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Show I - REPORT OF TEE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 155 I In general, applications will be *wived only wherein it may appear an error or omission has been made by the McCumber Commission, or that the bome of the applicant was among the Turtle Mountain tribe at that time and had the applicant been at home his enrollment would in all probability have been approved by such commission. These rules were approved by the Department on August 11, 1905. The superintendent asked to be instructed as to the status of certain women who claimed to be entit.led to enrollment as members of the tribe, but who had married white men and removed from the reser-vation and in fact had severed all relations with the tribe. The Assistant Attorney-General, in in opinion dated October 6, 1905, said that the fact of marriage to-a citizen of the United States woulcl not in itself deprive any'Turtle Mountain Chippewa woman of her right to share in the funds and property of the tribe; that a member of the tribe could, by voluntary withdrawal therefrom, forfeit his right to share in the tribal property, but that this would have to be determined by the circiimstances in each case; that .the Office was right in requiring applicants for enrollment to show a long and con-tinuous residence among the tribe znd such social and domestic aHia-tion with it that they are recognized by the community as member9 thereof, but that in a,pplying this general rule some judgment would have to be exercised because of the peculiar conditions existing. For these reasons it seemed necessary to send a special agent. to the reservation to consult with the superintendent, the Indian cbun-cil, and, in fact, the applicants themselves, as to the facts in each particular case. The special agent submitted a partial report., and asked for instructions as to whether an Indian in the tribe who was enrolled by the .McCumber Commission, or who was not enrolled by them but was really entitled to enrollment, had forfeited his right to membership in the tribe by the acceptance and disposition of ecrip issued to him by the Canadian government. The question was wbinitted to the Department on August 1, 1906, and the opinion of the Assistant Attorney-General, dated August 10, was that the accept-ance of Canadian scrip does not affect the membership of an Indian in the tribe. The current Indian appropriation act (34 Stat. L., 360) provides that part of the land reserved.by General Orders, No. 17, of the War Depart-ment, dated August 28, 1876, for military purposes, but now abandoned and subject to disposal under the act of CongrRss approved July 6, 1884 (23 Stat. L., 103), * known as Graham's Island, in the State of North Dakota, [shall be] restored to the public domain and declared to be nnblic land of the United States: Provided, That the land so restored shall, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, be held for a period of twelve months, subject to allotments to the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa Indians in accordance with the ~rovisions of the amended agreement with said bnlld, approved Apdi 21, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 194). |