CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. No. EXTENSION OF TIME FOR PAYMENTS ON HOMESTEADS, UINTAH INDIAN RESERVATION. JULY 8, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. STEPHENS of Texas, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 6934.] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6934) providing for an extension of time for payment of all unpaid payments due from homesteaders on the Uintah Indian Reservation, Utah, having duly considered the same, recommends that the bill be amended, and that as amended the bill do pass. Amend the bill by adding the following as section 2: "SEC. 2. That nothing herein contained shall affect any valid adverse claim initiated prior to the passage of this act." The following is a copy of the Senate report on this bill, which explains the purpose of the legislation sought, and which your committee adopts as a part of its report: [Senate Report No. 893, Sixty-second Congress, second session.] The Committee on Public Lands, to which was referred the bill (S. 6934) to provide for an extension of time for payment of all unpaid payments due from homesteaders on the Uintah Indian Reservation, having given the same careful consideration, beg leave to recommend that the following substitute be adopted in its stead: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who has heretofore made a homestead entry for land which was formerly a part of the Uintah Indian Reservation in the State of Utah, authorized by the act approved May twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and two, and acts amendatory thereto, shall, upon application to the register and receiver of the land office in the district in which the land is located, and upon payment of five per centum of the price of said land, be allowed an extension of time of one year within which to submit proof on his entry and make payment therefor: Provided, That said five per centum shall be accepted as interest for said year, and shall be deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the Indians as a part of the proceeds received for the lands: Provided further, That any entryman may, upon the same conditions, obtain a second extension and no more.' The purpose of the bill is to relieve settlers on the former Uintah Indian Reservation from the necessity of paying for their homesteads at the present time. Conditions are H R-62-2-vol 5—4 such that it would be impossible for a large majority of the homesteaders to make the required payment this year, and consequently, unless some relief is accorded them, their homesteads will be forfeited to the Government. Since the opening of this reservation the settlers have had an exceedingly difficult time to eke out an existence, owing to a number of reasons. Before the land can be made productive at all water must be put upon it, and most of the settlers have expended practically all their means in doing this and in making other necessary improvements upon their homesteads. Senator Smoot, who introduced the bill, presented a number of petitions signed by most of the settlers on the Uintah Indian Reservation, praying for the relief which this bill gives them. The bill will be a great boon to these settlers, and the committee recommends that it be passed. The following report on the bill was submitted by the Secretary of the Interior: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, June 8, 1912. Hon. REED SMOOT, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your request for a report on S. 6934, "A bill to provide for an extension of time for payment of all unpaid payments due from homesteaders on the Uintah Indian Reservation." The statutes under which the Uintah lands were opened (act of May 27, 1902, 32 Stat., 263; act of Mar. 3, 1903, 32 Stat., 998; act of Mar. 3, 1905, 33 Stat., 1069) do not provide for payment of installments; the homestead entrymen must, at time of submitting proof, pay $1.25 per acre, which is the entire price of the land. Consequently, the language of the bill referring to installments is not properly applicable. These lands were opened to entry under the proclamation of July 14, 1905, and the first entries were made between August 28 and October 26, 1905. The seven-year period allowed by section 2291, Revised Statutes, for submission of proof on these entries, will therefore expire within the current year. The relief it may be desired to afford these homesteaders could be granted by simply extending the time allowed for submitting their proofs. Information has been received regarding the very hard climatic conditions encountered by these people, and there appears to be no doubt that they are entitled to some relief. However, it is suggested, as in the report on the Coeur d'Alene bill (H. R. 18661, 62d Cong., act of Apr. 15, 1912, Public, No. 120), that it would not be wise to grant an extension of two years; the preferable course would be to allow an extension for one year, subject to a single renewal of a like period. Moreover, since the present laws do not provide for interest on the price of these lands, it is thought that in justice to the Indians, to whom the money is ultimately payable, the entrymen securing extensions