INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES. Vol. 1, Laws

Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.

ACTS OF FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS—SECOND SESSION, 1875.
CHAP. 131 | CHAP 132 | CHAP 133

Chapter 132
Sections 2 | 3 | 4 | 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10

Margin Notes
Chap. 132	Three Indian inspectors only, and agencies need not be inspected twice a year. R.S., 2043-2045.
Chap. 132	No payments to Indians holding captives. R.S., 2102.
Sec. 2	—nor to Indians at war with United States. R.S., 2100.
Sec. 3	Indians to be required to labor on reservations to amount of supplies and annuities distributed. R.S., 2086.
Sec. 3	—may be exempted by Secretary of the Interior.
Sec. 4	Agents to make rolls of Indians entitled to supplies; how to distribute supplies. R.S., 2109. 1884, July 4, ch.180, S. 9, 23 Stat. 76.
Sec. 5	Indians to be employed. R.S., 2069. 1882, May 17, ch.163, S. 6, post, p. 29.
Sec. 5	Agent's oath to accounts.
Sec. 5	Increase of employees: how obtained. 73 Fed. Rep., 400.
Sec. 6	Appropriations for Indian supplies to be so distributed as to prevent deficiencies. R.S., 3679.
Sec. 6	—not to be exceeded in any year. 1891, Mar. 3, ch. 543, S. 4, 26 Stat 989.
Sec. 7	Copies of contracts for Indian service to be furnished Second Auditor. R.S., 3744. 1876, Aug. 15, ch. 289, S. 3, post, p. 27.
Sec. 8	Secretary of Interior to print and lay before Congress annually a statement of items of expenditure of Indian appropriations, statement of salaries, etc. R.S., 445, 2091. Aug. 15, 1876, post, p. 27.
Sec. 8	Commissioner of Indian Affairs—when to report. R.S., 468, 469.
Sec. 9	Bidders on account of Indian service in amounts exceeding $5,000 to accompany bids with certified checks, etc. R.S., 3709. 1877, Mar. 3, c. 101, post, p. 27.
Sec. 10	Sureties on Indian agents' bond to file statement of property. R.S., 2057.
Sec. 10	Indian agents to keep book of expenditures, etc., and forward transcripts to Commissioner. R.S., 2058.
Sec. 10	—punishment for failing to keep books, etc. 1874, June 22, c. 389, and note, ante, p. 22.

Chapter 132
Mar. 3, 1875. | 18 Stat., 420.

An 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 seventy-six, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted, &c., * * * That after the commencement of the next fiscal year there shall be but three inspectors^a; and that provision of law requiring that each agency shall be visited and examined by one or more of the inspectors at least twice in each year is hereby repealed. * * *

^aNotwithstanding this provision appropriations have been annually made from 1880 to 1891 "for pay of five Indian inspectors, at $3,000 per annum," and for their traveling expenses. 21 Stat., 116, 487; 22 Stat., 70, 434; 23 Stat., 77, 364; 24 Stat., 30, 450; 25 Stat., 219, 982; 26 Stat., 338, 991; 24 C. Cls., 433.

That the Secretary of the Interior be authorized to withhold, from any tribe of Indians who may hold any captives other than Indians, any moneys due them from the United States until said captives shall be surrendered to the lawful authorities of the United States.

That none of the appropriations herein made, or of any appropriations made for the Indian service, shall be paid to any band of Indians or any portion of any band

while at war with the United States or with the white citizens of any of the States or Territories.

That for the purpose of inducing Indians to labor and become self-supporting, it is provided that hereafter, in distributing the supplies and annuities to the Indians for whom the same are appropriated, the agent distributing the same shall require all able-bodied male Indians between the ages of eighteen and forty-five to perform service upon the reservation, for the benefit of themselves or of the tribe, at a reasonable rate, to be fixed by the agent in charge, and to an amount equal in value to the supplies to be delivered; and the allowances provided for such Indians shall be distributed to them only upon condition of the performance of such labor, under such rules and regulations as the agent may prescribe:

Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior may, by written order, except any particular tribe, or portion of tribe, from the operation of this provision where he deems it proper and expedient.,

That hereafter, for the purpose of properly distributing the supplies appropriated for the Indian service, it is hereby made the duty of each agent in charge of Indians and having supplies to distribute, to make out, at the commencement of each fiscal year, rolls of the Indians entitled to supplies at the agency, with the names of the Indians and of the heads of families or lodges, with the number in each family or lodge, and to give out supplies to the heads of families, and not to the heads of tribes or bands, and not to give out supplies for a greater length of time than one week in advance.

