kee Orphan Asylum which have not been reserved from allotment as herein provided, and upon which buildings, fences, or other property of the Cherokee Nation are located, such buildings, fences, or other property shall be appraised at the true value thereof and be paid for by the allottee taking such lands as his allotment, and the money to be paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Cherokee Nation.

SEC. 72. Cherokee citizens may rent their allotments when selected for a term not to exceed one year for grazing purposes only, and for a period not to exceed five years for agricultural purposes, but without any stipulation or obligation to renew the same; but leases for a period longer than one year for grazing purposes, and for a period longer than five years for agricultural purposes and for mineral purposes may also be made with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior and not otherwise. Any agreement or lease of any kind or character violative of this section shall be absolutely void and not susceptible of ratification in any manner, and no rule of estoppel shall ever prevent the assertion of its invalidity. Cattle grazed upon leased allotments shall not be liable to any tribal tax, but when cattle are introduced into the Cherokee Nation and grazed on lands not selected as allotments by citizens the Secretary of the Interior shall collect from the owners thereof a reasonable grazing tax for the benefit of the tribe, and section twenty-one hundred and seventeen of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall not hereafter apply to Cherokee lands.

SEC. 73. The provisions of section thirteen of the act of Congress approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, entitled "An act for the protection of the people of the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," shall not apply to or in any manner affect the lands or other property of said tribe, and no act of Congress or treaty provision inconsistent with this agreement shall be in force in said nation except sections fourteen and twenty-seven of said lastmentioned act, which shall continue in force as if this agreement had not been made.

SEC. 74. This act shall not take effect or be of any validity until ratified by a majority of the whole number of votes cast by the legal voters of the Cherokee Nation in the manner following:

SEC. 75. The principal chief shall, within ten days after the passage of this act by Congress, make public proclamation that the same shall be voted upon at a special election to be held for that purpose within thirty days thereafter, on a certain date therein named, and he shall appoint such officers and make such other provisions as may be necessary for holding such election. The votes cast at such election shall be forthwith duly certified as required by Cherokee law, and the votes shall be counted by the Cherokee national council, if then in session, and if not in session the principal chief shall convene an extraordinary session for the purpose, in the presence of a member of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and said member and the principal chief shall jointly make certificate thereof and proclamation of the result and transmit the same to the President of the United States. Approved July 1, 1902.

[Appropriation act of March 3, 1903 (32 Stat. L., 982).]

For salaries of four commissioners appointed under acts of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, twenty thousand dollars: Provided, That said Commission shall exercise all the powers heretofore conferred upon it by Congress.

Expenses of commissioners and necessary expenses of employees, and three dollars per diem for expenses of a clerk detailed as special disbursing agent by the Interior Department while on duty with the Commission, shall be paid therefrom; for clerical help, including secretary of the Commission and interpreters (act of March third, nineteen hundred and one, volume thirty-one, page one thousand and seventy-four, section one), two hundred thousand eight hundred and fifteen dollars; contingent expenses of the Commission (same act), two thousand dollars: Provided further, That this appropriation may be used by said Commission in the prosecution of all work to be done by or under its direction as required by law; in all, two hundred and twenty-two thousand eight hundred and fifteen dollars: And provided further, That not to exceed ten thousand eight hundred dollars of the above amount may be used in the temporary employment in the office of the Commissioner of Indian affairs of four clerks, at the rate of one thousand six hundred dollars per annum; one clerk, at

the rate of one thousand four hundred dollars, and who shall be competent to examine records in disputed citizenship cases and law contests growing out of the work of said Commission, and in the temporary employment in said office of three competent stenographers, at the rate of one thousand dollars each per

For personal and traveling expenses of the three judges of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court, five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary; for one stenographer to each of said judges, to be appointed by them, respectively, at one hundred dollars per month each, three thousand six hundred dollars; for traveling expenses and subsistence of said stenographers, the reporter, and the bailiff of said court, not to exceed three dollars per day each, one thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary; in all, ten thousand one hundred dollars, to be immediately available.

