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Show REeORT OF TEE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAES 23 complete and accuratc records and have responded gen?rously to sug-gestions as to the perfecting of old records and the maintenance of a Kigher standard 6 the futirre. WEBLO LANDS Final adjudication and settlement of conflicting titles affecting lands claimed by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico will become accomplished facts as a result of the enactment of the Pueblo Indian law by Congress, approved June 7, 1924. There are about 20 pueblos, involving a total Indian population of between 6,500 and 8,000, each pueblo consisting of about 17,000 acres of land, making a grand total of 340 000 acres. These Indians were found by Co-ronado and the first kpanish explorers in 1541, many of them resid-ing in villages and occupying the same lands that the Pueblo Indians now occupy. The rights af these Indians to the land they. occupled ized by the Spanish conquerors from early days. Dur- &gsth"P&anish occupation of New Mexico some grants were also made to non-Indians by the,Spanish Government. Upon the ter-mination of Spanish sovere~gnty in this territory, these Pueblo Inilians came under the jurisdiction of ,the Mexican Government, which gave them many political and clvil rights. All of the land grants made to and held by the Indians have been and are now held in a type of communal occupancy and ownership. The rela-tionship of the inhabitants of this territory and the Government of the United States was established by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in 1848, and in 1859 Congress confirmed the Spanish ants to the Indians. The legal status of these Indians was not gally determined until 1913, when the Supreme Court of the United States passed upon the subject. Up to that time it had been assumed by both the Territorial and State courts of New Mexico that the Pueblos had the right to alienate their property. From earliest times also the Pueblos had invited the Spaniards and other nan-Indians to dwell with them, and in many cases Pueblos and individual Indians attempted to convey lands to nan-Indians, which, under the decision of the Supreme Court, they were not competent to do. As a result o.-f this situation. conflicts as to title and rig-h t of -u ossession arose and exist in many instances. There are now approximately 3,000 claimants to lands within the Pueblo grants, the non-Indian c!aimants witl1,their families com-prising about 12,000 persons. With few exceptions, the non-Indian claims range from a town lot of 25-foot front to a fev acres in ex-tent. To settle the complicated questions of titla and to secure for the Indians all of the lands to which they are entitled is the. purpose of the legislation. The law provides for a Pueblo Lands Board to consist of the Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney General, and a third member to be appointed by the President of the United States.' The Secretary of the Interior and the ,Attorney General may act through assistants in,invqstigations and deliberations con-ducted in New Mexico, with headquarters in Santa Fe. The duty of 'The Presfdent hae sine appointed Mr. ROWS Wake=, an attorney of New York City. a i his representative on the board. |