should be required to pay, in advance, interest on said price. This interest has, in the recent Coeur d'Alene act, been fixed at 5 per cent per annum. Consonant with the above suggestions, the department respectfully recommends that the bill be amended before enactment in accordance with the draft herewith submitted. Very respectfully, SAMUEL ADAMS, First Assistant Secretary. O REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS FROM CERTAIN LANDS IN CHEROKEE NATION, OKLA. JULY 8, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Mr. CAMPBELL, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following REPORT. [To accompany S. 6126.] The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (S. 6126) for the purpose of removing restrictions on encumbrance and alienation of allotted lands within the Cherokee Nation, Okla., having duly considered the same, recommends that the bill be amended, and that as amended that it do pass. Amend the bill as follows: Page 1, line 4, after the word "appraised," strike out all down to and including the word "Oklahoma," in lines 5 and 6. Page 1, line 6, strike out the word "surplus"; also, strike out the word "lands" and insert in lieu thereof the word "land." Page 1, line 9, after the word "the," strike out the word "homesteads" and insert in lieu thereof the words "remainder of the allotments." Page 1, line 10, after the word "separately," strike out the words "and at its actual value." Page 1, line 10, commencing with the word "United," strike out all down to and including the word "Agency," in line 11, and insert in lieu thereof the words "Secretary of the Interior." Page 2, line 2, after the word "adjoin," strike out the words "his homestead" and insert in lieu thereof the words "the remainder of his allotment. Page 2, line 5, after the word "Agency," insert the words "in Oklahoma." Said bill as amended will read as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be appraised the tracts of land which were allotted to the Indians of the Cherokee Nation of Indians in tracts of thirty acres or less, and which tracts are now unoccupied and do not adjoin the remainder of the allotments of said allottees. Each tract shall be appraised separately, and the Secretary of the Interior may cause a reappraisement of any tract if in his judgment the circumstances warrant such action. After such appraisal the allottee of any of such tracts is hereby authorized to sell and dispose of any of such tracts of thirty acres or less allotted to him which does not adjoin the remainder of his allotment: Provided, That such sale shall not be for less than the appraised value of such tract and such sale shall be approved by the United States Indian agent at the Union Agency in Oklahoma, but the Secretary of the Interior may from time to time designate any other person to so act in lieu of or in addition to said United States Indian agent: Provided further, That such purchase price shall be paid to the allottee through said United States Indian agent, and in case the allottee is an Indian of three-quarters blood or more the money received from the sale of any tract allotted to such Indian shall be used for the benefit of such allottee. Upon investigation your committee finds that section 11 of the agreement between the Cherokee Tribe of Indians and the United States Government, approved July 1, 1902, reads as follows: SEC. 11. There shall be allotted by the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes and to each citizen of the Cherokee Tribe, as soon as practicable after the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of his enrollment as herein provided, land `equal in value to one hundred and ten acres of the average allottable lands of the Cherokee Nation, to conform as nearly as may be to the areas and boundaries established by the Government survey, which land may be selected by each allottee so as to include his improvements. Your committee finds that in accordance with the provision of section 11, hereinabove set out, the lands of the Cherokee Tribe of Indians were allotted to the individual members thereof, and that in making the allotments the said land was appraised for allotment purposes, the highest appraisement per acre being $6.50 and the lowest appraisement per acre being 25 cents, and that the allottees in selecting their full quota of lands often had to select a portion of it in small tracts, and that throughout the Cherokee Nation there has been selected for the individual allottees small tracts of lands ranging from 10 to 30 acres, and that these small tracts are separate and apart from the remainder of the allotment of the allottee. These small tracts can not be sold because of the restrictions upon the same, and they are wholly worthless to the allottee, for the reason that no one will rent them because of the quantity being so small, and they are now growing up in weeds and grass, not being used by anyone and doing no one any good. We believe it would be to the best interest of the allottee and to the State if the restrictions were removed from these small tracts of land so that the allottee might be able to sell the same to the adjoining property owners and use the proceeds