The Supreme Court of the United States may transfer to the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court the papers in the cases of Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship appealed from the United States courts in the Indian Territory to the Supreme Court during the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

That all causes transferred under section thirty-one of the Act of Congress of July first, nineteen hundred and two, entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians, and for other purposes,' to the citizenship court for the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations provided in said act shall be tried and determined under the provisions of section thirty-two of said act and disposed of the same as if appealed to such court under the provisions of section thirty-two of the said act: Provided, That upon the final determination of cases within the jurisdiction of said citizenship court said court may fix reasonable compensation to the attorneys employed by contract dated January seventeenth, nineteen hundred and one, with the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, and such determinations shall be made irrespective of the rate fixed in said contract between said attorneys and said nations, or either of them, unless the same shall have received the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. And upon the final determination of said cases by said citizenship court the Treasurer of the United States is hereby directed to pay to said attorneys on the warrant or warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Interior the amount of such compensation out of any funds in the Treasury belonging to said nations. And the existence of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court is hereby extended until December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and four.

To pay all expenses incident to the survey, platting, and appraisement of town sites in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations, Indian Territory, as required by sections fifteen and twenty-nine of an act entitled "An act for the protection of the people of the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and all acts amendatory thereof or supplemental thereto, twenty-five thousand dollars: Provided, That the money hereby appropriated shall be applied only to the expenses incident to the survey, platting, and appraisement of town sites heretofore set aside and reserved from allotment: And provided further, That nothing herein contained shall prevent the survey and platting, at their own expense, of town sites by private parties where stations are located along the lines of railroads, nor the unrestricted alienation of lands for such purposes, when recommended by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. That hereafter the Secretary of the Interior may, whenever the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations fails or refuses to appoint a town-site commissioner for any town, or to fill any vacancy caused by the neglect or refusal of the town-site commissioner appointed by the chief executive of the Choctaw or Chickasaw nations to qualify or act, in his discretion, appoint a commissioner to fill the vacancy thus created.

That the sum of twenty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as is necessary, is hereby appropriated, to be immediately available, for the purpose of aiding indigent and identified full-blood Mississippi Choctaws to remove to the Indian Territory, to be expended at the discretion and under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 8. That the tribal government of the Seminole Nation shall not continue longer than March fourth, nineteen hundred and six: Provided, That the Sec

retary of the Interior shall at the proper time furnish the principal chief with blank deeds necessary for all conveyances mentioned in the agreement with the Seminole Nation contained in the act of July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight (Thirtieth Statutes, page five hundred and sixty-seven), and said principal chief shall execute and deliver said deeds to the Indian allottees as required by said act, and the deeds for allotment, when duly executed and approved, shall be recorded in the office of the Dawes Commission prior to delivery and without expense to the allottee until further legislation by Congress, and such records shall have like effect as other public records: Provided further, That the homestead referred to in said act shall be inalienable during the lifetime of the allottee, not exceeding twenty-one years from the date of the deed for the allotment. A separate deed shall be issued for said homestead, and during the time the same iş held by the allottee it shall not be liable for any debt contracted by the owner thereof.

[Act of April 21, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 189).]

AN ACT Making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and five, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department, and in full compensation for all offices the salaries for which are specially provided for herein, for the service of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and five, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, namely:

To pay such contingent expenses of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court and such of its officers as the Secretary of the Interior may deem proper, and for rental of quarters, five thousand dollars, to be immediately available. And the unexpended balance of the appropriation for contingent expenses, as provided in the act of July first, nineteen hundred and two, of five thousand dollars remaining on the books of the Interior Department December thirtyfirst, nineteen hundred and three, amounting to one thousand one hundred and thirty-six dollars and twenty-five cents, to the credit of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court, is hereby reappropriated for the necessary expenses of the said court until December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and four. For one stenographer to each of the three judges of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court, appointed by them, respectively, at one hundred dollars per month each from March third to June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and three, one thousand one hundred and eighty dollars and sixty-five cents; for traveling expenses and subsistence of said stenographers, the reporter, and the bailiff of said court, not to exceed three dollars per day each, one thousand five hundred dollars; in all, two thousand six hundred and eighty dollars and sixtyfive cents, to be immediately available.

