is made, and the time within which the removal shall be perfected, in so far as it refers to or is regulated by the terms of the United States courts, shall be deemed to refer to the terms of the United States courts held in said division of said judicial district. Court room to SEC. 8. That each of said courts held at Fresno shall be held in a building to be provided for that purpose by the county or municipal be furnished at authorities and without expense to the United States. Fresno. SEC. 9. That except when court is in session, and a judge present, Clerk's office at the clerk's office of the said courts may be at Los Angeles, where all Los Angeles. records for said courts may be kept, and all duties performed; but Deputy at Fresshould, in the judgment of the district judge and the clerk, the busi- no. ness of said courts hereafter warrant the employment of a deputy clerk at Fresno, California, a deputy clerk may be appointed to reside and keep his office at Fresno. SEC. 10. That this Act shall be in force from and after the thirtieth day of June, anno Domini nineteen hundred, and all Acts and parts of Acts so far as inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. [May 29, 1900.] Effect. May 31, 1900. 31 Stat. L., 221. CHAP. 598.—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 one, and for other purposes. Be it enacted, &c., * * [Par. 1.] (1) That whenever it shall be made to appear to the Secretary of the Interior that, by reason of age, of disabled allotdisability, or inability, any allottee of Indian lands can not personally, tee, and with benefit to himself, occupy or improve his allotment or any part thereof, the same may be leased upon such terms, regulations, and conditions as shall be prescribed by the Secretary for a term not exceeding five years, for farming purposes only. * Commission to Tribes. [Par. 2.] (2) For salaries of four commissioners, appointed under Acts of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety- Five Civilized NOTES. (1) Similar provisions in somewhat different form occur in prior appropriation acts. See 1894, August 15, ch. 290, par. 5; 1895, March 2, ch. 188, par. 5, and 1897, June 7, ch. 3, par. 7 (2 Supp. R. S., 246, 428, 631). 1887, February 8, ch. 119 (1 Supp. R. S., 534), provides for the allotment of land in severalty to Indians on the various reservations. 1891, February 28, ch. 383 (1 Supp. R. S., 897), amends that act in several particulars. 1894, August 15, ch. 290, par. 7 (2 Supp. R. S., 246), provides that the acceptance of lands in severalty shall not exclude the children of the allottees from the educational benefits of the several Indian appropriation acts. 1898, June 28, ch. 517, §§ 11, 12, 29 (2 Supp. R. S., 816, 817, 825), provides for allotments in severalty of lands of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory. 1901, February 6, ch. 217, post, p. 1478, provides a mode by suit in behalf of any Indian who claims to be unlawfully denied or excluded from allotment in severalty. 1901, March 3, ch. 832, § 3, post, p. 1538, provides that lands allotted in severalty may be condemned for public purposes under the laws of any State or Territory. (2) For the legislation originally organizing the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory and defining its duties, see 1896, June 10, ch. 398, par. 5, and note (3) thereto (2 Supp. R. S., 513). 1897, June 7, ch. 3, par. 6, makes further provision for the exercise of the authority of the commission, particularly with reference to the rules of citizenship. 1898, June 28, ch. 517 (2 Supp. R. S., 814), contains important provisions relative to the duties and powers of the commission. 1898, July 1, ch. 545, par. 2 (2 Supp. R. S., 873), provides for appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States in cases involving citizenship. The decision of the Supreme Court on these appeals sustaining the constitutionality and validity of all legislation affecting citizenship and allotment of land in the Indian Territory will be found in 174 U. S., 445. 1899, March 1, ch. 324, pars. 4, 5 (2 Supp. R. S., 953, 954), fixes the number of commissioners at four, and authorizes it to continue to exercise all authority previously conferred. 1901, March 3, ch. 832, par. 3, post, p. 1536, repeats some of the prior provisions relative to the commission, and also requires an annual statement of expenditures to be rendered by the commission to the Secrerary of the Interior. By 1901, March 3, ch. 868, post, p. 1811, amendatory of 1887, February 8, ch. 119, § 6 (1 Supp. R. S., 536), every Indian in the Indian Territory is declared to be a citizen of the United States. 1893, March 3, three, and March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, to nego ch. 209 (27 Stat. tiate with the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory, twenty L., 6451). thousand dollars: 1895, March 2, ch. 189 (28 Stat. L., Number of com missioners. Employees. Use of appropriation. Continuance of authority. No enrollment unless citizen. Mississippi Choctaws may settle in Choctaw Chickasaw country. --sale of their allotments void. tions. 