of patents in fee by declarations of competency to approximately 35 Indians.

Mr. HASTINGS. The patents were issued to these 35 or such as he approved?

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

Mr. HASTINGS. The patent then is issued to none, as I understand you, unless either through a competency commission or through your office?

Mr. SMITH. That is correct.

Mr. HASTINGS. He is recommended as being competent?

Mr. SMITH. Yes.

Mr. HASTINGS. So that the patentee must have been one who has been declared competent either upon recommendation of a competency commission or through your office?

Mr. SMITH. I think so.

Mr. HASTINGS. Is there any patentee who is not permitted to sell his land?

Mr. SMITH. No, sir; when the patent is issued the title passes from the Government to the Indian.

Mr. ELSTON. Is there any restriction upon the alienation by that Indian of patented land, whether he is competent or incompetent? Mr. SMITH. That removes the restrictions from that piece of land, not the Indian.

Mr. CARTER. What is your procedure for issuing a patent to an Indian without declaring him competent? How is that done?

Mr. SMITH. The usual procedure is an application. We have prepared blanks and a great number of questions are asked, and the Indian is required to answer these questions in his own handwriting, if he can do so, and that application is forwarded to the Indian Office and in turn to the Secretary's office with recommendations.

Mr. CARTER. That is what I want to find out. As I understand you, you say that the patent is issued to Indians who are not declared competent?

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

Mr. CARTER. You started in with the procedure, but you did not finish. How can that be done? My understanding is that before an Indian can have a patent in fee issued to him he must pass a test and answer questions to be declared competent and have his patent issued. Mr. SMITH. I do not think so. That is simply a matter of form that is presented to the Secretary with recommendations of the officer in charge of the reservation.

Mr. CARTER. What is the difference between issuing a certificate of competency and declaring an Indian competent and permitting him to sell, giving him patent in fee and not giving him patent in fee, and declaring him competent?

Mr. SMITH. This latter procedure has only been instituted within the last three years, approximately. The Secretary has appointed the competency commissions with which, perhaps, you are acquainted. Mr. CARTER. The competency commission.

Mr. SMITH. The competency commission takes it from a personal standpoint as a commission, and they get a mental impression themselves as they go around the reservations and see the Indians personally.

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Mr. CARTER. They issue a certificate of competency and then they permit this Indian to sell the land.

Mr. SMITH. Yes.

Mr. CARTER. Is your Indian who is permitted to sell his patent in fee, is that fellow carried on your rolls as a competent or noncompetent Indian?

Mr. HASTINGS. After he gets his patent in fee?

Mr. SMITH. I do not know that there is any differentiation.

Mr. CARTER. The thing I can not understand is how an Indian can get a patent in fee without being declared a competent Indian. Mr. SMITH. He might by misrepresentation, in cases I have known of.

Mr. ELSTON. Is it your experience that an Indian when he receives his patent very soon thereafter alienates the land and not very long after that becomes impoverished in nearly all cases?

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

Mr. HAYDEN. What is your experience with this list of 35 declared competent by the competency commission; how many of them have their land now?

Mr. SMITH. I think about three.

Mr. HAYDEN. What is the financial condition of the remainder? Mr. SMITH. Very poor.

Mr. HAYDEN. Have they no home?

Mr. SMITH. No homes.

Mr. HAYDEN. How do they manage to live?

Mr. SMITH. With relatives and friends.

Mr. ELSTON. They do day labor for wages?

Mr. SMITH. Rarely. They will eventually, I presume; not so long as they can get something without working for it.

Mr. ELSTON. Do they have any income from their land?

Mr. SMITH. Probably their children have an allotment, or an interest in a deceased allotment, and they lease and get rentals; and also if there are heirship lands that are sold they can subsist on that. Mr. TILLMAN. Did these 32 or 35 that sold their land get an adequate price for it, a fair value for it?

Mr. SMITH. In a few instances.

Mr. TILLMAN. In a few instances only?
Mr. SMITH. In a few instances only.

Mr. TILLMAN. Did they not get an adequate price for it?
Mr. SMITH. No, sir.

Mr. ELSTON. Did that come under your supervision at all?
Mr. SMITH. I have supervised where they have requested it.
Mr. ELSTON. That is, voluntary?

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. About these Indians who are given patent in fee and have been declared competent, your understanding is that for about three years that procedure has been going on. Am I correct! Mr. SMITH. Declaration of competency?

The CHAIRMAN. Declaration of competency. After declaration of competency they do get patents in fee?

Mr. SMITH. They have.

The CHAIRMAN. You used the word a moment or two ago, “misrepresentation." Is it necessary to practice misrepresentation in

order to get a patent in fee where an Indian has not been declared competent?

Mr. SMITH. No. I mean by that, Mr. Snyder, that we have men in the Indian Service who do not regard their statements as men should. I have known of past superintendents, who are now out of the service, who have recommended Indians that I do not believe any intelligent, fair-minded man would have done. We have cases in the Federal courts of that character now. We have had men under indictment and some indicted and tried and found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the Indians of their land.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any rule of law that the Secretary of the Interior can invoke that will give an Indian, who has not been declared competent legally, a patent in fee that you know of?

Mr. SMITH. I am not familiar with any law of that kind; there might be.

The CHAIRMAN. And if there has been any issued it has been by way of misrepresentation?

Mr. SMITH. No patent has been issued to any Indian whom any officer in charge of a reservation thought was incompetent.

The CHAIRMAN. That is what I am getting at. Some of my colleagues said they had not.

Mr. CARTER. I said I thought they had not. The CHAIRMAN. What is the difference? Anyhow, there is a method itself which has been used in more cases than one. Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And it has not been done necessarily by misrepresentation?

Mr. CARTER. You are familiar with the laws governing your agency?

