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Show --- - - - --- - - - - COMMISSIONEB OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 37 to this work, and to devise plans for putting it upon a practical and effective working basis. Those plans comprehended, among other things, two principal objects, both of which were accomplished: (1) The adoption of a set of probate mles that would be adequate, prop-erly administered, for the protection of helpless and dependent peo-ple, and (2) the organization of a corps of probate attorneys, to rep-resent such Indians, under the direction of this office, in the courts of Oklahoma. i The work of last year was largely pioneer in character. The coun-ties constituting the territory previously belonging to the Five Civi-lized Tribes were divided into districts, embracing from one to six counties each, according to location and the number of pending pro-bate cases, and these districts were assigned to the several attorneys. When this was accomplished, each attorney was required to make a complete inventory of the cases in his district and familiarize himself therewith, and to follow up such preliminary work with proper suits in the courts when the law and the facts made it necessary for him to do so. The results have proved highly beneficial, the direct and imme-diate benefits being equaled, perhaps, by the unseen but ever present force for good that was implanted in the judicial system of the State by the institution of the probate system. The work is now progressing, under the perfected organization, in a regular and systematic manner. The men have become familiar with their duties and are in a position to attend to each matter in a prompt and efficient manner. In this, as in other lines of work, one duty performed may lead to a situation creating other duties. To illustrate: It frequently occurs that a probate attorney is able in a civil suit to thwart the trickery of a corrupt guardian and to save to a minor a considerable sum of money. Having gone thus far, the further duty arises of finding some way to conserve, for the perma-nent benefit of the ward, the funds thus saved to him; and sometimes it becomes necessary to institute proceedings for the prosecution of an embezzling guardian. These references will serve to show some of the duties devolving upon the probate attorneys, but the nature, extent, and importance of their work can be better understood by an examination of the appended table, which covers the period between January 1 and July 1, 1915. The extent of the work will be voted from the fact that at the beginning of the calendar year there was a total of 53,433 cases pending in the counties of the Five Civilized Tribes. Gratifying as the accomplished results are, it is apparent that there is a vast amount of unfinished work. |