The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1898-01-30

anu roy dlJloS on coal, Snall commune
until allotment, as herein provided
for, shall have been completed"
AT this meeting every townsite del
egate in Washington was present,
and the amendment just quoted is
understood to be what they will in
sist upon as a unit when the commit
tee is ready to hear them.
This amendment differs from the
townsite clause of the Curtis bill in
two essential features: First, as to
the appointment of the appraisers of
lots; and, second, as to the manner
or basis of appraisement.
The Curtis bill provides that the
appraisers shall be appointed, one by
the secretary of the interior, one by
the chief executive officer of the
town, an officer appointed by the
town council, and the third to be
selected by the United States Judge.
As to the manner of appraisement,
the Curtis bill provides that the lots
shall be appraised separate and apart
from the improvements on such, and
that the owner of improvements
thereon may purchase at the ap-
praised value. This, it will be noted,
would make the lots cost 40 per cent.
more than by the Chickasaw treaty.
and so per cent. more than by the
Choctaw treaty. The amendment
seeks to correct this hardship of the
Curtis bill, which is thought to be the
result of inadvertence. Its provis-
ions are that the lots shall be ap-
praised separate and apart from i'm
provements thereon, Sat such a rela-
tive value as the present value of the
lot bears to the purchase price paid
for the whole townsite;" and that
the same shall be paid for in Install
ments of 80 per cent. cash and the
remainder in five yearly payments.
Another material difference carried
by the amendment is the approval OF
the sale of lots by the Cherokee ma.
ton.
The Indian appropriation bill is
completed. 1t carries two items OF
special interest to the people of the
Indian Territory.
The Dawes commission is reduced
to three. This was done by the house
Indian affairs committee, at its Mon
day meeting, just before reporting
for the retention of the com mission
as at present organized, stating that
it would be fatal to the work to Grip
pie it either ID numbers or salary at
this time The committee voted, how
ever, to reduce it to three, but con-
tinued their salaries at S5 900, AS to
which three of the commission will
be retained will not, of course, be de-
termined Until the end of the fiscal
year, June 80 next when the new
appropriation bill becomes effective.
The bill also carries a paragraph
providing that the director of the
geological survey may use any mon
eys appropriated for the survey of
the Chickasaw nation, that may be
on hand at its completion, for the
completion of the office and field work
in 1899.
[ am in possession of such facts as
justify me in saying, without hesita-
ton, that the Indian Territory and
Oklahoma will not be consolidated at
this session. Upon this question the
people of the Indian Territory may
dismiss their fears, and give the mat
ter no further serious consideration.
Senator Jones has introduced two
bills this week relating to the Indian
Territory. One is to extend the time
for the completion of the Fort s mith
and Western railroad, and the other
is for the payment of arrears of in
terest on the Chickasaw trust funds.
The Senate bill authorizing the
Muscogee Coal and Railway company
to construct and operate a railway
from Fort Gibson, through the Cher
okee and Greek nations, to Vernon,
Tex, has passed the senate.
Govern Dr Brown of the Seminoles,
with other delegates OF that nation,
is here to urge congress to ratify the
treaty recently made with that nation
by the Dawes commission. Opinion
as to the ratification of this treaty is
divided. It is pretty generally con-
ceded that this nation should be al
lowed to close up its own affairs,
provision for which was voluntarily
made in this treatv, but the objection
to its ratification Is that should it
become operative, it would create
confusion. in that the manner of
IL