Indian Appropriations Act of 1893

An act making appropriations for current and contingent expenses, and fulfilling treaty stipulations with Indian tribes, for fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four.

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 for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and fulfilling treaty stipulations with the various Indian tribes . . . 

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may devolve the duties of any Indian agency upon the superintendent of the Indian training school located at such agency, whenever in his judgment such superintendent can properly perform the duties of such agency. . . . 

That for the amount necessary to pay for the removal and subsistence of those members of the Eastern band of Cherokees who have removed themselves, as well as those who may now or hereafter desire to remove to the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory, at the rate of fifty-three dollars and thirty-three cents per head, being the amount specified in the eighth article of the Cherokee treaty of December twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and thirty-five, and the act of Congress approved July twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, twenty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior.

Aiding Indian allottees under act of February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, reimbursable: This amount to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior in aiding Indians who have taken land in severalty under the act of February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled "An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes," to establish themselves in homes thereon, to procure seed, farming implements, and other things necessary, in addition to means already provided by law or treaty, for the commencement of farming, fifteen thousand dollars.

Allotments under act of February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, reimbursable: To enable the President to cause, under the provisions of the act of February eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, entitled, "An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians," such Indian reservations as in his judgment are advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes to be surveyed, or resurveyed, for the purposes of said act, and to complete the allotment of the same, including the necessary clerical work incident thereto, in the field and in the Office of Indian Affairs, and delivery of trust patents, so far as allotments shall have been selected under said act, forty thousand dollars. . . . 

Pay of Indian police: For the service of not exceeding eight hundred and fifty privates, at ten dollars s per month each, and not exceeding seventy-five officers, at fifteen dollars per month each, of Indian police, to be employed in maintaining order and prohibiting illegal traffic in liquor on the several Indian reservations and within the Territory of Alaska, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior, and for the purchase of equipments and rations for policemen of nonration agencies, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Pay of Judges, Indian courts: For compensation of judges of Indian courts, twelve thousand five hundred and forty dollars. . . . 

Sec. 15. The consent of the United States is hereby given to the allotment of lands in severalty not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one individual within the limits of the country occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles; and upon such allotments the individuals to whom the same may be allotted shall be deemed to be in all respects citizens of the United States. And the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated to pay for the survey of any such lands as may be allotted by any of said tribes of Indians to individual members of said tribes; and upon the allotment of the lands held by said tribes respectively the reversionary interest of the United States therein shall be relinquished and shall cease.

Sec. 16. The President shall nominate and, by with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint three commissioners to enter into negotiations with the Cherokee Nation the Choctaw Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Muscogee (or Creek) Nation; the Seminole Nation, for the purpose of the extinguishment of the national or tribal title to any lands within that Territory now held by any and all of such nations or tribes, respectively, as may be entitled to the same, or by such other method as may be agreed upon between the several nations and tribes aforesaid, or each of them, with the United States, with a view to such and adjustment, upon the basis of justice and equity, as may, with the consent of such nations or tribes of Indians, so far as play be necessary, be requisite and suitable to enable the ultimate creation of a State or States of the Union which shall embrace the lands within said Indian Territory.

The commissioners so appointed shall each receive a salary, to be paid during such time as they may be actually employed, under direction of the President, in the duties enjoined by this act, at the rate of five thousand dollars per annum, and shall also be paid their reasonable and proper expenses incurred in prosecution of the objects of this act, upon accounts therefor to be rendered to and allowed by the Secretary of the Interior from time to time. That such commissioners shall have power to employ a secretary, a stenographer, and such interpreter or interpreters as may be found necessary to the performance of their duties, and by order to fix their compensation, which shall be paid, upon the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from time to time, with their reasonable and necessary expenses, upon accounts to be rendered as aforesaid; and may also employ, in like manner and with the like approval, a surveyor or other assistant or agent, which they shall certify in writing to be necessary to the performance of any part of their duties.

Such commissioners shall, under such regulations and directions as shall be prescribed by the President, through the Secretary of the Interior, enter upon negotiation with the several nations, of Indians as aforesaid in the Indian Territory, and shall endeavor to procure, first, such allotment of lands in severalty to the Indians belonging to each such nation, tribe, or band, respectively, as may be agreed upon as just and proper to provide for each such Indian a sufficient quantity of land for his or her needs, in such equal distribution and apportionment as may be found just and suited to the circumstances; for which purpose, after the terms of such as agreement shall have been arrived at, the said commissioners shall cause the lands of any such nation or tribe or band to be surveyed and the proper allotment to be designated; and, secondly, to procure the cession, for such price and upon such terms as shall be agreed upon, of any lands not found necessary to be so allotted or divided, to the United States; and to make proper agreements for the investment or holding by the United States of such moneys as may be paid or agreed to be paid to such nation or tribes or bands, or to any of the Indians thereof, for the extinguishment of their therein. But said commissioners shall, however, have power to negotiate any and all such agreements as, in view of all the circumstances affecting the subject, shall be found requisite and suitable to such an arrangement of the rights and interests and affairs of such nations, tribes, bands, or Indians, or any of them, to enable the ultimate creation of a Territory of the United States with a view to the admission of the same as a state in the Union.

The commissioners shall at any time, or from time to time, report to the Secretary of the Interior their transactions and the progress of their negotiations, and shall at any time, or from time to time, if separate agreements shall be made by them with any nation, tribe or band, in pursuance of the authority hereby conferred, report the same to the Secretary of the Interior for submission to Congress for its consideration and ratification.

For the purposes aforesaid there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States, the sum of fifty thousand dollars, to be immediately available.

Neither the provisions of this section nor the negotiations or agreements which may be had or made thereunder shall be held in any way to waive or impair any right of sovereignty which the Government of the United States has over or respecting said Indian Territory or the people thereof, or any other right of the Government relating to said Territory, its lands, or the people thereof.

Approved, March 3, 1893.