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62D CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 2d Session.

INTAKE TOWER, MISSISSIPPI RIVER, ST. LOUIS, MO.

MAY 14, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. HAMLIN, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 22999.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 22999) providing for the construction and maintenance by the city of St. Louis, Mo., of an intake tower in the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Mo., having considered the same, report thereon with amendment, and as so amended recommend that pass.

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The bill as amended has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the indorsements attached and which are made a part of this report.

Amend the bill as follows:

Add a new section, as follows:

SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this act is hereby expressly reserved.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,

Washington, April 19, 1912.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War with recommendation that the accompanying bill (H. R. 22999, 62d Cong., 2d sess.) providing for the construction and maintenance by the city of St. Louis, Mo., of an intake tower in the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Mo., be amended as indicated in red thereon.

As thus amended I know of no objection to the favorable consideration of the bill by Congress so far as the interests of navigation are concerned.

It is deemed proper to say, however, that the enactment of the measure is apparently unnecessary, as the privilege can be granted by the War Department in pursuance of the provisions of section 10 of the act of March 3, 1899.

W. H. BIXBY,

Chief of Engineers, United States Ármy.

(Third indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, April 23, 1912. Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, inviting attention to the foregoing report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, and to the accompanying copy of amended bill referred to.

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ROBERT SHAW OLIVER,
Assistant Secretary of War.

62D CONGRESS, 2d Session.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. {983.

REPORT
No. 703.

BRIDGE ACROSS RED RIVER OF THE NORTH, OSLO, MARSHALL COUNTY, MINN.

MAY 14, 1912.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. STEVENS of Minnesota, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 23634.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 23634) to authorize the village of Oslo, in the county of Marshall, in the State of Minnesota, to construct a bridge across the Red River of the North, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the War Department, as will appear by the indorsements attached and which are made a part of this report.

Second indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, May 4, 1912.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War. The accompanying bill (H. R. 23634, 62d Cong., 2d sess.) authorizing the construction of a bridge across the Red River of the North at Oslo, county of Marshall, Minn., is in the usual form and makes ample provision for the protection of navigation interests. So far as those interests are concerned I know of no objection to its favorable consideration by Congress.

W. H. BIXBY, Chief of Engineers, United States Ármy.

Third indorsement.

WAR DEPARTMENT, May 6, 1912.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, inviting attention to the foregoing report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army.

ROBERT SHAW OLIVER,
Assistant Secretary of War.

2d Session.

No. 704.

SALE AND ENTRY OF CERTAIN LANDS IN OKLAHOMA.

MAY 14, 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 H. R. 22647.]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 22647) providing for the sale and entry of certain lands in the State of Oklahoma, and for other purposes, having duly considered the same, recommend that it be amended, and that as amended the bill do pass.

Amend as follows: After the word "and," page 2, line 3, insert the words "the proceeds thereof."

The act of June 17, 1910, referred to in this bill and a letter from the Secretary of the Interior relative thereto are herewith attached and made a part of this report.

It will be observed that the Secretary of the Interior in his letter stated that the department had no objection to the passage of the bill if the same shall be amended as indicated in said letter. The committee, after full consideration, decided not to carry out the recommendation made by the department.

One of the provisions in the amendment suggested by the Secretary of the Interior is to the effect that "the proceeds thereof shall be available for expenditure for the benefit of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians for their schooling or education, or for the maintenance and improvement of any schools established for them."

The committee is of the opinion that it is better policy to place the funds or proceeds from the sale of these lands and of similar lands in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Indians, to be disposed of as Congress may from time to time provide.

The amendment suggested by the department also provides that these lands "shall not be so disposed of until the Secretary of the Interior, in the exercise of his judgment and discretion, shall determine that said lands are no longer required for school, agency, or other purposes."

There are about 3,800 acres of land included in the Cantonment Indian School Reservation. The bill provides for the disposal of 3,000 acres of this land, leaving 800 acres for the use of the school. The letter of the Secretary of the Interior shows that the Government boarding school had an enrollment of 63 during the past year. This is a very small Indian school, and the committee believes that more than 800 acres of land is not needed for school purposes or for the benefit of the Indians. The committee believes it unwise to maintain large areas of land around these Indian schools.

To the letter of the Secretary of the Interior is also attached a letter, signed by the Indians, opposing the disposal of these lands, but the Indians have been misled relative to the land. This is shown in the closing sentence in the petition, which reads as follows: "We understand that when this reserved land is no longer needed for school and agency purposes, the land reverts to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians." From this statement it appears that the Indians, as well as the superintendent of the school, believe that these lands belong to the Indians. Such, however, is not the case. This is shown by the letter of the Secretary of the Interior, which says "that the territory within which the Cantonment lands are included was ceded to the United States by act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 989, 1022), and payment in full therefor was made to the Indians by the United States." In other words, the Indians have ceded all right, title, and interest in these lands. The land belongs entirely and exclusively to the United States and the Indians have no title or claim thereto.

