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§ 720. (Act July 26, 1892, c. 256, § 3.) Seal of office; authentication and certification of documents, records, etc., and use thereof as evidence.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall cause a seal to be made and provided for the said office, with such device as the President of the United States shall approve, and copies of any public documents, records, books, maps, or papers belonging to or on the files of said office, authenticated by the seal and certified by the Commissioner thereof, or by such officer as may, for the time being, be acting as or for such Commissioner, shall be evidence equally with the originals thereof. (27 Stat. 272.)

See notes to section 1 of this act, ante, § 718.
Notes of Decisions

Necessity of seal.-Under R. S. § 882, post, § 1494, and this section, a copy of a part of the approved roll of Seminole freedmen, within Act May 27,

1908, § 3. not authenticated by any seal, is inadmissible. Newsom v. Langford (Tex. Civ. App. 1915) 174 S. W. 1036.

§ 721. (Act July 26, 1892, c. 256, § 4.) Certified copies of records, etc., and fees therefor.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall have the custody of said seal, and shall furnish certified copies of any such records, books, maps, or papers belonging to or on the files of said office, to any person applying therefor who shall comply with the requirements of said office, upon the payment by such parties at the rate of ten cents per hundred words, and one dollar for copies of maps or plats, and the additional sum of twenty-five cents for the Commissioner's certificate of verification, with the seal of said office; and one of the employés of said office shall be designated by the Commissioner as the receiving clerk, who shall give bond in the sum of one thousand dollars, and the amounts so received shall, under the direction of the Commissioner, be paid into the Treasury of the United States; but fees shall not be demanded for such authenticated copies as may be required by the officers of any branch of the Government or by any Indian who shall satisfy the Commissioner by satisfactory legal evidence that he or she is not able, by reason of poverty, to pay such fees, nor for such unverified copies as the Commissioner in his discretion may deem proper to furnish. (27 Stat. 272.)

See notes to section 1 of this act, ante, § 718.

Subsequent general provisions for furnishing copies of official books, records, papers, etc., within the custody of the Secretary of the Interior, the head of any bureau, office, etc., or any officer of the Department, made by Act Aug. 24, 1912, c. 370, are set forth ante, §§ 673-678.

§ 722. (R. S. § 464.) Accounts for claims and disbursements.

All accounts and vouchers for claims and disbursements connected with Indian affairs shall be transmitted to the Commissioner for administrative examination, and by him passed to the proper accounting officer of the Department of the Treasury for settlement. Act July 9, 1832, c. 174, § 3, 4 Stat. 564.

General provisions relating to the administrative examination of accounts and their transmission to the accounting officers of the Treasury were made by the Dockery Act of July 31, 1894, c. 174, § 12, ante, § 428.

Provisions requiring an abstract of all bids or proposals for supplies or services embraced in any contract in connection with the Indian service to be attached to the contract when filed in the Treasury Department were made by Act Aug. 15, 1876, c. 289, § 3, post, § 4044.

A system of bookkeeping was required to be installed in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, on or before July 1, 1914, to afford a ready analysis of expenditures by appropriations and allotments and by units of the service, by a provision of Act June 30, 1913, c. 4, § 26, post, § 6789.

Further provisions of said section, requiring a detailed statement of expenditures, as therein described, to be incorporated in the annual report of the

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and requiring the estimates for the Indian Service to be accompanied by a detailed statement, classified in the manner prescribed therein, are also set forth post, § 6789.

Notes of Decisions

See U. S. v. Brindle (1884) 110 U. S. 688, 4 Sup. Ct. 180, 28 L. Ed. 286.

Allowance of unliquidated damages.The accounting officers of the treasury are not authorized to allow a claim for unliquidated damages sustained by a contractor for emigrating Indians, in

consequence of interference with performance by the officers of the government of a part of the services. (1847) 4 Op. Atty. Gen. 626.

Cited without definite application, Byrd v. U. S. (1909) 44 Ct. Cl. 498.

§ 723. (R. S. § 465.) Regulations relating to Indian affairs. The President may prescribe such regulations as he may think fit for carrying into effect the various provisions of any act relating to Indian affairs, and for the settlement of the accounts of Indian affairs. Act June 30, 1834, c. 162, § 17, 4 Stat. 738.

Notes of Decisions

Effect of regulations.-Regulations made by the President through the war department are obligatory on all the departments. (1848) 5 Op. Atty. Gen. 36, 39. Scope of authority to make regulations.-Power to establish Indian reservation, see U. S. v. Leathers (D. C. 1879) Fed. Cas. No. 15581. See, also, 17 Op. Atty. Gen. 258.

