CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



the rights and privileges wliich belong to that con- 



Hy section 16 of the act of March 3, 1893, the 

 President was authorized to appoint three commis- 

 sioners to enter into negotiations with the Cherokee, 

 Ch.K.-taw. Chickasaw. IbMOQgee (or Creek), and Sem- 

 inole nations, commonly known as the Five Civi- 

 li/.-.l Trills in tin- Indian Territory. Briefly, the 

 purposes of the negotiations were to be: The ex- 

 tingui>hmeiit of trilial titles to any lands within 

 that Territory now held by imyandall such nations 

 or trills, eithVr by ee-sion of the same or some part 

 thereof to the United States, or by allotment and 

 division of tlie same in severally among the Indians 

 of such nations or triin-s. respectively, as may be 

 entitled to the same, or by such other method as 

 mav be agreed upon between the several nations 

 ami trib^ aforesaid, or each of them with the 

 United States, with a view to such an adjustment 

 upon tin- l';i-is of justice and equity as may, with 

 the con-ent of the said nations of Indians so far as 

 may be necessary, be requisite and suitable to en- 

 able the ultimate creation of a State or States of 

 the Union which shall embrace the lands within 

 said Indian Territory. 



The commission met much opposition from the 

 beginning. The Indians were very slow to act and 

 those in control manifested a decided disinclination 

 to meet with favor the propositions submitted to 

 them. A little more than three years after this 

 organization the commission effected an agreement 

 with the Choctaw nation alone. The Chickasaws, 

 however, refused to agree to its terms, and as they 

 have a common interest with the Choctaws in the 

 lands of said nations, the agreement with the latter 

 nation could have no effect without the consent of 

 the former. On April 23, 1897, the commission 

 effected an agreement with both tribes the Choc- 

 taws and Chickasaws. This agreement, it is under- 

 stood, has been ratified by the constituted author- 

 ities of the respective tribes or nations parties 

 thereto, and only requires ratification by Congress 

 to make it binding. 



On the 27th of September, 1897, an agreement 

 was effected with the Creek Nation, but it is under- 

 stood that the national council of said nation has 

 refused to ratify the same. Negotiations are yet to 

 be had with the Cherokees, the most populous of 

 the Fire Civilized Tribes, and with the Seminoles, 

 the smallest in point of numbers and territory. 



The provision in the Indian appropriation act, 

 approved .lune. 10, 1896, makes it the duty of the 

 commission to investigate and determine the rights 

 of applicants for citizenship in the Five Civilized 

 Trities. and to make complete census rolls of the 

 citi/ens of said tribes. The commission is at pres- 

 ent engaged in this work among the Creeks and 

 has made appointment! for taking the census of 

 these people up to and including the 30th of the 

 present month. 



Should tin- agreement between the Choctaws and 

 Chickasaws be ratified by Congress and should the 

 : triiM-s f.-iil to make an agreement with the 

 oommiMkm, then it will be necessary that some 

 iation shall be had by Congress "which, while 

 ju-t ami honorable to the Indians, shall be equi- 

 table to the white people who have settled upon 

 these lands by invitation of the tribal nations. 



Hon. Henry L. Dawes, chairman of the commis- 

 sion, in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, 

 under date of Oct. 11, 1897, says: "Individual 

 nrnenhip is in their (the commission's) opinion 

 absolutely essential to any |x>rmanent improvement 

 in present conditions, and the lack of it is the root 

 of nearly all the evils which so grievously afflict 

 these people. Allotment by agreement is the only 

 possible method, unless the United States courts 



are clothed with the authority to apportion the 

 lands among the citizen Indians for whdse use it 

 was originally granted." 



I concur with the Secretary of the Interior that 

 there can be no cure for the evils engendered by 

 the perversion of these great trusts excepting by 

 their resumption by the government which created 

 them. 



The recent prevalence of yellow fever in a num- 

 ber of cities and towns throughout the South has 

 resulted in much disturbance of commerce and 

 demonstrated the necessity of such amendments to 

 our quarantine laws as will make the regulations of 

 the national quarantine authorities paramount. 

 The Secretary of the Treasury in the portion of his 

 report relating to the operation of the Marine-Hos- 

 pital Service calls attention to the defects in the 

 present quarantine laws, and recommends amend- 

 ments thereto which will give the Treasury Depart- 

 ment the requisite authority to prevent the invasion 

 of epidemic diseases from foreign countries and, in 

 times of emergency like that of the past summer, 

 will add to the efficiency of the sanitary measures 

 for the protection of the people and at the same 

 time prevent unnecessary restriction of commerce. 

 I concur in his recommendation. 



In further effort to prevent the invasion of the 

 United States by yellow fever the importance of 

 the discovery of the exact cause of the disease, 

 which up to the present time has been undeter- 

 mined, is obvious, and to this end a systematic 

 bacteriological investigation should be made. I 

 therefore recommend that Congress authorize the 

 appointment of a commission by the President, to 

 consist of four expert bacteriologists, one to be 

 selected from the medical officers of the Marine- 

 Hospital Service, one to be appointed from civil 

 life, one to be detailed from the medical officers of 

 the army, and one from the medical officers of the 

 navy. 



The Union Pacific Railway, main line, was sold 

 under the decree of the Unite'd States court for the 

 district of Nebraska on the 1st and 2d of Novem- 

 ber of this year. The amount due the Government 

 consisted of the principal of the subsidy bonds, 

 $27,236,512, and the accrued interest thereon, $31,- 

 211,711.75, making the total indebtedness $58.448,- 

 223.75. The bid at the sale covered the first-mort- 

 gage lien and the entire mortgage claim of the 

 Government, principal and interest. 



The sale of the subsidized portion of the Kansas 

 Pacific line, upon which the Government holds a 

 second-mortgage lien, has been postponed at the 

 instance of the Government to Dec. 10, 1897. The 

 debt of this division of the Union Pacific Railway 

 to the Government on Nov. 1, 1897, was the prin- 

 cipal of the subsidy bonds, $6,303,000, and the un- 

 paid and accrued interest thereon, $6.626.690.33, 

 making a total of $12,929,690.33. 



The sale of this road was originally advertised 

 for Nov. 4. but for the purpose of securing the 

 utmost public notice of the event it was postponed 

 until Dec. 16, and a second advertisement of the 

 sale was made. By the decree of the court the 

 upset price on the sale of the Kansas Pacific will 

 yield to the Government the sum of $2,500,000 over 

 all prior liens, costs, and charges. If no other or 

 better bid is made, this sum is all that the Govern- 

 ment will receive on its claim of nearly $13,000.000. 

 The Government has no information as to whether 

 there will be other bidders or a better bid than the 

 minimum amount herein stated. The question 

 presented therefore is, whether the Government 

 shall, under the authority given it by the act of 

 March 3, 1887, purchase or redeem the road in the 

 event that a bid is not made by private parties 

 covering the entire Government claim. To qualify 



