for the purchase of first-class one-way transportation for their own use at the fares and under the regulations set forth in the said tariff are authorized to be sold for $20.00, the scrip coupons to be exchanged for transportation at the face value of the coupons.

The request forwarded by you calls for transportation by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Seaboard Air Line Railway, and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.

The tariff and net rates for the transportation locally each way are as follows:

The sum of the locals, $14.18, is published as the through rate. The commercial traveler would therefore pay $14.18 each way, or $28.36 for the round trip, between Pensacola and Charleston, and on said basis the cost to the Government for an enlisted man of the Navy would be $9.81, or $19.62 for the round trip.

By the use of the penny scrip book for $25.00 worth of transportation costing $20.00 and the balance $3.36 in cash the commercial traveler pays $23.36 for the round trip. The charge in the account submitted is therefore on the same basis as the commercial traveler, with no allowance for land grant. The Government is entitled to the transportation of its "troops" over the land-grant roads on the basis of fifty per cent of the rates charged the public for the same kind of service.

If the scrip book costing $20.00, securing $25.00 worth of ordinary transportation, was used wholly over land-grant roads for the transportation of one of the "troops" of the United States, the cost therefor should be but half the rate charged the public, or $10.00.

It might be contended that each 1-cent coupon should secure 2 cents worth of transportation over land-grant road and 1 cent's worth over the nonland-grant road; but such a method of securing transportation is not practical except as a basis of settlement where land-grant deduction is involved, as ticket agents are not prepared to make such adjustments, which must be left to the principal officers of the company in adjusting the accounts with the Government. It appears that the only practical way is to use the scrip, when secured, the same as the ordinary traveler and adjust the charges therefor afterwards on the basis of the proper land-grant deduction from rates charged the public.

It is not shown in the present case how the scrip book was used, if one was obtained, for any of the separate parts of the travel, but the charge is made as an entirety for one scrip book, $20, and $3.36

cash for the round trip. This being the exact rate charged the public for the same kind of service, the proper deduction therefrom on account of land grant should be made on the basis of the division of said amount between the different lines rendering the service, which division should be shown, and is necessary before the exact amount to be paid can be determined.

This appears to be the adjustment required by law, and accounts involving scrip and mileage should be adjusted accordingly.

PROCEEDS OF SALE OF PART OF COLVILLE INDIAN RESERVATION.

The net proceeds of the sale and disposition of part of Colville Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington, to homesteaders, under the act of July 1. 1892 (27 Stat., 62), and proclamation of the President in pursuance thereof. dated April 10, 1900 (31 Stat., 1963), which accrued prior to June 21, 1906. were available for expenditure for the benefit of the Indians, by the Seeretary of the Interior, under the provisions of section 2 of said act. Said net proceeds, which accrued after June 21, 1906, belong to the United States, and are not available for expenditure for the benefit of the Indians under existing law.

Comptroller Downey to the Secretary of the Interior, April 27, 1915:

I have received, under date of April 3, 1915, from the First Assistant Secretary of the Interior, a letter, as follows:

"I submit herewith a letter of the Commissioner of the General Land Office for your decision as to the proper disposition of the proceeds arising from the sale of the lands in the north half of the Colville Indian Reservation, State of Washington, under the acts of Congress approved July 1, 1892 (27 Stat., 62), February 20, 1896 (29 Stat., 9), and June 21, 1906 (34 Stat., 377)."

The letter of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, dated April 2, 1915, is, in part, in the terms following:

"The records of this office show that from June 21, 1906, to January 31, 1915, inclusive, there have been deposited in the Treasury to the credit of the Colville Indians of the State of Washington $271.661.12, received by the receivers of public moneys of the United States land offices located at Spokane and Waterville, in said State. as the proceeds of the sale of a portion of the lands in approximately 1,500,000 acres of the north half of the Colville Indian Reservation under the provisions of the acts of Congress approved July 1, 1892 (27 Stat., 62), and February 20, 1896 (29 Stat., 9).

"The legislative history of the opening to settlement and entry of approximately the north half of the Colville Indian Reservation is briefly as follows:

"Sections 1, 2, and 3 of the act of July 1, 1892 (27 Stat., 62), provide:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, subject to

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the reservations and allotment of lands in severalty to the individual members of the Indians of the Colville Reservation, in the State of Washington, herein provided for, all the following described tract or portion of said Colville Reservation, namely, containing by estimation one million five hundred thousand acres, the same being a portion of the Colville Indian Reservation created by Executive order dated July second, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, be, and is hereby, vacated and restored to the public domain, notwithstanding any Executive order or other proceeding whereby the same was set apart as a reservation for any Indians or bands of Indians, and the same shall be open to settlement and entry by the proclamation of the President of the United States and shall be disposed of under the general laws applicable to the disposition of public lands in the State of Washington.'

"SEC. 2. That the net proceeds arising from the sale and disposition of the lands to be so opened to entry and settlement shall be set apart in the Treasury of the United States for the time being, but subject to such future appropriation for public use as Congress may make, and that until so otherwise appropriated may be subject to expenditure by the Secretary of the Interior from time to time, in such amounts as he shall deem best, in the building of schoolhouses, the maintenance of schools for such Indians, for the payment of such part of the local taxation as may be properly applied to the lands allotted to such Indians as he shall think fit, so long as such allotted lands shall be held in trust and exempt from taxation, and in such other ways as he may deem proper for the promotion of education, civilization, and self-support among said Indians.'