The

authority of the President to make executive regulations is subject to the implied condition that they be consistent with the statutes and in execution of and supplementary thereto. Romero. U. S. (1889) 24 Ct. Cl. 331. The payment of money due from the government to the Indians, by force of treaties, is an appropriate subject of regulation under this section. (1848) 5 Op. Atty. Gen. 36, 40.

Effect of regulations.-The regulations when made have the force of statutory enactments.

U. S. v. Thurston

County (1906) 143 Fed. 287, 291, 74

C. C. A. 425.

Violation of regulations.-Neither this nor related sections provided that a violation of the rules or regulations when adopted shall be an offense, and in the absence of such provision a violation thereof is not a crime. Thus a special officer for suppressing liquor traffic was not guilty of bribery in accepting money to influence him in official action, where he took the money to persuade him to recommend leniency to persons convicted of selling liquor to the Indians; no such official duty being imposed on him as to make such recommendations. U. S. v. Van Wert (D. C. 1912) 195 Fed. 974.

Though the Indians are the wards of the United States, acting through executive officers pursuant to regulations promulgated under the authority of the

president,

pursuant to R. S. § 463, ante,

716, and this section, yet, in the absence of such regulations defining what conduct of Indians shall be deemed rep

rehensible and subject them to correction, it does not rest in executive discretion to administer corrective punishment, as to members of a tribe having a treaty with the United States, covenanting that bad Indians shall not be punished by the United States except pursuant to laws defining their offenses and prescribing the punishments therefor. Ex parte Bi-a-lil-le (Ariz. 1909) 100 Pac. 450.

Treaties with Indian tribes.-A treaty with an Indian tribe is an act or law which, under this section, the president has power to prescribe rules for carrying into effect. U. S. v. Clapox (D. C. 1888) 35 Fed. 575, 577.

Bonds of agents.-Under this section and under R. S. § 2057, post, § 3999, requiring Indian agents to give bonds with such security as the President or Secretary of the Interior may require, the President and Secretary had authority to determine the character of the bond both as to its penalty and the nature and conditions of its obligations, and the fact that a bond required contained provisions not required by any statutory provision did not affect its validity. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. U. S. (1907) 150 Fed. 550, 553, 80 C. C. A. 446.

Bribery of special officer.-A special officer appointed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the suppression of the liquor traffic among the Indians was not guilty of bribery, under Pen. Code, § 117, post, § 10287, in accepting a sum of money for a recommendation to the United States District Court and the District Attorney, for the reduction of sentences of persons convicted of violating the Liquor Traffic Law, not imposing on accused any duty in regard to such recommendation. U. S. v. Van Wert (D. C. 1912) 195 Fed. 974; Same v. Brents (D. C. 1912) 195 Fed. 980.

Cited without definite application, U. S. v. Birdsall (1914) 34 Sup. Ct. 512, 515, 233 U. S. 223, 58 L. Ed. 930.

§ 724. (Act March 3, 1909, c. 263.) Designation of employé to sign letters for Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner. Hereafter the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may designate an employee of the Indian Office to sign letters of that office requiring the signature of the commissioner or assistant commissioner, and all signatures of such employee while acting under such designation shall have the same force and effect as if made by said commissioner or assistant commissioner. (35 Stat. 783.)

This was a provision of the Indian appropriation act for the fiscal year 1910, cited above.

§ 725. (Act March 3, 1911, c. 210, § 17.)

Designation of employé

or employés to sign approval of Secretary of tribal deeds, etc., of any of Five Civilized Tribes.

That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to designate an employee or employees of the Department of the Interior to sign, under the direction of the Secretary, in his name and for him, his approval of tribal deeds to allottees, to purchasers of town lots, to purchasers of unallotted lands, to persons, corporations, or organizations for lands reserved to them under the law for their use and benefit, and to any tribal deeds made and executed according to law for any of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians in Oklahoma. (36 Stat. 1069.)

This was a provision of the Indian appropriation act for the fiscal year 1912, cited above.

The legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation acts make appropriations for the salary of the above named employé. The appropriation for the fiscal year 1917 was by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 1, 39 Stat.

§ 726. (Act April 30, 1908, c. 153.) Agent to negotiate with Indians for commutation of perpetual annuities.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs is hereby authorized to send a special Indian agent, or other representative of his office, to visit any Indian tribe for the purpose of negotiating and entering into a written agreement with such tribe for the commutation of the perpetual annuities due under treaty stipulations, to be subject to the approval of Congress; and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall transmit to Congress said agreements with such recommendations as he may deem proper. (35 Stat. 73.)