939). Provided, That the number of said commissioners is hereby fixed at four. For expenses of commissioners and necessary expenses of employees, and three dollars per diem for expenses of a clerk detailed as special disbursing agent by Interior Department, while on duty with the commission, shall be paid therefrom; for clerical help, including secretary of the commission and interpreters, five hundred thousand dollars, to be immediately available; for contingent expenses of the commission, four thousand dollars; in all, five hundred and twenty-four 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 statute. That said commission shall continue to exercise all authority heretofore conferred on it by law. But it shall not receive, consider, or make any record of any application of any person for enrollment as a member of any tribe in Indian Territory who has not been a recognized citizen thereof, and duly and lawfully enrolled or admitted as such, and its refusal of such applications shall be final when approved by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That any Mississippi Choctaw duly identified as such by the United States Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes shall have the right, at any time prior to the approval of the final rolls of the Choctaws and Chickasaws by the Secretary of the Interior, to make settlement within the Choctaw-Chickasaw country, and on proof of the fact of bona fide settlement may be enrolled by the said United States Commission and by the Secretary of the Interior as Choctaws entitled to allotment: Provided further, That all contracts or agreements looking to the sale or incumbrance in any way of the lands to be allotted to said Mississippi Choctaws, shall be null and void. Surveys of town sites, Choctaw, To pay all expenses incident to the survey, platting, and appraiseChickasaw, Creek, ment of town sites in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee and Cherokee na- nations, Indian Territory, as required by sections fifteen and twentynine of an Act entitled "An Act for the protection of the people of 1898, June 28, the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved June twentych. 517, §§ 15, 29 (2 Supp. R. S.,819 eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, for the balance of the current year and for the year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and one, the same to be immediately available, sixty-seven thousand dollars, or so much as may be necessary: 821, 824). -plats of towns and villages. -competent surveyors. filed. lay Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him, to survey, out, and plat into town lots, streets, alleys, and parks, the sites of such towns and villages in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee nations, as may at that time have a population of two hundred or more, in such manner as will best subserve the then present needs and the reasonable prospective growth of such towns. The work of surveying, laying out, and platting such town sites shall be done by competent surveyors, who shall prepare five copies of the plat of each town site which, when the survey is approved by Plats, where the Secretary of the Interior, shall be filed as follows: One in the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, one with the principal chief of the nation, one with the clerk of the court within the territorial jurisdiction of which the town is located, one with the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and one with the town authorities, if there be such. Work of com Where in his judgment the best interests of the public service contract work. require, the Secretary of the Interior may secure the surveying, laying out, and platting of town sites in any of said nations by contract. Hereafter the work of the respective town-site commissions provided for in the agreement with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes ratified missions to begin on approval of surin section twenty-nine of the Act of June twenty-eighth, eighteen vev. hundred and ninety-eight, entitled "An Act for the protection of the 1898, June 28, people of the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," shall begin ch. 517, § 29 (2 as to any town site immediately upon the approval of the survey by Supp. R. S., 824). the Secretary of the Interior and not before. Creek and Cherokee town-site commissions. -how appoint The Secretary of the Interior may in his discretion appoint a townsite commission consisting of three members for each of the Creek and Cherokee nations, at least one of whom shall be a citizen of the tribe and shall be appointed upon the nomination of the principal chief of ed. the tribe. Each commission, under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall appraise and sell for the benefit of the tribe the town lots in the nation for which it is appointed, acting in conformity with the provisions of any then existing Act of Congress or agreement with the tribe approved by Congress. -duties. -valuation. ' for towns. The agreement of any two members of the commission as to the true value of any lot shall constitute a determination thereof, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and if no two members are able to agree the matter shall be determined by such Secretary. Where in his judgment the public interests will be thereby sub- Separate townserved, the Secretary of the