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

Mr. CARTER. Under what law would a patent in fee be issued to an Indian who is not competent?

The CHAIRMAN. He said he does not know.

Mr. CARTER. I assert that there is no law by which a man can have his patent issued unless he is passed on by the department. Let me ask you this further question: What restrictions are left on an incompetent Indian who is given his patent in fee?

Mr. SMITH. Such restricted property as yet remains.

Mr. CARTER. Has any competent Indian restricted tribal property?
Mr. SMITH. Not necessarily. They have no tribal property.
Mr. CARTER. What other restricted property might he have out-

side of his allotment?

Mr. SMITH. Inherited property.

Mr. CARTER. From restricted Indians?

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

Mr. CARTER. And if he inherited land from another unrestricted Indian, that would not be restricted?

Mr. SMITH. If it is from a nonrestricted Indian.

Mr. CARTER. There could not be restrictions on him?

Mr. SMITH. No.

Mr. CARTER. That is, in effect, a certificate of competency?

Mr. SMITH. The whole question there is, What is a competent Indian?

Mr. CARTER. I am speaking of one who under the law is compe tent.

Mr. SMITH. Certain rights have been vested in the Secretary o the Interior, of course.

Mr. CARTER. The Secretary of the Interior might do this: He might authorize the sale of an Indian's land under rules and regu lations prescribed by him. That can be done. But he can not authorize any Indian to sell his own land and give him a patent in fee unless that Indian is competent.

Mr. SMITH. Unless he is thought to be competent.

Mr. CARTER. Unless he is declared competent?

Mr. SMITH. I do not know about that.

Mr. CARTER. With that goes the right to tax the land?

Mr. SMITH. Yes.

Mr. CARTER. With that also goes on other reservations than those where Indians are already citizens, the right of citizenship, on every reservation when the Indians are not citizens?

Mr. SMITH. Yes.

Mr. CARTER. It goes to the question of competency on reservations? Cr. SMITH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. We will excuse you now, Mr. Smith.

Mr. READ. I submit this petition, and will submit further documents later.

(The statements referred to are as follows:)

To the honorable Congressional Indian Committee:

We, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, who sign our names below, respectfully urge that you recommend Congress to continue our school and agency here at Colony. We believe this to be the best place in western Oklahoma for our children, for here is a good school with beautiful grounds, an excellent farm and the best of water. They are removed from the evils of a larger town; they are taught farming, and prepared by industrial training to earn their own living when they have finished school.

There are also a good church and mission here close to the school, where our children are trained in Christian living. We know the time has not come to place our children in the white schools. Some parents have kept their children from the Indian schools, saying they would attend the white schools, but we know the majority of them attend very seldom if any.

We also believe our money and business will be better looked after if the agency is kept removed some distance from the large, towns. We very much fear the influence of those who seek to get control of our property.

Therefore, for these and other reasons, we urge that you continue our school and agency here at Colony, Okla.

HEVERY (his thumb mark) LITTLE BIRD,
Colony, Okla., Arapohoe Indian,

(and 30 others.) COLONY, OKLA., July 27, 1920.

Statements of facts in regard to attendance at and conditions in the Seger Indian School:

1. It was stated several times at the hearing at Clinton, May 14, 1920, that the average attendance at the Seger School was less than 50, and had been for several years. Below are the figures from the school records :

2. Also find attached herewith extract from a letter written by one who is in a position to know the facts, but who for obvious reasons desires his name withheld.

3. It is a fact that the majority of the Indians under Seger Agency want a good school maintained at Colony.

Respectfully,

J. L. READ.

The inclosed will show you the actual enrollment for the past three years as shown by the schoolbooks and sent in to the department. You will note that last year entrance enrollment did not come up to 50, and that the year before it was not so heavy as the first of the three. The explanation for this is Mr. Dushane, and if he is held in this position another year the enrollment will be even less. The Indians openly say that if he is held here as principal they will not send their children back, and I do not blame them. The teachers say they will not be content to work under him longer, for no one can get along with him. He has had a quarrel with most of the men of the plant, and they all claim he is inefficient, and the school would be better without him. I understand that some of the agency people have made inquiry among the Indians and find they do not intend returning their children as long as he is in charge.

Also it seems to me that the committee should ask the agent here if he would like to be located at Clinton and if he thinks this would make for the best of the service. If what I hear is true, Mr. Perkins does not want to go there and thinks it would be a mistake for the agency to be placed under the dominance of that gang. It will tend to draw the Indians to that place and will cause them to loaf there and give those who live off them a better chance at them than if the agency were here, or any other small place, for that matter.

STATEMENT OF MR. DARWIN HAY, OF HAMMON, OKLA.

The CHAIRMAN. Where do you reside, Mr. Hay?

Mr. HAY. Hammon.

The CHAIRMAN. You are familiar with this proposition we are talking about-to consolidate the agency here in Clinton?

Mr. HAY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You have some general information on the Indian situation here, throughout the whole country?

Mr. HAY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The country adjacent to Clinton?

Mr. HAY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The Cheyenne and Arapaho country?

Mr. HAY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think you could give us some information of interest with regard to this matter?

Mr. HAY. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. If so, go ahead briefly.

Mr. HAY I am not very well educated.

The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead in your own way.

Mr. HAY. I live at Hammon, and it is 32 miles from here to Hammon. It would be sufficiently close to us, especially Colony, which is right in our way. We have to stop here on our way to Colony, and there is an $8 railroad fare. I think if we had a large agency it would be a whole lot different to us Indians and it would be a whole lot cheaper.

Mr. CARTER. How many Indians live out there?
Mr. HAY. Two hundred and fifty.

Mr. CARTER. How far from here is Hammon?
Mr. HAY. Thirty-two miles.