This was a provision of the Indian appropriation act for the fiscal year 1909, cited above.

Cited without definite application, Campbell v. U. S. (1909) 44 Ct. CI.

(R. S. § 466. Superseded.)

488; Hayes v. U. S. (1909) 44 Ct. CI. 493; Byrd v. U. S. (1909) 44 Ct. Cl. 498.

This section, as enacted in the Revised Statutes, provided for regulations by the Secretary of the Interior, of the presentation and proof of claims under laws or treaty stipulations for compensation for depredations committed by Indians, the investigation by him of claims presented, and payment of them. It was superseded by the transfer of such claims to the Court of Claims by the Indian Depredation Act, Act March 3, 1891, c. 538, 26 Stat. 854, section 13 of which provided that the investigation and examination of such claims, under acts previously in force, should cease on the taking effect of that act. (R. S. § 467. Transferred.)

This section was transferred to Title XXVIII, "Indians," c. 4, post, § 4133. (R. S. §§ 468, 469. Repealed.)

These sections, which required the Commissioner to report annually to Congress the expenditures for the Indian service, prescribing the form and contents of such reports, were repealed, with R. S. § 2091, by Act June 25, 1910, c. 431, § 19, 36 Stat. 860.

A provision, subsequent to these sections, that, in the annual report of the Commissioner, there should be embodied "a detailed and tabular statement of all bids and proposals received for any services, supplies, or annuity goods for the Indian service, together with a detailed statement of all awards of con

tracts made for any such services, supplies, and annuity goods for which said bids or proposals were received," made by Act Aug. 15, 1876, c. 289, § 3, 19 Stat. 199, was repealed, before the repeal of R. S. §§ 468, 469, mentioned above, by Act June 21, 1906, c. 3504, 34 Stat. 328, which act further provided that the Commissioner should "embody in his annual report only a detailed statement of the awards of contracts made for any services, supplies, and annuity goods for the Indian service." But this provision, also, may be regarded as repealed by necessary implication from the repeal, as mentioned above, of R. S. §§ 468, 469, and of Act March 3, 1875, c. 132, § 8, 18 Stat. 450, and other provisions requiring reports by the Commissioner, by Act June 25, 1910, c. 431, §§ 19, 20, 36 Stat. 860, 861.

A further provision of the deficiency appropriation act of March 8, 1892, c. 12, 27 Stat. 5, required the commissioner to include in his annual report to Congress the names, with other particulars, of all employés under the Indian Bureau. And the Indian appropriation act of the same year, Act July 13, 1892, c. 164, § 9, 27 Stat. 145, provided that the Commissioner should report annually to Congress the number, with other particulars, of employés at each agency, industrial, and boarding school, supported out of the appropriations in the act; also number, with other particulars, of employés in his office in Washington. These provisions were repeated, in substance, in the subsequent Indian appropriation acts down to that for the fiscal year 1897, and thereafter the provision for a report of employés at schools was repeated in the similar acts down to the act for the fiscal year 1904. But Act April 21, 1904, c. 1402, § 6, 33 Stat. 217, provided for a similar report of employés at schools, "te each Congress, at the first regular session thereof," instead of "annually," as required in the preceding acts; and the provision was not repeated in subsequent acts. The repeal of the provision for a report of all employés under the Indian Bureau, of Act March 8, 1912, c. 12, mentioned above, was evidently intended, notwithstanding the discrepancy in referring to it, by date of March 2, in the repeal of "so much of the Acts of March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and April twenty-first, nineteen hundred and four, which require the Commissioner to report annually the names of all employés, in the Indian service," by Act June 21, 1906, c. 3504, 34 Stat. 328. And the subsequent repeal of the sections in which the provisions of Act July 13, 1892, c. 164, § 9, mentioned above, for reports of employés at schools and of employés in the Indian Bureau were re-enacted, Act March 2, 1895, c. 188, § 8, 28 Stat. 908, Act March 3, 1901, c. 832, § 8, 31 Stat. 1085, and Act May 27, 1902, c. 888, § 6, 32 Stat. 274, by Act June 25, 1910, c. 431, § 20, 36 Stat. 861, involving the repeal of all similar provisions in other acts requiring such reports, in connection with the repeal by said section and section 20 of the same act of R. S. §§ 468, 469, and other provisions relating to reports by the Commissioner, may be regarded as operating as a repeal of all provisions for such reports mentioned in this paragraph.

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§ 727. (R. S. § 470.) Commissioner of Pensions.

There shall be in the Department of the Interior a Commissioner of Pensions, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall be entitled to receive a salary of [four thousand dollars] a year.

