nominated and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the president of the United States. The governor and the secretary to be appointed as aforesaid shall, before they act as such, respectively take an oath or affirmation before the district judge, or some justice of the peace, or other officer in the limits of said Territory duly authorized to administer oaths and affirmations by the laws now in force therein, or before the chief justice or some associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, to support the constitution of the United States and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices, which said oaths, when so taken, shall be certified by the person by whom the same shall have been taken; and such certificates shall be received and recorded by the secretary, among the executive proceedings, and the chief justice and associate justices, and all other civil officers in said Territory, before they act as such, shall take a like oath or affirmation before the said governor or secretary, or some judge or justice of the peace of the Territory, who may be duly commissioned and qualified, which said oath or affirmation shall be certified and transmitted by the person taking the same, to the secretary, to be recorded by him as aforesaid, and afterwards the like oath or affirmation shall be taken, certified and recorded in such manner and form as may be prescribed by law. The governor shall receive an annual salary of two thous- Salaries. and six hundred dollars as governor; the chief justice and associate justices shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars, and the secretary shall receive an annual salary of one thousand eight hundred dollars. The said salaries shall be payable quarter-yearly at the treasury of the United States. The members of the legislative assembly shall be entitled to receive four dollars each per day during their attendance at the sessions, and four dollars for each and every twenty miles traveled in going to and returning from said sessions, estimating the distance by the nearest traveled route. There shall be appropri ated annually the sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the governor to defray the contingent ex Temporary seat of Government. Delegate to Congress, how and when electe National penses of the Territory. There shall also be appropriated annually a sufficient sum, to be expended by the secretary, and upon an estimate to be made by the secretary of the treasury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the legislative assembly, of the courts, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses; and the secretary of the Territory shall annually account to the secretary of the treasury of the United States for the manner in which the aforesaid sum shall have been expended. SEC. 15. That the legislative assembly of the Territory of Oklahoma shall hold its first session at Guthrie, in said Territory, at such time as the governor thereof shall appoint and direct; and at said first session, or as soon thereafter as they shall deem expedient, the governor and legislative assembly shall proceed to locate and establish the seat of government for said Territory, at such place as they may deem eligible, which place, however, shall thereafter be subject to be changed by the said governor and legislative assembly. SEC. 16. That a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States, to serve during each congress of the United State, may be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the legislative assembly, who shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges as are exercised and enjoyed by the delegates from the several other Territories of the United States in the said house of representatives. The first election shall be held at such time and place, and be conducted in such manner as the governor shall appoint and direct, after at least sixty days' notice to be given by proclamation, and at all subsequent elections the time, place, and manner of holding elections, shall be prescribed by law. The person having the greatest number of votes of the qualified electors, as herein before provided, shall be declared by the governor elected, and a certificate thereof shall be accordingly given. SEC. 17. That the provisions of title 62 of the revised statutes of the United States relating to national banks, and all amendments thereto, shall have the same force and effect in the Territory of Oklahoma as elsewhere in the United States: Provided, That persons otherwise qualified to act as directors shall not be required to have resided in said Territory for more than three months immediately preceding their election as such. SEC. 18. That sections numbered 16 and 36 in each township in said Territory shall be, and the same are hereby reserved for the purpose of being applied to public schools in the state or states hereafter to be erected out of the same. In all cases where sections 16 and 36 or either of them, are occupied by actual settlers prior to survey thereof the county commissioners of the counties in which such sections are so occupied are authorized to locate other lands, to an equal amount, in sections or fractional sections, as the case may be, within their respective counties, in lieu of the sections so occupied. All the lands embraced in that portion of the Territory of Oklahoma heretofore known as the Public Land Strip, shall be open to settlement under the provisions of the homestead laws of the United States, except section 2301 of the revised statutes, which shall not apply; but all actual and bona fide settlers upon and occupants of the lands in said Public Land Strip at the time of the passage of this act, shall be entitled to have preference to and hold the lands upon which they have settled under the homestead laws of the United States, by virtue of their settlement and occupancy of said lands, and they shall be credited with the time they have actually occupied their homesteads, respectively, not exceeding two years, on the time required under said laws, to perfect title as homestead settlers. The lands within said Territory of Oklahoma, acquired by cession of the Muskogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians, confirmed by act of congress approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and also the lands acquired in pursuance of an agreement with the Seminole Nation of Indians by release and conveyance, dated March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, which may hereafter be opened to settlement, shall be disposed of under the provisions of sections 12, 13, and 14 of the "Act making appropriations for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian Department, and for fulfilling treaty stipulations with various Indian tribes, for the year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, and for other purposes," approved March second, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and under section 2 of an "Act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muskogee (or Creek) Nation of Indians in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine: Provided, however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions of said act shall, before receiving a patent for his homestead, on the land hereafter opened to settlement as aforesaid, pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Whenever any of the other lands within the Territory of Oklahoma, now occupied by any Indian tribe, shall by operation of law or proclamation of the president of the United States, be open to settlement, they shall be disposed of to actual settlers only, under the provisions of the homestead law, except section 2301 of the revised statutes of the United States which shall not apply: Provided, however, That each settler under and in accordance with the provisions of said homestead laws, shall before receiving a patent for his homestead pay to the United States for the land so taken by him, in addition to the fees provided by law, a sum per acre equal to the amount which has been or may be paid by the United States to obtain a relinquishment of the Indian title or interest therein, but in no case shall such payment be less than one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The rights of honorably discharged soldiers and sailors in the late civil war, as defined and described in sections 2304 and 2305 of the revised statutes of the United States, shall not be abridged except as to such payment. All tracts of land in Oklahoma Territory which have been set apart for school purposes, to educa tional societies, or missionary boards at work among the Indians, shall not be opened for settlement, but are hereby granted to the respective educational societies or missionary boards for whose use the same have been set apart. No part of the land embraced within the Territory hereby created shall inure to the use or benefit of any railroad corporation, except the rights of way and land for stations heretofore granted to certain railroad corporations. Nor shall any provision of this act or any act of any officer of the United States, done or performed under the provisions' of this act or otherwise, invest any corporation owning or operating any railroad in the Indian Territory, or Territory created by this act, with any land or right to any land in either of said Territories, and this act shall not apply to or affect any land which, upon any condition on becoming a part of the public demain, would inure to the benefit of, or become the property of, any railroad corporation. strip. SEC. 19. That portion of the Territory of Oklahoma Public iand heretofore known as the Public Land Strip is hereby declared a public land district, and the president of the United States is hereby empowered to locate a land office in said district, at such place as he shall select, and to appoint in conformity with existing law a register and receiver of said land office. He may also, whenever he shall deem it necessary, establish another additional land. district within said Territory, locate a land office therein, and in like manner appoint a register and receiver thereof. And the commissioner of the general land office shall, when directed by the president, cause the lands within the Territory to be properly surveyed and subdivided, where the same has not already been done. securing lands SEC. 20. That the procedure in applications, entries, Procedure in contests and adjudications in the Territory of Oklahoma shall be in form and manner prescribed under the homestead laws of the United States, and the general priuciples and provisions of the homestead laws, except as modified by the provisions of this act, and the acts of congress approved March first and second, eighteen hundred |