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Show 100 REPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF INDIAN AFFATRS. income as might be derived from the taxation of whatever lands had been relieved from restrictions by the act of April 21, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 189), or by the Secretary of the Interior under that act. REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS. The office and the department were satisfied that many allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes from whom the restrictions had not been removed were fully qualified to deal with their business affairs with-out gdvernmental oversight, and that it was not in the interest of the Indians and freedmen themselves to allow conditions to exist which would render impossible the maintenance among them of the usual agencies of orderly government. Schools must be maintained for their children as well as for those of their white neighbors; courts of justice must be established; roads must be built and streams bridged if allotments were to he farmed advantageously and the peo-ple to have access to markets. Hence the executive joined with the legislative officers of the Government in framing measures of relief for existing ills and shortcomings. It was believed that, in view of their white parentage and of their opportunities for education, all Indians of less than one-half blood could be intrusted with the untrammeled management of their lands. It was also believed that Indians of less than 75 per cent Indian blood should be authorized to sell their surplus lands, because as they too had had opportunities for education, very few would have any excuse for making a foolish use of the privilege, and if they did sell their land for less than it was worth or make improvident use of the proceeds, they would still have their homesteads to fall back upon and would have learned a needed lesson. There were also individual cases of Indians having more than three-quarters Indian blood whd had been successful in business, and who were so enlightened and edu-cated that they too could be trusted with the supervision of their own affairs. The freedmen have as a rule been the most industrious and successful allottees among the Five Civilized Tribes. They have always been the chief cultivators of the soil, and, having had no tribal funds, have built their own homes and supported theniselves without outside aid. It was therefore the judgment of the officers of the department that the freedmen did not need the protection of the government as to their lands and that the taxation of these lands would make it possible to maintain schools for their children. The act of May 227, 1908, entitled, "An act for the removal of restrictions from part of the land of allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes, and for other purposes " (35 Stat. L., 312), generally known as the LLrestrictionsa ct," removed restrictions on the sale of the lands of about two-thirds of the allottees of the Five Civilized |