to improve his other property. The Senate bill as amended is practically the same as is recommended by the Secretary of the Interior in the following letter: Hon. JOHN H. STEPHENS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives. SIR: It has been discovered that a mistake was made in departmental letter of June 22, 1912, reporting on S. 6126, an act for the purpose of removal of restrictions on incumbrance and alienation of allotted lands within the Cherokee Nation. This mistake occurred at the top of page 3 in quoting the substitute proposed for the bill submitted. It is requested that the report of June 22 be disregarded and that the report submitted herewith be substituted therefor. Respectfully, SAMUEL ADAMS, First Assistant Secretary. Hon. JOHN H. STEPHENS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, June 25, 1912. Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives. SIR: The department is in receipt of your letter of June 21, inclosing copy of S. 6126, an act for the purpose of removal of restrictions on incumbrance and alienation of allotted lands within the Cherokee Nation, and H. R. 23183, a bill providing for the removal of restrictions from certain lands in the Cherokee Nation, Okla., and for other purposes; also a typewritten substitute that your committee proposes for the Senate bill. You ask for a report upon the desirability of the passage of the substitute. That substitute reads as follows: "That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be appraised the surplus lands which were allotted to the Indians of the Cherokee Nation, in tracts of thirty acres or less, and which tracts are now unoccupied and do not adjoin the homesteads of said allottees. After such appraisal any adult allottee of any of such tracts is authorized to sell and dispose of the same at not less than the appraised price thereof: Provided, That no sales shall be valid until approved by the Secretary of the Interior, or by some person designated by him: Provided further, That any allottee may elect to select from the lands allotted to him a homestead of not less acreage than the tract already allotted and designated as a homestead, and said tract so selected shall constitute and be the homestead of such allottee, and the tract originally selected as a homestead may be disposed of under the provisions of this act: And provided further, That the purchase price received from the sale of any tract shall be paid to the allottee except in case the allottee is an Indian of three-quarters blood or more, in which case the money received from the sale of any tract allotted to such Indian may be paid to, expended for, or used for the benefit of such allottee, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior." The objections stated in the reports of the department on these bills have been largely eliminated. It is apprehended, however, that difficulties may arise if the second proviso of the substitute be enacted. The question will at once arise whether the safeguards therein around the homestead may be transferred to the newly selected tract. It is not believed that a sufficient number of homesteads will be involved to justify the confusion that would inevitably attend any attempted exchange. It is suggested, therefore, that this proviso be omitted. It is recommended that a further proviso be added at the end of the substitute, reading substantially as follows: "Provided, That nothing herein shall be held to reimpose restrictions on alienation or incumbrance once removed, or to prevent the Secretary of the Interior from continuing to remove restrictions as heretofore.' The substitute will then read as follows: "That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be appraised the surplus lands which were allotted to the Indians of the Cherokee Nation, in tracts of thirty acres or less, and which tracts are now unoccupied and do not adjoin the homesteads of said allottees. After such appraisal, any adult allottee of any of such tracts is authorized to sell and dispose of the same at not less than than the appraised price thereof: Provided, That no sales shall be valid until approved by the Secretary of the Interior or by some person designated by him: Provided further, That the purchase price received from the sale of any tract shall be paid to the allottee, except in case the allottee is an Indian of three-quarters blood or more, in which case the money received from the sale of any tract allotted to such Indian may be paid to, expended for, or used for the benefit of such allottee in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior: And provided further, That nothing herein shall be held to reimpose restrictions on alienation or incumbrance once removed, or to prevent the Secretary of the Interior from continuing to remove restrictions as heretofore." It is believed that the enactment of legislation along these lines will afford adequate relief without jeopardizing the interests of the noncompetent Indians. For your convenience, I inclose herewith copies of reports of the department on S. 6126 and H. R. 23183, dated April 25 and April 22, 1912, respectively. Respectfully, SAMUEL ADAMS, First Assistant Secretary. |