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Show 104 L, REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP INDIAN BFFILIBS. produced from allotted lands in that tribe, one-half shall be paid to the allottee and the remaining half into the tribal treasury until the extinguishment of the tribal government. This differed from the rule in force in the other four nations, where allottees received all the royalties. So on the department's recommendation the following clause was inserted in the '' restrictions act: " SEC. 11. That all royalties arising on and after July 1, 1908, from mineral leases of allotted Seminole lands heretofore or hereafter made, which are sub-ject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall be paid to the United States Indian Agent, Union Agency, for the benefit of the Indian lessor or his proper representative to whom such royalties shall thereafter be-long; * * * The development of the oil fields in the Five Civilized Tribes has not gone forward so rapidly during the last year as the year pre-ceding, partly because of the business depression and partly because of the over-production of oil in the country generally. The prices which had remained stationary at 35 cents per barrel for many months, were increased by the largest purchaser in the field to 41 cents per barrel. Two new pipe lines extending to tide water on the Gulf of Mexico began business during the year and somewhat . added to the market for oil, but without material advantage to the field in general, because their purchases were almost entirely limited to operators who were closely aHiated with their organizations. It has been necessary for operators to continue to construct tankage for storing surplus oil, and it is believed that the amount now on hand in the Creek and Cherokee nations greatly. exceeds the 18,000,000 barrels estimated as being in storage there on June 30, 1907. A qumber of new oil producing districts were discovered during the year, but as far as developed, appear to be of so small area that the known oil and gas producing regions were not materially extended. I EDUCATION. Educational affairs among the Five Tribes have hsen conducted on the same general lines as in the past, with the central idea predominant of an early transition from the United States G.overnment to state control. For ten years the Interior Department has supervised the educa-tion of the Indian children of these tribes, and at the close of that period Superintendent Benedict says: The school work of the year just closed has progressed quietly and, upon the whole, quite satisfactorily. The Indians are manifesting a livelier interest in the education of their children than in former years, as evidenced by the crowded condition of our tribal boarding schools. At the opening of these sehools in September last, nearly every one enrolled its full quota of pupils on the first day. This condition presents quite a striking wntrast with that of a few years ago, when parents had to be persuaded to send thelr children |