Interior may appoint in the Choctaw, site commissions Chickasaw, Creek, or Cherokee Nation a separate town-site commission for any town, in which event as to that town such local commission may exercise the same authority and perform the same duties which would otherwise devolve upon the commission for that Nation. Every such local commission shall be appointed in the manner pro- -how appointvided in the Act approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and 1898, June 28, ninety-eight, entitled "An Act for the protection of the people of the ch. 517, § 15 (2 Indian Territory." The Secretary of the Interior, where in his judgment the public interests will be thereby subserved, may permit the authorities of any town in any of said nations, at the expense of the town, to survey, lay out, and plat the site thereof, subject to his supervision and approval, as in other instances. ed. Supp. R. S., 819, 820). Towns may make surveys. Appraisal and As soon as the plat of any town site is approved, the proper commission shall, with all reasonable dispatch and within a limited time, sale of lots. to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, proceed to make the appraisement of the lots and improvements, if any, thereon, and after the approval thereof by the Secretary of the Interior, shall, under the supervision of such Secretary, proceed to the disposition and sale of the lots in conformity with any then existing Act of Congress or agreement with the tribe approved by Congress, and if the proper commission shall not complete such appraisement Pay of delayed and sale within the time limited by the Secretary of the Interior, they commission. shall receive no pay for such additional time as may be taken by them, unless the Secretary of the Interior for good cause shown shall expressly direct otherwise. Removal of com The Secretary of the Interior may, for good cause, remove any member of any townsite commission, tribal or local, in any of said missioners. nations, and may fill the vacancy thereby made or any vacancy otherwise occurring in like manner as the place was originally filled. It shall not be required that the townsite limits established in the Corporate and course of the platting and disposing of town lots and the corporate town-site limits. limits of the town, if incorporated, shall be identical or coextensive, but such townsite limits and corporate limits shall be so established as SUP R S-VOL 2 62 -exterior limits, how fixed. Town-sites railroad stations. sale. survey and -compensation provements. to best subserve the then present needs and the reasonable prospective growth of the town, as the same shall appear at the times when such limits are respectively established: Provided further, That the exterior limits of all townsites shall be designated and fixed at the earliest practicable time under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Upon the recommendation of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized at any time before allotment to set aside and reserve from allotment any lands in the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, or Cherokee nations, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in any one tract, at such stations as are or shall be established in conformity with law on the line of any railroad which shall be constructed or be in process of construction in or through either of said nations prior to the allotment of the lands therein, and this irrespective of the population of such townsite at the time. Such townsites shall be surveyed, laid out, and platted, and the lands therein disposed of for the benefit of the tribe in the manner herein prescribed for other townsites: Provided further, That whenever any tract of land shall be set aside for occupants' im- as herein provided which is occupied by a member of the tribe, such occupant shall be fully compensated for his improvements thereon under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. Existing surveys unaffected. Nothing herein contained shall have the effect of avoiding any work heretofore done in pursuance of the said Act of June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, in the way of surveying, laying out, or platting the town sites, appraising or disposing of town lots in any of said nations, but the same, if not heretofore carried to a state of completion, may be completed according to the provisions hereof. [May 31, 1900.] * * May 31, 1900. 31 Stat. L., 249. Porto Rico and Hawaii. 1894, June 5, ch. 92 (2 Supp. R. S., 190). CHAP. 600.-An act to facilitate the entry of steamships engaged in the coasting trade between Porto Rico and the Territory of Hawaii and the United States. (1) Be it enacted, &c., That the provisions of the Act of June fifth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, entitled "An Act to facilitate the entry of steamships," are hereby extended to steamships engaged in trading between ports of Porto Rico and the Territory of Hawaii and those of the United States. [May 31, 1900.] NOTE. (1) The act referred to in the text provides for the preliminary entry of vessels engaged in foreign trade, and an estimate of the duties to be made by the collector jointly with the naval officer. See also note thereto. See also 182 U. S. 392. June 1, 1900. 