such restricted minors or restricted adults under legal disability have legal guardians or curators payment may, in the discretion of the officer in charge of the payment, be made to such legal guardians or curators upon satisfactory evidence being furnished the officer in charge of the payment of the appointment, sufficient bond, and good standing of said guardians or curators, and provided such payment will, in the opinion of the United States probate attorney or field clerk, be for the best interests of such restricted minors or such restricted adults under legal disability.

9. Where a payment is made to a legal guardian, original letters of guardianship will not be required, but a certificate of the probate court, bearing the approval of a United States probate attorney, showing the person executing the guardian's certificate to be the duly appointed, qualified, and acting guardian of the minor to whom said payment is due, and that he has furnished good and sufficient bond, will be accepted and filed with the account.

10. The act of Congress, above quoted, provides for payments to "lawful heirs" of deceased members, and no payments will be made to administrators or executors; but where payments are due any person or persons as the heir or heirs of a deceased member of any of said tribes, such payments shall be made to the heirs by official check to their order, or withheld for their benefit, wholly or in part, according to the respective classes to which they belong, subject to the same regulations as are prescribed above, relative to payments due persons in their own right.

11. Before payment is made to the heirs of any deceased person, proof of death and heirship, satisfactory to the officers in charge of the payment, must be made, and the finding of such officers upon such proof shall be final and conclusive for all purposes of these payments.

12. The heirs of enrolled deceased persons entitled to payments hereunder shall be determined in all cases in accordance with the provisions contained in the agreements with their respective Indian tribes concerning the distribution of tribal funds to the heirs of deceased enrolled citizens who died prior to the receipt of their allotment or share of said tribal funds.

13. All suspended or withheld payments or parts thereof shall be held in the Treasury of the United States subject to proper requisition or in the hands of the special disbursing agent or such other officer as the Secretary of the Interior may designate to have the custody of the same, such suspended or withheld payments, wholly or in part, to be disbursed at such times and in such amounts as the best interest of the persons to whom such suspended or withheld payments are due may demand and in accordance with these regulations.

14. The superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes will prepare a schedule showing all persons entitled to share in this per capita distribution, two copies of which schedule shall be forwarded to the Indian Office for use in examining and auditing the accounts of the special disbursing agent, showing claims paid thereunder. It will not be necessary for the special disbursing agent to submit a complete roll of all entitled to share in these payments with his accounts at the end of each quarter. The special disbursing agent will at the end of each quarter submit a schedule or voucher covering only the claims actually paid during the quarter and will continue said disbursements

under these regulations until all claims are paid or until further orders of the department.

15. No arrangement shall be recognized or information furnished in the interest of any merchant, trader, or other creditor, nor shall their representative or collector be allowed in the offices where the payments are being made.

16. Powers of attorney will not be recognized, nor will any order given by an Indian to another person for his share of the payment be honored.

17. These payments shall be made by check and forwarded by registered mail to the person entitled to receive the same, and there shall be noted on envelopes containing checks a notice to postmasters requesting delivery only to the party addressed, and return receipt shall be required, except that checks not exceeding the sum of $20 may be forwarded by mail without registering: Provided, however, That checks may be delivered in person by probate attorneys or other employees of the Indian Service when deemed advisable by the officers in charge of the payment.

18. All things necessary to making the payments referred to above, not otherwise specifically provided for in these regulations, shall be done under the authority and supervision of the superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes or such other officer as may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior.

19. For the purpose of these payments these regulations shall be held to supersede all other existing rules and regulations.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SECTION 245, CRIMINAL CODE.

LETTER

FROM

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL,

TRANSMITTING

COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY AT NEW YORK CITY, CALLING ATTENTION TO THE NEED OF AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 245 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND SUBMITTING A TENTATIVE DRAFT OF SUCH AMENDMENT.

JUNE 30, 1916.-Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be

printed.

Hon. CHAMP CLARK,

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Washington, D. C., June 28, 1916.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. CONGRESSMAN: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a letter and its inclosures received from the United States attorney at New York City, calling attention to the need for an amendment of section 245 of the Criminal Code of the United States. A draft of the proposed amendment is inclosed. Will you kindly have the matter placed in line for enactment into law? Respectfully,

T. W. GREGORY,
Attorney General.

The ATTORNEY GENERAL,

Washington, D. C.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE,

New York, June 24, 1916.

SIR: In a case recently prosecuted in this district under section 245 of the United States Criminal Code, prohibiting the shipment of obscene matter by common carriers, it was held that this section was not sufficiently broad to apply to obscene and indecent

HD-64-1-vol 145-27

bis que figures that had been sent through interstate commerce by express. Section 211 of the code covers the same subject matter so far as the mails are concerned, but is broader in that it contains the additional words "any thing or article of indecent character." I believe section 245 was intended to cover such articles, and I accordingly recommend that this matter be brought to the attention of Congress with a view to amending the section so as to cover such cases as the one instituted here.

I inclose draft of an amendment which I believe covers the situation. The new matter is indicated by italics.

Respectfully,

H. SNOWDEN MARSHALL,
United States Attorney.

A BILL To amend chapter nine, section two hundred and forty-five, of the Criminal Code. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That chapter nine, section two hundred and forty-five, of the Criminal Code be amended to read as follows:

"Whoever shall bring or cause to be brought into the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, from any foreign country, or shall therein knowingly deposit or cause to be deposited with any express company or other common carrier, for carriage from one State, Territory, or District of the United States, or place noncontiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, to any other State, Territory, or District of the United States, or place noncontiguous to but subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or from any place in or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States through a foreign country to any place in or subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or from any place in or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to a foreign country, any obscene, lewd, or lascivious, or any filthy book, pamphlet, picture, paper, letter, writing, print, image, statue, figure, emblem, symbol, or any other matter, thing, or article of indecent character, or any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or intended for preventing conception, or producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use, or any written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, how, or of whom, or by what means any of the hereinbefore-mentioned articles, matters, or things may be obtained or made; or whoever shall knowingly take or cause to be taken from such express company or other common carrier any matter or thing the depositing of which for carriage is herein made unlawful, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."