Under all the circumstances and facts the committee believes that the bill (H. R. 22647) should be passed after being amended as heretofore indicated.

Hon. JOHN H. STEPHENS,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, May 2, 1912.

Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives. SIR: In further reference to your request of April 1, 1912, inclosing a copy of H. R. 22647 and asking for a report thereon, I have the honor to say that as you were advised under date of April 8 a full report has been withheld pending receipt of certain information from the superintendent of the Cantonment Indian School, Oklahoma. The proposed bill contemplates that certain parcels specifically described and which are within the lands reserved for the Cantonment Indian School and subagency on the former Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation be opened to entry and settlement and disposed of under the provisions of the act of June 17, 1910 (36 Stat. L., 533). The act last cited provides for a similar disposition of certain particularly described parcels within the former Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation which have been reserved for school or agency purposes, and provides further for the disposition of any other tract or tracts of land in this reservation which heretofore may have been reserved for agency or school purposes and which, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Interior, are no longer needed or necessary for the purpose for which said tract or tracts were originally reserved. The act of June 17, 1910, also provides that the money arising from the sale of said lands shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States and placed to the credit of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Indians, and said deposit of money shall draw 3 per cent per annum; and the principal and interest of said deposit shall be expended for the benefit of the said Indians in such manner as Congress may direct.

Such provision would afford authority for the department to open to settlement the lands described in the bill now presented when occasion for such course should arise. Similar language covering lands not specifically described is also incorporated in the bill now presented.

It is noted also that the territory within which the cantonment lands are included was ceded to the United States by act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. L., 989, 1022). and

payment in full therefor was made to the Indians by the United States. Thereafter the reserves mentioned in this bill were so set aside by the department on a schedule of allotments, approved April 12, 1892. Therefore it is not apparent why any money now to be derived from the sale or opening thereof should be deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the Indians rather than to be made available for reexpenditure for school purposes. This consideration is suggested for the reason that the department would prefer that when surplus school land shall be no longer needed for the purposes for which it was originally reserved, such land, with the buildings thereon, may be sold in the open market to the highest bidder and the proceeds made available for the use of other Indian schools.

The Indian Office has received from the superintendent of the cantonment school a report, from which and from other information in the Indian Office it appears that the lands described have been and are now being used for school and agency purposes. The superintendent says he knows of no reason for selling any part of the reservation at this time unless it should be decided to discontinue the cantonment agency and school. Within this jurisdiction there were during the fiscal year 1910, 243 Indians of the Arapaho Tribe and 513 of the Cheyenne. Of this population there are approximately 175 children, the majority of whom require educational advantages perhaps even more than those of many other Indian tribes, for the reason that these Indians have proven somewhat less progressive. The Government boarding school, with a capacity for 90 pupils, has had an enrollment of 63 during the past year. Thirty-six have been enrolled in public schools and 25 in nonreservation schools. Difficulty has been found, however, in enforcing regular attendance in the boarding and public schools. The Arapahoes, and more especially the Cheyenne Indians, have proven unprogressive and have not yet responded as we could wish to our efforts in their behalf.

I inclose herewith a copy of a petition which the Indian Office has received from Indians of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and which expresses their position in regard to the disposition of the school lands.

In view of the conditions thus briefly outlined the Indian service believes that it will be necessary to continue the Government school and agency, and it is at least probable that there will be occasion for the school and for the continuance of the work at this jurisdiction, either under the present or some other method of administration, for several years to come, and until the department is prepared to say that it will be wise to abandon the school work and is assured the lands described will not be required for school or agency purposes it would not feel justified in recommending passage of the bill in its present form.

Although, as before mentioned, it would appear that the act of June 17, 1910, confers sufficient authority upon the department to open to entry the lands in question when they shall be no longer required, yet if the bill may be amended in such manner as to enable the Secretary to sell the lands and devote the proceeds to a proper purpose when in the future occasion for such action shall fully appear it would have no objection to its passage as so amended.

In order to reach this result, I would recommend that the bill be amended by striking out all after the word "purposes," in the thirteenth line on the first page, and inserting in lieu thereof:

"and which are no longer necessary for school or agency purposes, may be opened to entry and settlement and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the act approved June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and ten, entitled 'An act to open to settlement and entry under the general provisions of the homestead laws of the United States certain lands in the State of Oklahoma, and for other purposes,' or, in his discretion, may be sold by the Secretary of the Interior, under such rules and procedure as he may prescribe, and the proceeds thereof shall be available for expenditure for the benefit of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians for their schooling or education, or for the maintenance and improvement of any schools established for them: Provided, That the lands described, or any part thereof, shall not be so disposed of until the Secretary of the Interior, in the exercise of his judgment and discretion, shall determine that said lands are no longer required for school, agency, or other purposes. With this amendment the department will have no objection to the passage of the bill submitted.

Respectfully,

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SAMUEL ADAMS, First Assistant Secretary.

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