CONGRESS. (MISCELLANEOUS.) 



205 



Be it enacted, etc.. That the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury is hereby authorized and directed to deliver up the 

 so-called " Twiggs swords," which are now in his cus- 

 tody, and which were captured or seized by General B. 

 F. Butler, in 1862, to such person, or to the legal repre- 

 sentatives of such person, as was owner thereof at the 

 time they were captured or seized. For the purpose of 

 determining who was such owner the Secretary of the 

 Treasury shall send the petitions of all persons who 

 may claim said swords to the Court of Claims. Said 

 court shall thereupon examine such claimant or claim- 

 ants, and such other legal evidence as may be oflered 

 in behalf of such claimant or claimants, and determine 

 who was such owner and who is entitled to receive 

 said swords under the provisions of this act. Said 

 court shall certify their judgment to the Secretary of 

 the Treasury : Provided, however, That all claims for 

 said swords shall be filed with the Secretary of the 

 Treasury within three months from the passage of this 

 act. 



Feb. 1, 1887, the following bill to effect a 

 rearrangement of grades of office in the Adju- 

 tant-General's Department of the Army, passed 

 the House without a division : 



Be it enacted, etc., That the Adjutant-General's 

 Department of the Army shall consist of one adjutant- 

 general, with the rank, pay, and emoluments ot 

 brigadier-general ; four assistant adjutants-general, 

 with the rank, pay, and emoluments of colonel : six 

 assistant adjutants-general, with the rank, pay ? and 

 emoluments of lieutenant-colonel ; and six assistant 

 adjutants-general, with the rank, pay, and emolu- 

 ments of major : Provided, That the vacancies in the 

 grade of colonel and lieutenant-colonel created by this 

 act shall be tilled by the promotion by seniority ot 

 the officers now. in "the Adjutant-General's Depart- 

 ment. 



Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama, said, in explana- 

 tion of the measure : 



" This bill I will state does not create any 

 additional officers; it simply has the effect of 

 increasing the rank of certain officers, already 

 commissioned, in the Adjutant-General's De- 

 partment. 



"In all armies of the world the adjutant- 

 general is the chief of staff, and generally has 

 a rank higher than that of all other officers of 

 the staff; but owing to the fact that in the 

 United States Army promotion has been slower 

 in the Adjutant-General's Department than in 

 any other branch of the service, in nearly 

 every case the Adjutant-General is inferior in 

 rank to all the other officers of the staff of the 

 commanding officer. Another reason for this 

 is that it not infrequently happens that a jun- 

 ior officer is giving orders to a superior; and 

 in addition the officer whose dignity and posi- 

 tion is highest is compelled to accept a junior 

 place in selecting quarters, and in all of the 

 other emoluments conferred upon officers of 

 the Army. 



" The report in this case shows that the four 

 officers who will be promoted to lieutenant- 

 colonel from major have held the office of 

 major for periods ranging from eighteen to 

 twenty years." 



The Senate' passed the bill February 23, and 

 the President approved of it February 28. 



Congress passed and the President approved 

 a bill for the allotment of land in severally to 

 Indians. The first two sections are as follows : 



That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indi- 

 ans has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any 

 reservation created for their use, either by treaty stip- 

 ulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive 

 order setting apart the same for their use, the Presi- 

 dent of the United States be, and he hereby is, au- 

 thorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or 

 any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for 

 agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reser- 

 vation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resur- 

 veyed if necessary, and to allot the lands in said res- 

 ervation in seyeralty to any Indian located thereon, in 

 quantities as follows : 



" To each head of a family, one quarter of a sec- 

 tion ; 



" To each single person over eighteen years of age, 

 one eighth of a section ; 



" To each orphan child under eighteen years of 

 age, one eighth section ; and 



" To each other single person under eighteen years 

 now living, or who may be born prior to the da'te of 

 the order of the President directing an allotment of 

 the lands embraced in auv reservation, one sixteenth 

 of a section : Provided, That in case there is not suf- 

 ficient land in any of said reservations to allot lands 

 to each individual of the classes above named in quan- 

 tities as above provided, the lands embraced in such 

 reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each in- 

 dividual of each of said classes pro rata in accordance 

 with the provisions of this act: And provided further, 

 That where the treaty or act of Congress setting apart 

 such reservation provides for the allotment of lands in 

 severally in quantities in excess of those herein pro- 

 vided, the President, in making allotments upon such 

 reservation, shall allot the lands to each individual 

 Indian belonging thereon in quantity as specified in 

 such treaty or act : And provided further, That when 

 the lands allotted are only valuable for grazing pur- 

 . poses, an additional allotment of such grazing-lands, 

 in quantities as above provided, shall be made to each 

 individual." 



SEC. 2. That all allotments set apart under the pro- 

 visions of this act shall be selected by the Indians, 

 heads of families selecting for their minor children, 

 and the agents shall select for each orphan child, ana 

 in such manner as to embrace the improvements of 

 the Indians making the selection. W here the im- 

 provements of two or more Indians have been made 

 on the same legal subdivision of land, unless they 

 shall otherwise agree, a provisional line may be run 

 dividing said lands between them, and the amount to 

 which each is entitled shall be equalized in the assign- 

 ment of the remainder of the land to which they are 

 entitled under this act : Provided, That if any one en- 

 titled to an allotment shall fail to make a selection 

 within four years after the President shall direct that 

 allotments may be made on a particular reservation, 

 the Secretary of the Interior may direct the agent of 

 such tribe or band, if such there be, and if there be 

 no agent, then a special agent appointed for that pur- 

 pose, to make a selection for such Indian, which se- 

 lection shall be allotted as in cases where selections 

 are made by the Indians, and patents shall issue in 

 like manner. 



The other sections provide that the allot- 

 ments shall be made by agents appointed by the 

 President, for modes of procedure, for holding 

 allotted lands in trust and issuing of patents, 

 for allotments to Indians not on reservations. 

 It also limits the application of the law, ex- 

 cluding certain tribes. 



Dec. 15, 1886, the House passed a bill to 

 amend sections 5191 and 5192 of the Revised 

 Statutes which regulate the reserve to be held 

 in the national banks of certain cities. March 

 3, 1887, the Senate amended and parsed t lie- 

 measure ; the House non-concurred ; a Confer- 