For salaries of four commissioners appointed under acts of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, to negotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, twenty thousand dollars, and said Commission shall conclude its work and terminate on or before the first day of July, nineteen hundred and five, and said Commission shall cease to exist on July first, nineteen hundred and five: Provided, That said Commission shall exercise all the powers heretofore conferred upon it by Congress: And provided further, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby granted authority to sell at public sale in tracts not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one purchaser, under rules and regulations to be made by the Secretary of the Interior, the residue of land in the Creek Nation belonging to the Creek tribe of Indians, consisting of about five hundred thousand acres, and being the residue of lands left over after allotments of one hundred and sixty acres to each of said tribe. And all the restrictions upon the alienation of lands of all allottees of either of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians who are not of Indian blood, except minors, are, except as to homesteads, hereby removed, and all restrictions upon

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the alienation of all other allottees of said tribes, except minors, and except as to homesteads, may, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, be removed under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, upon application to the United States Indian agent at the Union Agency in charge of the Five Civilized Tribes, if said agent is satisfied upon a full investigation of each individual case that such removal of restrictions is for the best interest of said allottee. The finding of the United States Indian agent and the approval of the Secretary of the Interior shall be in writing and shall be recorded in the same manner as patents for lands are recorded.

Expenses of Commissioners and necessary expenses of employees; for clerical help, including secretary of the Commission and interpreters, two hundred and forty-two thousand two hundred and ninety-five dollars; contingent expenses of the Commission, three thousand dollars: Provided further, That this appropriation may be used by said Commission in the prosecution of all work to be done by or under its direction as required by law; in all, two hundred and sixty-five thousand two hundred and ninety-five dollars.

That no proceedings heretofore had with respect to allotments in the Cherokee Nation shall be held invalid on the ground that they were had before there was authority to begin the work of allotment in said nation: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed as validating any filings heretofore made on lands segregated for the Delaware Indians.

To complete the town-site appraisement and surveys in the Indian Territory under the provisions of the act of June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, twenty-five thousand dollars: Provided, That said work shall be completed on or before July first, nineteen hundred and five.

To carry out the provisions of section ten of the supplemental agreements with the Creek Nation, as ratified by the act of June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and two, and section thirty-seven of the Cherokee agreements as ratified by the act of July first, nineteen hundred and two, ten thousand dollars.

For the purpose of placing allottees in the Indian Territory in possession of their allotments, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, thirty thousand dollars: Provided, That no portion of the money herein appropriated for the Indian Territory shall be paid to any person in the service of the United States until such person shall make oath that he has no financial interest with any person or corporation dealing in Indian lands in the Indian Territory.

That the Delaware-Cherokee citizens who have made improvements, or are in rightful possession of such improvements, in the Cherokee Nation at the time of the passage of this act shall have the right to first select from said improved lands their allotments, and thereafter, for a period of six months, shall have the right to sell the improvements upon their surplus holdings of lands to other citizens of the Cherokee Nation entitled to select allotments at a valuation to be approved by an official to be designated by the President for that purpose; and the vendor shall have a lien upon the rents and profits of the land on which the improvements are located for the purchase money remaining unpaid; and the vendor shall have the right to enforce such lien in any court of competent jurisdiction. The vendor may, however, elect to take and retain the possession of the land at a fair cash rental, to be approved by the official so as aforesaid designated, until such rental shall be sufficient to satisfy the unpaid purchase price, and when the purchase price is fully paid he shall forthwith deliver possession of the land to the purchaser: Provided, however, That any crops then growing on the land shall be and remain the property of the vendor, and he may have access to the land so long as may be necessary to cultivate and gather such growing crops. Any such purchaser shall, without unreasonable delay, apply to select as an allotment the land upon which the improvements purchased by him. are located, and shall submit with his application satisfactory proof that he has in good faith purchased such improvements.

