532. The application for the renewal of a license must be made at least thirty days prior to the expiration of the existing license. 533. A new bond must be given with each renewal of license, as required in section 534. 534. A bond in the penal sum of $10,000 must be furnished by the person or persons licensed that they will faithfully observe all the laws and regulations made for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and will in no respect violate the same. (Sec. 2128, R. S.) 535. The bond must be made out in accordance with the following instructions: 1. If a bond with individuals as sureties is given, there must be not less than two such sureties, but a guaranty company duly qualified under the act of August 13, 1894, may be accepted as sole surety. 2. The full name of the principal and each of his sureties should be written in the body of and so signed to the bond. If any woman signs as surety it must satisfactorily appear that she is unmarried, married women not being accepted as sureties except where, under the laws applicable, she is competent to make such a contract, and her separate property can be taken in the enforcement thereof; and except also where, under the laws applicable, she may sign with her husband, and thereby charge their community property with liability upon execution. 3. There must be a seal of wax, wafer, or other adhesive substance attached to each signature. The printed word "seal" or a scroll is not sufficient. 4. The residence of each principal and surety must be distinctly stated, and the signature of each of them must be made in the presence of two witnesses, and it must appear for whom each witness signs. 5. The bond if with individual sureties must be approved by a United States district judge or attorney, and the approval must be of even or subsequent date to that of the bond. 6. Bonds must not be executed on Sundays or legal holidays. 7. Sureties (individual) must not be bonded officers of the United States, or attorneys having business before the Indian Office, or employees of the principal. 8. Special pains must be taken to prevent erasures or mutilations of any kind in the bond, but if they do occur it must be explained by a certificate of the officer by whom the bond is approved that they were made before the bond was signed by the principal and his sureties. 536. If, after the license shall have been granted, a trader desires to employ persons other than those named in the license, their names, the capacity in which it is proposed to employ them, and satisfactory tes timonials as to character, as required in section 528, must be furnished, and permission in writing obtained for their employment. 537. Agents must see that the employees of traders are fit persons to be in the Indian country, and that the rules respecting permits for such employees have been complied with, and if any of them are found to have objectionable habits, the fact must be immediately reported to the Indian Office, when steps will be taken to have them removed. 538. The principals of trading establishments will be held responsible for the conduct and acts of the persons in their employ in the Indian country; and an infraction, by such persons, of any of the terms or conditions of a license, or any of the laws or regulations, will be considered good and sufficient cause for revoking the license, in the same manner as if the offenses were committed by the principals themselves. 539. Agents must familiarize themselves with the laws and regulations governing the business of licensed traders and see that they are strictly complied with. Any infraction of the laws or regulations, or of any of the terms and conditions of a license, with all the circumstances connected therewith, and any improper conduct on the part of traders, or persons in their employ in the Indian country, must be reported without delay by the agent to the Indian Office. 540. On January 1 and July 1 of each year the agent shall submit to the Indian Office a statement showing whether, and to what extent, each licensed trader has or has not complied with the laws and regulations governing trade with Indians. 541. If persons carry on trade within a reservation with the Indians without a license, or continue to trade after the expiration of the license without applying for renewal, agents will close the stores of such traders and immediately report the facts in the case to the Indian Office, in order that legal steps may be taken to enforce the penalties of the law. 542. Licenses will be revoked by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs whenever, in his opinion, the persons licensed, or any persons in their employ, have transgressed any of the laws or regulations made for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, or have so conducted themselves that it would be improper to permit them to remain in the Indian country. 543. No trade with Indians is permitted at any other place than that specified in the license. Licenses do not cover branch stores. Such stores are not allowed, as the business of a licensed trader must be managed by the bonded principal and not by an unbonded subordinate. 544. Traders must actually carry on the business themselves, and habitually reside upon the reservation where they are licensed. They will not be permitted to farm out, sublet, transfer, or assign the business to others. The presence of a silent partner, not under bond, in any trading establishment will be considered sufficient cause for the revocation of the license. 545. Traders and all persons employed by them will confine themselves to their legitimate business according to the license issued. A license to trade with Indians does not confer upon the trader any rights or privileges in respect to herding or raising cattle upon the reservation. Use of reservation lands, whether tribal or allotted, for such purposes can be obtained by a trader only upon the terms and under the restrictions which apply to other persons. His license gives him no advantage over others in this respect. 546. License to trade does not confer the right to traffic in any uniform clothing, other than that of the United States, nor any medals, flags, arm-bands, or other ornaments of dress bearing the figures, emblems, or devices of any foreign power; nor does it authorize any trade with a tribe or tribes with whom intercourse may have been prohibited by the President of the United States, or who are engaged in hostilities. 547. Traders are forbidden to buy, trade for, or have in their possession any annuity or other goods of any description that have been purchased or furnished by the Government for the use or welfare of the Indians. 