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needed to put in the 20,000,000 feet of timber which they are allowed to cut by law. General Superintendent Farr further says:

When the original bill was receiving consideration by the Committee on Indian Affairs in the Senate, the business committee of the Menominee tribe of Indians objected to its passage for the reason, with others, that it provided for the cutting of the live and standing timber. After its passage, this same business committee, in drafting rules and regulations, as provided by the bill, insisted that the standing as well as the down timber be cut, and in their final draft of rules they placed the price for logging as high as $9 per thousand, which is nearly double the price usually paid, and goes a long ways to show that they are not competent to handle a timber proposition of this kind. In former reports I have fully discussed this feature of the case. The bill as it passed provides that the business committee of the Menominee tribe of Indians may have the down timber on this district cut, and the logs delivered to certain points and there manufactured by portable mills, which are to be brought on the reservation. With $9 for logging and from $3 to $3.50 for sawing and the expense necessary to make roads and transporting the lumber to points for shipment on the railroads, varying from 4 to 15 miles, it should be sufficient to satisfy anyone that operations of this kind can not be successfully carried out.

It is a grave question whether the most experienced lumbermen, fully equipped in every way, could carry out the provisions of the act and realize enough from the sale of the lumber from the down timber to pay expenses, and it is absurd to think the business committee of the Menominee tribe of Indians can handle this proposition without sacrificing the down timber and incurring a large expense, and even then it would be necessary, in order to complete the operations, to employ white men in the management of the work.

For a more complete discussion of this subject, I invite attention to my former reports, and in conclusion will recommend and urge that a bill, in substantially the same form as the one introduced at the last session by Congressman Brown, with the addition of a repealing clause, be immediately presented to Congress and its early passage urged. I believe such a bill will receive prompt and favorable consideration by the House, and when it reaches the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate I will be pleased, if it is the desire of the office and Department, to appear before that committee and present the facts, and I believe that they are such as to satisfy that committee of the justice and necessity of the action requested.

The letter of the Secretary of the Interior, forwarding, with his approval, the recommendation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the repeal of the act of June 28, 1906, and for the enactment of the legislation contained in H. R. 24043; report of General Superintendent J. R. Farr, and a letter from the Acting Secretary of Agriculture concurring in Mr. Farr's conclusions, and a letter of the Commissioner's to the Secretary of the Interior in relation to this blown-down timber are contained in House Document No. 490. second session Fifty-ninth Congress, which also has, as an appendix, House Document No. 287, Fifty-ninth Congress.

H. R. 24023 differs from the bill proposed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in that it provides for the payment of but 3 per cent as interest on the trust funds instead of 5, as recommended by the Commissioner, but as it has been adopted as a policy by the committee to recommend the payment of 3 per cent on Indian trust funds it was thought best not to change the bill in that respect.

There is appended and made a part of this report the following letter from the Secretary of the Interior, forwarding one from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:

JANUARY 19, 1907.

SIR: Referring to your letter of the 12th instant, inclosing a copy of H. R. 24043, "A bill to authorize the sale of timber on certain of the land reserved for the use of the Menominee tribe of Indians, in the State of Wisconsin," I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, dated the 17th instant, reporting thereon.

The Commissioner states that 5 per cent interest is the usual amount paid on Indian funds, and recommends that the word "three" in line 23, page 2, be stricken

out, and the word "five" substituted in lieu thereof, otherwise he sees no objection to the enactment of the bill.

Very respectfully,

E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary. The CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, House of Representatives.

JANUARY 17, 1907.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, by Department reference of January 15, for consideration and report, of a letter from Hon. James S. Sherman, chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, House of Representatives, dated January 12, inclosing H. R. 24043, "A bill to authorize the sale of timber on certain of the land reserved for the use of the Menominee tribe of Indians, in the State of Wisconsin." Mr. Sherman requests a report on the bill by this Department. Reporting on the reference, I have the honor to say that the general provisions of the bill meet with the entire approbation of this Office. In letter of December 15, 1906, to the Department, I recommended the enactment of the "Brown bill," introduced at the last session of Congress, and printed in House Executive Document No. 287, Fifty-ninth Congress, first session. The present bill differs in two particulars from the Brown bill-in the rate of interest to be paid the Indians on that part of the proceeds which is to be funded in the United States Treasury, and in the matter of obtaining the consent of the Indians to its provisions.

The former bill provided for the payment of 5 per cent interest on the part deposited in the Treasury. The present bill provides for payment of but 3 per cent interest. Five per cent is the usual amount paid on Indian funds. I therefore recommend that the word "three" in line 23, page 2, be stricken out and the word "five" substituted in lieu thereof.

I will, however, waive the provision providing for obtaining the consent of the Indians. They have already signified their assent to the disposal of the timber under a former act, the provisions of which were declared impracticable by the logging experts. I therefore think this provision may be omitted, it being competent for Congress to provide how the timber may be disposed of. If the bill shall be amended as suggested above, I see no objection to its enactment.

Mr. Sherman's letter and copy of the bill are returned herewith and a copy of this report is also inclosed.

Very respectfully,

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

F. E. LEUPP,
Commissioner.

VALDEZ, MARSHALL PASS AND NORTHERN RAILROAD.

FEBRUARY 2, 1907.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed.

Mr. BRICK, from the Committee on the Territories, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 25244.]

The Committee on the Territories, having considered House bill 25244, report same back with recommendation that the bill do pass. The railroad company has filed preliminary and final surveys, said final survey having been accepted by the Department of the Interior April 16, 1906, giving said railroad company one year in which to complete 20 miles of road.

The railroad company has completed a very extensive wharf on 3,300 feet of piling, which consumed almost one-half of the entire season of 1906, and have graded about 8 miles and cleared about 8 miles additional; but, owing to the shortness of the working season, was unable to comply with the provision of completing the said 20 miles of railroad.

Your committee, therefore, reports this bill, granting an extension of time, as has been done by Congress to other railroads in Alaska, and your committee feel justified in granting the relief requested in above bill.

The granting of a remission of the license while under construction, and for a reasonable period thereafter, being deemed just and equitable by this committee and consistent with relief granted to other companies.

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LAND DISTRICT, VALLEY COUNTY, MONT.

FEBRUARY 2, 1907.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. Dixon, of Montana, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 20984.]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 20984) to provide for a land district in Valley County, Mont., having had the same under consideration, respectfully submit the following report:

At the present time Valley County, Mont., embracing an area of 1,611,722 acres, constitutes a portion of the Great Falls land district, which embraces an area of 7,550,099 acres of land. The settlers in this part of Montana are situated 400 miles from the land office where they are compelled to transact their business affecting the entry and final proof of their homesteads.

Both the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the Secretary of the Interior have favorably recommended the establishment of the new land district, their reports being hereto attached and made a part of this report.

The Public Lands Committee are unanimous in recommending the passage of the bill.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
Washington, January 30, 1907.

SIR: In a letter of the 25th instant to the Department you inclosed H. R. 20984, entitled "A bill to provide for a land district in Valley County, in the State of Montana, to be known as the Glasgow land district," and stated that any suggestions or information that I may desire to offer in regard to the proposed measure will be laid before the committee.

In answer I have the honor to inclose a copy of a report on the bill by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, under date of the 28th instant, in which he has recommended favorable consideration of the bill, and in which I concur.

Very respectfully,

E. A. HITCHCOCK, Secretary.

The CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE PUBLIC LANDS,

HR-59-2-Vol 1-49

House of Representatives,

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