X. THE DIVISION OF ACCOUNTS. 1255. To this division are first referred all returns made by registers and receivers of the business of the district land offices. The various dispositions of the public lands are here classified, and the quarterly accounts of the receivers of the land office are examined and adjusted. 1256. Accounts are also here adjusted and kept of the five per cent. fund accruing to the States upon the sales of the 'public lands within their respective limits; also of the receipt and expenditures of moneys collected from depre dators upon the public timber; and of the sale of Osage and other Indian lands. 1257. All applications for repayments of moneys received for lands to which title cannot be given are here examined, and likewise applications for changing the entry of lands erroneously purchased. 1258. This division audits also claims for swamp-land indemnity due the several States under act of March 2, 1855. 1259. In this division is kept a classified statement of the public lands disposed of for cash, homestead settlement, and of all disposals of public lands. The accounts here adjusted may be recapitulated as follow, viz.: Repayment accounts for lands erroneously sold. Receivers' quarterly accounts. Accounts of receivers acting as disbursing agents. The five per cent. accounts of the States. Timber agents' accounts. State accounts for swamp-land indemnity. All these accounts receive careful scrutiny. The balances are stated and certified to the First Comptroller of the Treasury for final revision. XI. THE DIVISION OF MINERAL CLAIMS. 1260. The work of this division relates to mineral lands. It has in charge the examination and final disposition of applications for patents for mining claims and coal lands, and the adjudication of contests growing out of such applications. It has charge also of contests between agricultural and mineral claimants. CHAPTER XXVI. THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 1261. Upon the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior and agreeably to such regulations as the President may prescribe, devolves the management of all Indian affairs and of all matters arising out of Indian relations. (R. S., § 463.) 1262. He is required to make an administrative examination of all accounts and vouchers for claims and disbursements connected with Indian affairs which may be transmitted to him for that purpose, and to transmit the same to the proper accounting officer of the Treasury Depart ment for settlement. 1263. He is required to report annually to Congress a tabular statement, which shall exhibit distinctly the separate objects of expenditure under his supervision, the amount disbursed for each object, the articles and the quantity of each, the name of each person to whom any part was paid, and the sum paid to him, so far as these expenditures relate to the disbursement of moneys appropriated for incidental, contingent, and miscellaneous expenses of the Indian service for the fiscal year next preceding each report. He is required to embody in that statement the reports of all agents or commissioners issuing food, clothing, or supplies of any kind to Indians, and to state the number of Indians present and actually receiving the same. (R. S., §§ 468, 469.) He is required also to report a detailed and tabular statement of all proposals for Indian supplies and services, also of all contracts awarded. (Act August 15, 1876, Stats. 19, p. 177.) 1264. All merchandise required at the making of any Indian treaty may be purchased by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs through such person as he may appoint. (R. S., § 2083.) 1265. The Commissioner, together with the Secretary of the Interior, is authorized, on a sworn statement filed with the former, to determine whether an agent or attorney seeking pay for services under a contract or agreement with a tribe of Indians, or with individual Indians, has complied with or fulfilled that contract or agreement. (R. S., § 2103.) 1266. The consent of the Commissioner, as well as of the Secretary of the Interior, is required to be indorsed on an assignment of any contract made with the Indians under section 2103 of the Revised Statutes, in order to render such assignment valid. (R. S., § 2106.) 1267. It is within the province of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to approve or disapprove the granting or revocation of a license given by a superintendent of Indian affairs, Indian agent, or sub-agent to any person to trade with the Indians. (R. S., § 2131.) 1268. He is authorized and required, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to remove from any tribal reservation any person who may be therein without authority of law, or whose presence may be detri mental in his judgment to the peace and welfare of the Indians; and he may employ for the purpose such force as may be necessary to enable the agent to effect the removal of such person. (R. S., § 2149.) And he is required to report to Congress at each session any case of hostilities, by any tribe with which the United States has treaty stipulations, occurring since his next preceding report. (R. S., § 2100.) 1269. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs exercises by authority of law a supervision of contracts made by private parties with Indian tribes or individual Indians, and of the assignment of the same, in order to secure the Indians against fraud, injustice, and exorbitant demands. (R. S., SS 2103, 2105, 2106; act April 29, 1874, Stat. 18, p. 35.) 1270. He has the sole power by law to appoint traders to the Indian tribes, and is authorized to make such rules as he may deem just and proper, specifying the kind and quantity of goods to be sold the Indians and the prices at which the same may be purchased by them. (Act August 15, 1876, Stats. 19, p. 200.) He is required to advertise for all supplies, except that the purchase of supplies for a period of sixty days may be made in open market, also in case of exigency, to an amount not exceeding two thousand dollars at one time. (Act August 15, 1876, Stats. 19, p. 200.) THE OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 1271. This office originated in the act of July 9, 1832, which provided for a Commissioner, to be under the control of the Secretary of War. Subsequently that officer was transferred to the Department of the Interior by the act of 1849 creating that department. Subordinate to the head of the office is the Chief Clerk, who has general supervision of the business, and next to him are the several clerks of the different classes, as provided for annually in the appropriation acts of Congress. 1272. As now organized the Indian Office consists of the following-named divisions, in charge of clerks desig nated as chiefs, viz.: 1. Finance. 2. Accounts. 3. Land. 4. Civilization and Education. 5. Records and Files. |