548. If any trader, his agent, or any person acting for or under him, shall sell any arms or ammunition at his trading post or other place within any district or country occupied by uncivilized or hostile Indians, contrary to the rules and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior, such trader shall forfeit his right to trade with the Indians, and the Secretary shall exclude such trader, and the agent, or other person so offending, from the district or country so occupied. (Sec. 2136, R. S.) 549. License to trade does not confer the right to traffic in or to have in possession any description of wines, ale, beer, cider, intoxicating liquor, or compound composed in part of alcohol or whisky. 550. Traders must see to it that no intoxicating liquor is allowed on or about their premises under any pretense. A violation of this rule by traders or a failure on their part to use their utmost efforts to suppress traffic in or use of intoxicating liquors, or to notify the Indian Office in regard to it, will subject them to revocation of license and removal from the reservations. 551. The sale of the mescal bean, or any product thereof, by traders is positively prohibited. 552. Traders are not permitted to keep their places of business open on Sunday. Violation of this rule will be considered sufficient cause for the revocation of a trader's license. 553. Gambling, by dice, cards, or in any way whatever, is strictly prohibited in any licensed trader's establishment or on the premises. 554. Before any goods are offered for sale, traders shall exhibit to the agent the original invoices of the goods intended for sale, and also the bills of lading therefor, together with the price at which each article is to be sold; and it is the duty of the agent to see that the prices are fair and reasonable. 555. Invoices of purchase for the replenishment of the trader's stock, as well as the bills of lading for the same, must be submitted to the agent in the same manner and for the same purpose as is provided in the preceding section for the original purchase of stock. 556. The trader shall keep an itemized ledger, which shall give such a description of the articles charged to each Indian that they can be easily and positively identified on the invoice showing the original cost of such articles. The quantity and the price per pound, per yard, per bushel, etc., shall be stated. The amounts credited to each Indian shall also be itemized so as to show every cash payment made and every credit allowed for articles sold or services rendered by him, the kind, quantity, and price allowed for each article sold, as well as the character and amount of labor performed, and the rate of compensation allowed therefor, to be stated. 557. Not exceeding the following rates of profit may be allowed traders on goods and supplies sold to Indians, after adding the expense of transportation to the first cost or invoice prices: Dry goods, including blankets, woolen goods, shawls, hosiery, bed quilts, cotton goods, yarns, etc., 25 per cent. Ready-made clothing, including underwear, 30 per cent. Boots and shoes and rubber goods, 30 per cent. Hats and caps, 25 per cent. Notions, including beads, twine, gloves, etc., 35 per cent. Groceries, including canned goods, an average of 20 per cent. Furniture and wooden ware, 25 per cent. Harness, saddles, leather, etc., 25 per cent. Miscellaneous articles, including clocks, sewing machines, churns, brass kettles, cornshellers, fanning mills, feed cutters, etc., 20 per cent. All kinds of agricultural implements, 20 per cent. Flour, meal, grain, etc., 20 per cent. Wagons and wagon fixtures, 20 per cent. Paints and oil, 30 per cent. Stoves, hollow ware, tinware, stamped ware, 25 per cent. Hardware, including nails, glass, grindstones, rope, horseshoes, etc., 25 per cent. 18031-04- -7 Patent medicines, the regular established retail price. 558. At least three written or printed copies, in both English and Indian (if the Indian language has been reduced to writing), of all the leading articles kept on sale, with the price of each article, must be conspicuously posted about the agency, and one copy thereof must be posted in each trader's store. At least twice each year the trader must furnish the agent with a list of prices charged for staple articles. 559. The quality of all articles kept on sale must be good and merchantable. 560. Traders' weights shall conform to either Fairbanks's or Howe's scales. 561. If credit is given Indians by a trader, he must take the risk of his action; no assistance in the collection of alleged claims will be given him by the agent. But whenever Indians obtain goods of the licensed trader on credit, they are expected to pay for the same promptly, in the manner and at the time agreed upon. 562. Traders must not pay Indians in tokens, tickets, store orders, or anything else of that character. Payment must be made in money, or in credit if the Indian is indebted to the trader. 563. Indians must be permitted to sell their crops or other articles produced by them at available market towns, precautions being taken to guard them against fraud or obtaining intoxicating liquors. INDIAN DEPREDATION CLAIMS. 564. By the act of March 3, 1891, the Court of Claims is invested with jurisdiction and authority to inquire into and finally adjudicate, in the manner provided in said act, all claims for depredations committed by Indians of the classes therein specified. (See 26 Stats., 851, sec. 1.) 565. That no claim accruing prior to July 1, 1865, shall be considered by the court unless the claim shall be allowed or has been or is pending, prior to the passage of this act, before the Secretary of the Interior or the Congress of the United States, or before any superintendent, agent, subagent, or commissioner authorized under any act of Congress to inquire into such claims; but no case shall be considered pending unless evidence has been presented therein: And provided further, That all claims existing at the time of the taking effect of this act shall be presented to the court by petition, as hereinafter provided, within three years after the passage hereof, or shall be thereafter forever barred: And provided further, That no suit or proceeding shall be allowed under this act for any depredation which shall be committed after the passage thereof. (Sec. 2, ibid., 852.) 566. That the investigation and examinations under the provisions of the acts of Congress heretofore in force of Indian depredation claims shall cease upon the taking effect of this act. (Sec. 13, ibid., 854.) |