* * * And where Indians can perform the duties they shall be employed; and the number and kind of employees at each agency shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and none others shall be employed Indian agents shall be required to state, under oath, upon rendering their quarterly accounts, that the employees claimed for were actually and bona fide employed at such agency, and at the compensation as claimed, and that such service was necessary; and that such agent is not to receive, and has not received, directly or indirectly, any part of the compensation claimed for any other employee:

Provided, That when there is no officer authorized to administer oaths within convenient distance of such agent, the Secretary of the Interior may direct such returns to be made upon certificate of the agent;

And provided further, That in case it should be necessary, at any agencies, to have more employees than provided for in this section, the Secretary may, by written order, authorize the increase necessary; but in no case shall the amount expended at any agency exceed ten thousand dollars in any one year; and the provision of this section shall apply to the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-five.

That hereafter, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior, and the officers charged by law with the distribution of supplies to the Indians, under appropriations made by law, to distribute them and pay them out to the Indians entitled to them, in such proper proportions as that the amount of appropriation made for the current year shall not be expended before the end of such current year, so as to prevent deficiencies;

And no expenditure shall be made or liability incurred on the part of the Government on account of the Indian service for any fiscal year (unless in compliance with existing law) beyond the amount of money previously appropriated for said service during such year.

* * * That copies of all contracts made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, or any other officer of the Government, for the Indian service, shall be furnished to the Second [Auditor] of the Treasury before any payment shall be made thereon.

That hereafter, the Secretary of the Interior cause to be prepared and delivered to the Public Printer, on or before the first day of November in each year, a tabular statement of the items paid out up to that date of the appropriations made for the Indian Department for the fiscal year previously ending, each item being placed under the appropriation from which it was paid, in such manner as to show the disposition made of each appropriation and the amount unexpended of each; also an itemized statement of the salaries and incidental expenses paid at each agency for the said year, and the appropriations out of which paid, and the number of Indians at each agency; and that the same be laid before Congress on the first day of the succeeding session.

And that the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the reports of agents, be printed and laid before Congress on the first day of the said session.

That hereafter all bidders under any advertisement published by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for proposals for goods, supplies, transportation, and so forth, for and on account of the Indian service, whenever the value of the goods, supplies, and so forth, to be furnished, or the transportation to be performed, shall exceed the sum of five thousand dollars, shall accompany their bids with a certified check, or draft payable to the order of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, upon some United States depository or some one of such solvent national banks as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, which check or draft shall be five per centum on the amount of the goods, supplies, transportation, and so forth, as aforesaid;

And in case any such bidder, on being awarded a contract, shall fail to execute the same with good and sufficient sureties according to the terms on which such bid was made and accepted, such bidder shall forfeit the amount so deposited to the United States, and the same shall forthwith be paid into the Treasury of the United States;

But if such contract shall be duly executed, as aforesaid, such draft or check so deposited shall be returned to the bidder.

That hereafter the security or securities, upon the bond required by the act of February twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, ^b to be given by each Indian agent before entering upon the duties of his office, shall file a sworn statement with the Secretary of the Interior, setting forth the nature and kind of property owned by such security or securities, the value of the same, and where situated; and that no money appropriated by this act shall be paid to any Indian agent hereafter appointed until the security or securities shall have filed such statement.

^bThe provision of the act of 1851, Feb. 27, c. 14, s. 6 (9 Stat., 587), is incorporated into Revised Statutes, section 2057.

Each Indian agent shall keep a book of itemized expenditures of every kind, with a record of all contracts, together with the receipts of money from all sources; and the books thus kept shall always be open to inspection; and the said books shall remain in the office at the respective reservation, not to be removed from said reservation by said agent, but shall be safely kept and handed over to his successor; and true transcripts of all entries of every character in said books shall be forwarded quarterly by each agent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs:

Provided, That should any agent knowingly make any false entry in said books, or in the transcripts directed to be forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, or shall knowingly fail to keep a perfect entry in said books as herein prescribed, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction before any United States court having jurisdiction of such offense, shall be fined in a sum not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, at the

discretion of the court, and shall be rendered incompetent to hold said office of Indian agent after conviction under this act. * * * [March 3, 1875.]