That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed, upon the sale of lands in Indian Territory covered by coal and asphalt leases, to sell such lands subject to the right of the lessee to use so much of the surface as may be needed for coke ovens, miners' houses, store and supply buildings, and such other structures as are generally used in the production and shipment of coal and coke. Lessees may use the tipples and underground workings located on any lease in the production of coal and coke from adjoining leases, and are hereby authorized to surrender leased premises to the owner thereof on giving sixty days' notice in writing to such owner and paying all

t

charges and royalties due to the date of surrender: Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall release the lessee from the payment of the stipulated royalty so long as such lessee remains in possession of any of the surface of the lands included in his lease for any purpose whatever: And provided. That any lessee may remove or dispose of any machinery, tools, or equipment the lessee may have upon the leased lands.

That the act entitled "An act to refer to the Court of Claims certain claims of the Shawnee and Delaware Indians and the freedmen of the Cherokee Nation, and for other purposes," approved October first, eighteen hundred and ninety, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to confer upon the Court of Claims the same jurisdiction to determine the claims and rights of those alleged citizens of the Cherokee Nation known as intermarried whites as is therein conferred upon said court relative to the rights and claims of the Shawnee and Delaware Indians and the freedmen of said Cherokee Nation, and said case shall be advanced on the calendar of said Court of Claims and the calendar of the Supreme Court, if the same is appealed. Said court in said judgment shall fix the amount due the attorney or attorneys of record for their legal services, not exceeding the amount stipulated by the contracts between sald claimants and said attorneys, and shall in said judgment direct that the accounting officers of the United States shall deduct from the amount due each claimant the attorney fee allowed in said judgment and pay the same directly to said attorneys and shall pay the balance to the claimants.

That the claim of J. Hale Sypher against the Choctaw Nation, for legal and professional services rendered by him to said nation, under an agreement made and entered into between the legally authorized commissioners of said nation and said Sypher on the seventh day of November, eighteen hundred and ninetyone, is hereby referred to the Court of Claims for adjudication; and jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon said court to hear and determine said claim upon the principles of a quantum meruit and without regard to the provisions and requirements of section twenty-one hundred and three of the Revised Statutes; and the said court shall ascertain and determine the character, extent, and value of the services rendered by said Sypher to said nation under said agreement; and the court, having ascertained and determined the amount justly and equitably due and payable from said nation to said Sypher for services rendered by him under said agreement, shall report their findings to the next session of Congress.

All unleased lands which are by section fifty-nine of an act entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians, and for other purposes," approved July first, nineteen hundred and two, directed to "be sold at public auction for cash," and all other unleased lands and deposits of like character in said nations segregated under any act of Congress, shall, instead, be sold under direction of the Secretary of the Interior in tracts not exceeding nine hundred and sixty acres to each person, after due advertisement, upon sealed proposals, under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior and approved by the President, with authority to reject any or all proposals: Provided, That the President shall appoint a commission of three persons, one on the recommendation of the principal chief of the Choctaw Nation, who shall be a Choctaw by blood, and one upon the recommendation of the governor of the Chickasaw Nation, who shall be a Chickasaw by blood, which commission shall have a right to be present at the time of the opening of bids and be heard in relation to the acceptance or rejection thereof. All expenses, inclusive of necessary clerical help in the Department of the Interior, connected with and incident to such sale shall be paid from the funds of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes on deposit in the Treasury of the United States: Provided, That all leased lands shall be withheld from sale until the further direction of Congress.

[Act of April 28, 1904 (33 Stat. L., 573).]

AN ACT To provide for additional United States judges in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, four additional judges of the United States court in the Indian Territory, one for the northern district, one for the western district, one for the central district, and one for the