or rejection " of any bid consisted of Brig. Gen. John M. %lson, U. S. Army, retired, chairman of the commission, Thomas E. Sanguin, of Hugo, Ind. T., for the Choctaw Nation, and Walter Colbert, of Ard-more, Ind. T., as the Chickasaw representative. At the designated time bids for lands in the different districts were opened. All of the bids were rejected, as they were regarded as being less than the reasonable value of the land for agricultural pur-poses. The Choctaw and Chickasaw supplemental agreement provided that the coal and asphalt lands and deposits, leased and unleased, should be sold at public auction for cash, under the direction of the President. The deposits within town sites were to be sold within two years from the date of the ratification of the agreement, viz, Sep-tember 25,1902, and the lands wibhin three years from that date. It was also provided by the agreement that " the coal or asphalt covered by each lease shall be sold separately." By the act of April 21, 1904, above quoted, the manner of sale was changed and it was declared " that all leased lands shall be withheld from sale until the further direction of Congress." Congress has given no further direction concerning the sale of the leased coal and asphalt lands, and they have not been advertised for sale. On May 9, 1904, the Secretary of the Interior requested advice from the Assistant Attorney-General "within what time must the sales of the coal and asphalt deposits " in the Choctaw and Chiclra-saw nations be made? The Assistant Attorney-General, on May 17,1904, said : Upon careful reading of the amendatory provision in connection with the origi-nal law, it would seem that the purpose was to change the method or manner of conducting the sale rather than the time of making the sale. I therefore advise that the provisions of the original law flxing the time for making the sales should be held to control. The t,ime within which the sales should have been made expired on September 24, 1905, and no action has been taken looking to the sale |