31 Stat. L., 249. Iowa. CHAP. 601.-An act to create the southern division of the southern district of Iowa for judicial purposes, and to fix the time and place for holding court therein. (1) Be it enacted, &c., That the counties of Lucas, Clarke, Union, Adair, Southern judi- Adams, Fremont, Page, Taylor, Ringgold, Decatur, Wayne, and R. S., 88 531, Appanoose shall constitute the southern division of the southern judi cial district. 572, 658. cial district of Iowa; and a term of a circuit and district court for said southern divi- district shall be held in said division hereby created at Creston, in sion created. Union County, on the third Monday of May and the fourth Monday terms of court of September of each year. (1) at Creston. NOTE. (1) For a review of legislation affecting the courts and judicial districts of Iowa, see 1896, January 4, ch. 3 (2 Supp. R. S., 443), and note thereto. By 1901, January 14, ch. 13, § 1, post, p. 1455, the times for holding court at Creston are changed. Where suits to 1901, Jan. 14, ch. SEC. 2. That all civil suits which shall hereafter be brought against a defendant or defendants who reside in said southern division of said be brought. district shall be brought in said southern division; but if there are two 13, post, p. 1455. or more defendants residing in different divisions of said district, such suit may be brought in either division of said district in which any defendant or defendants reside; and all mesne and final process subject to the provisions of this Act issued in either of the divisions of the southern district of Iowa may be served and executed in either or all of the divisions. SEC. 3. That all crimes and offenses against the laws of the United States committed within the counties comprising the southern division of said district shall be prosecuted, tried, and determined at the terms of the circuit and district courts herein provided for: Process. Trial of offenses. Provided, however, That all prosecutions begun and pending at the -pending cases. taking effect of this Act shall be proceeded with and finally determined as if this Act had not passed. Deputy clerk and marshal at Cres ton. SEC. 4. That the clerk of the circuit and district courts for said southern district and the marshal of said district shall each appoint a deputy, who shall reside and maintain an office at Creston, in Union County: Provided, That the appointment of such deputy shall be approved -appointment. by the court for which they shall be respectively appointed, and they may be removed by such court at pleasure; and the clerk and marshal shall be responsible for the official acts and neglects of all their deputies. SEC. 5. That all the grand jurors and all jurors for the trial of civil and criminal causes in the division hereby created shall be selected from citizens residing in the division created by this Act. [June 1, 1900.] CHAP. 612.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to authorize the reassessment of Jurors. June 2, 1900. water-main taxes in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes," approved July 31 Stat. L., 251. eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. (1) Dist. Columbia. Reassessment of water-main taxes. 1898, July 8, ch. When tax ag Be it enacted, &c., That the Act entitled "An Act to authorize the reassessment of water-main taxes in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes," approved July eighth, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking out the follow- 635, § 2 (2 Supp ing words at the end of section two thereof: "That said water-main R. S., 888). tax, or assessment, or reassessment shall be due, payable, and collectible on each lot or parcel of land or premises on and after the date on which the connection is made from the water main to the said lot or parcel of land or premises," and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "That hereafter, whenever a water main or mains shall be laid in the District of Columbia, the water-main assessment or tax authorized by law shall be assessed within thirty days after such water main or mains sessed. shall have been laid and the owner or owners affected by this assessment or tax shall be notified that the same has been assessed by a notice inserted daily, Sundays excepted, for two weeks in two newspapers published in the District of Columbia, and such assessment or tax shall be payable in four equal installments, the first of which shall be payable without interest within thirty days of the date of the last publication of said notice, the second within one year, the third within two years, and the fourth within three years from the date of the last publication of said notice, and interest at the rate of ten per centum per annum shall be charged on all amounts which shall remain unpaid at the expiration of thirty days from the date of the last publication of said notice: -notice. -how payable. -interest. -abatement on Provided, That if the assessment or tax is paid in full at any time within thirty days after the last publication of said notice an abate- payment in full. NOTE.-(1) See 1894, August 11, ch. 253 (2 Supp. R. S., 234), regulating water-main assessments; also note thereto for a review of laws relating to the matter. |