Indian Appropriation Bill

Indian Appropriation Bill.

April 1, 1902 –– Ordered to be printed.

Mr. Stewart, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, submitted the following report.

[To accompany H. R. 11353.]

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 11353) making appropriation 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 30, 1903, and for other purposes, beg to report that hearings were given to all persons interested in special provisions proposed in the bill: that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs was present at nearly all the meetings and that after careful consideration of all matters involved it reports the bill back with sundry amendments and recommends its passage.

The bill as it passed the House of Representatives carried appropriations aggregating $8,441,505.69. Your committee has added thereto $973,834.19 . . .

Dawes Commission.

Your committee has amended the laws relating to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes by providing that the decisions of said Commission heretofore rendered shall be final as to all matters of appraisement and allotment of lands, unless disapproved by the Secretary of the Interior within sixty days from the passage of this act, or within thirty days from the date of decisions hereafter rendered, and the decisions of said Commissioners determining the right of citizenship in any of the Five Civilized Tribes heretofore rendered shall be final, provided that the Secretary of the Interior shall have power at any time within passage of this act to review any such cases which in his opinion have not been correctly decided, and all decisions hereafter rendered by said Commissioners determining the right of citizenship in any of the said tribes shall be final, unless as appeal therefrom to the Secretary of the Interior shall be taken within thirty days from the rendition thereof. . . .