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Show I BEPOET OF THE COMMISSIOHEB, OF INDIdlP AFFblBS. 47 I county of Maverick, Tex., in 134 of the cases The question of paying the expenses and fees of witnesses living in Oklahoma and Mexico / for bringing them to Maverick County, Tex., has retarded the prog-ress of these suits. Congress provided for these expenses in March / and August, 1909. The greatest trouble, however, has been in secur-ing the extradition of the defendants living in the State of Okla-homa, as the governor of Oldahoma has refused the request of the governor of Texas to send these defendants to Texas for trial. Other resources have recently availed in bringing these defendants within the jurisdiction of the criminal courts, and satisfactory results are confidently expected in the near future. OSAGES.. The settlement of the affairs of the Osages is practically completed. This settlement is authorized by the act of June 28, 1906 (34 Stat., 539). The act provided for the division of the lands and moneys of the Osage Indians to be made on the basis of a roll of membership approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Under the provisions of the act each member of the tribe was permitted to take three selec-tions of 160 acres of land each, the selections for minors to be made by parents or the superintendent in charge of the Osage Agency. The roll was approved April 30, 1908; it contained the names of 2,230 persons. In accordance with the act 1,465,350.50 acres have been allotted to the Indians on the roll; 5,178.53 acres have been re-served for church, town sites, and railroad properties; and there are now approximately 404,924 acres remaining unallotted. The Osage trust fund on June 30,1910, amounted to $8,400,006.98. The school fund amounted to $119,911.53. In addition to this these Indians received as royalties from the leasing of their oil and gas lands $240,641.29, making a grand total of $8,760,599.80. This rep-resents approximately the wealth of the Osages in money. These funds have been segregated and placed to the credit of the individual members in accordance with the provisions of the act already mentioned. The share of each member amounts to $3,988.50. Under another provision of the Osage act of 1906 the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, at the request and upon the petition of any adult member of the tribe, to issue to such mem-ber a certificate of competency which authorizes him to sell and convey any of the lands deeded to him under the act, except his homestead, which must remain inalienable and nontaxable for a period of twenty-five years, or during the lifetime of the homestead allottee, if, upon investigation, the Secretary shall find such member fully competent and capable of transacting his own business and caring for his own individual affaira. |