"SEC. 3. That each entryman under the homestead laws shall, within five years from the date of his original entry, and before receiving a final certificate for the land covered by his entry, pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to fees provided by law, the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per acre, onethird of which shall be paid within two years after the date of the original entry; but the rights of honorably discharged Union soldiers and sailors as defined and described in sections twenty-three hundred and four and twenty-three hundred and five of the Revised Statutes of the United States, shall not be abridged, except as to the sum to be paid as aforesaid.'

"The act of February 7, 1903 (32 Stat., 803), provides:

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all settlers under the homestead laws of the United States upon the agricultural public lands in the north one-half of the Colville Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington, opened to settlement by Executive order on the tenth day of October, nineteen hundred, who have resided or shall hereafter reside upon the tract entered in good faith for the period required by existing law, shall be entitled to a patent for the land so entered upon the payment to the local land officers of the usual and customary fees, and no other or further charge of any kind whatsoever shall be required from such settler to entitle him to a patent for the land covered by his entry: Provided, That the right

to commute any such entry and pay for said lands in the option of any such settler and in the time and at the prices now fixed by existing laws shall remain in full force and effect: Provided, however, That all sums of money so released which if not released would belong to any Indian tribe shall be paid to such Indian tribe by the United States, and that in the event that the proceeds of the annual sales of the public lands shall not be sufficient to meet the payments heretofore provided for agricultural colleges and experimental stations by an act of Congress approved August thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety (26 Stat., 417, et seq.), for the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts established under the provisions of an act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, such deficiency shall be paid by the United States: And provided further, That no lands shall be herein included on which the United States Government had made valuable improvements, or lands that have been sold at public auction by said Government.

"SEC. 2. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.'

"The act of June 21, 1906 (34 Stat., 377), provides:

“COLVILLE RESERVATION.

“ "To carry into effect the agreement bearing date May ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entered into between the Indians residing on the Colville Reservation and commissioners appointed by the President of the United States under authority of the act of Congress approved August nineteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, to negotiate with the Colville and other bands of Indians on said Colville Reservation for the cession of such portion of said reservation as said Indians might be willing to dispose of, there shall be set aside and held in the Treasury of the United States for the use and benefit of said Indians, which shall at all times be subject to the appropriation of Congress and payment to said Indians, in full payment for one million five hundred thousand acres of land opened to settlement by the act of Congress "To provide for the opening of a part of the Colville Reservation, in the State of Washington, and for other purposes," approved July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, the sum of one million five hundred thousand dollars,

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"The act of February 7, 1903, repealed so much of the act of July 1, 1892, as was inconsistent with its provisions, and in effect granted free homesteads to entrymen upon the payment of the usual and customary fees. The loss of the proceeds of the sales of the land by the act of January 7, 1903, was to be made up by the United States. and by the act of June 21, 1906, Congress appropriated $1,500,000.00 in full payment of 1,500,000 acres of land opened for settlement under the act of July 1, 1892.

"In view of the fact that under the act of June 21, 1906, the United States purchased these lands and the payment therefor was in full of all the Indian title thereto, it would appear that all the proceeds arising from the sale of said lands belong to the United States.

"I request the decision of the Comptroller of the Treasury on the following points, whether (1) the United States, in view of the pay

ment under the act of June 21, 1906, is entitled to all the proceeds of the sale of said lands since the act of July 1, 1892; or (2) to such proceeds prior to the act of June 21, 1906, to the extent of the appropriations for survey, appraisement, allotment, and sale, and all the proceeds since the act of June 21, 1906, under which full payment for the land was made. Also whether or not it shall be necessary for an account to be stated against the Colville Indians by the General Land Office, and if such an account is prepared by this office, the items to be included therein as to the cost of the sale of the lands, and the period of time to be covered by said account."

The act of June 21, 1906, last quoted in part, supra, by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, beginning with the words

"To carry into effect the agreement bearing date May ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entered into between the Indians residing on the Colville Reservation and commissioners appointed by the President," etc.

approved more than 15 years after the date of the agreement, appears to be the earliest statutory reference to said agreement, which was in the terms following:

"ARTICLE 1. The said Colville Indians, residing and having their homes on the said Colville Indian Reservation, upon the conditions hereinafter expressed, do hereby surrender and relinquish to the United States all their right, title, claim, and interest in and to and over the following-described tract of country on the Colville Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington, viz:

"Beginning at a point on the eastern boundary of the Colville Indian Reservation where the township line between townships 34 and 35 north of range 37 east of the Willamette meridian, if extended west, would intersect the same, said point being in the middle of the channel of the Columbia River, and running thence west parallel with the forty-ninth (49) parallel of latitude to the western boundary line of the said Colville Indian Reservation in the Okanogan River; thence north, following the said western boundary line to the said forty-ninth (49) parallel of latitude; thence east along the said forty-ninth (49) parallel of latitude to the northeast corner of the said Colville Indian Reservation; thence south, following the eastern boundary of said reservation to the place of beginning, containing by estimation one million five hundred thousand acres, the same being a portion of the Colville Indian Reservation created by Executive order dated April 9, 1872. Date subsequently changed to July 2, 1872, with change of description.

"ART. 2. Each and every Indian now residing on the portion of the Colville Indian Reservation hereby ceded and relinquished and who is so entitled to reside thereon, shall be entitled to select from said ceded portion eighty acres of land, which shall be allotted to such Indian in severalty. No restriction as to locality shall be placed upon such selections other than that they shall be so located as to conform to the congressional survey or subdivisions of said tract or country, and any Indian having improvements may have the preference over any other person in and to the tract of land containing such improvements, so far as they are within a legal subdivision not