Act March 2, 1833, c. 54, § 1, 4 Stat. 619, 622. Act March 3, 1835, c. 46, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4 Stat. 779. Act March 3, 1837, c. 43, 5 Stat. 187. Act March 4, 1840, c. 4, §§ 1, 2, 3, 5 Stat. 369. Act March 4, 1840, c. 4, § 4, 5 Stat. 370. Act Jan. 20, 1843, c. 4, 5 Stat. 597. Act Jan. 14, 1846, c. 4, § 1, 9 Stat. 3. Act Jan. 19, 1849, c. 20, § 1, 9 Stat. 341. Act March 3, 1873, c. 226, § 5,

17 Stat. 508.

The salary of the Commissioner, having been increased from $3,000 to $4,000, by the provision of Act March 3, 1873, c. 226, § 3, incorporated into this

section of the Revised Statutes, and cited above, was reduced to $3,000, and the words of this section inclosed in brackets, "four thousand dollars," were superseded, by the repeal of so much of that act as increased the amount, by Act Jan. 20, 1874, c. 11, 18 Stat. 4. Subsequent appropriations were for increased amounts. The appropriation for the Commissioner for the fiscal year 1917 was $5,000, by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 1, 39 Stat.

All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with rates of salaries or compensation appropriated by the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation acts are repealed, and the rates of salaries or compensation of officers or employés, appropriated for in said acts are to constitute the rate of salary or compensation of such officers or employés, respectively, until otherwise fixed by an annual rate of appropriation or other law, by Act July 16, 1914, c. 141, § 6, post, § 3228a.

The officers and employés of the United States whose salaries are appropriated for in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act for the fiscal year 1916, Act March 4, 1915, c. 141, 38 Stat. 1049, are established and continued from year to year to the extent that they are appropriated for by Congress, by § 6 of said act, post, § 3228b.

Unless otherwise specially authorized by law, no money appropriated by any act shall be available for payment to any person receiving more than one salary, when the combined amount of said salaries exceeds $2,000 per annum, with certain enumerated exceptions, by Act May 10, 1916, c. 117, § 6, as amended by Act Aug. 29, 1915, c. 417, post, § 3230a.

Notes of Compelling attendance of witness before special examiner.-Since the pension bureau is not a court, a subpoena cannot issue out of the district court to compel attendance of a witness before a special examiner of the pension bureau. In re McLean (D. C. 1888) 37 Fed. 648.

Status of Commissioner.-The commissioner of pensions is an officer of

Decisions

the United States, though he is not the "head of a department" under Const. art. 2, § 2. His function is an "office." U. S. v. Van Leuven (D. C. 1894) 62 Fed. 62, 65; U. S. v. Germaine (1878) 99 U. S. 508, 25 L. Ed. 482.

Cited without definite application, Pooler v. U. S. (1904) 127 Fed. 509, 62 C. C. A. 307.

§ 728. (R. S. § 471.) Duties of the Commissioner.

The Commissioner of Pensions shall perform, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, such duties in the execution of the various pension and bounty-land laws as may be prescribed by the President.

Act March 2, 1833, c. 54, § 1, 4 Stat. 619, 622. Act March 3, 1835, c. 46, § 2, 4 Stat. 779. Act March 3, 1837, c. 43, § 2, 5 Stat. 187. Act March 4, 1840, c. 4, § 2, 5 Stat. 369. Act March 4, 1840, c. 4, § 4, 5 Stat. 370. Act Jan. 20, 1843, c. 4, § 2, 5 Stat. 597.

Notes of

Scope of Commissioner's authority.The Commissioner of Pensions and Department of the Interior have sole jurisdiction to administer and construe the pension laws. U. S. v. Scott (C. C. 1885) 25 Fed. 470, 472; U. S. v. Raum (D. C. 1890) 7 Mackey, 556; (1891) 20 Op. Atty. Gen. 178; Stokely v. De Camp (Pa. 1849) 2 Grant, Cas. 17.

The commissioner of pensions is not a judicial officer, and his rulings in granting a pension upon improper or fraudulent testimony do not estop the government from recovering back moneys paid thereunder. U. S. v. Lalone (C. C. 1890) 44 Fed. 475.

It is the duty of the Commissioner of Pensions, in a case where money has been paid on a pension certificate alleged to have been fraudulently obtained, to furnish the Solicitor of the Treasury with all the material facts and evidence in the case at his command, or which he can obtain, including facts and evidence with regard to

Decisions

certificates of deposit and mortgages that have been made and purchased with part of such money, and in every way in his power to aid in the prosecution of such suits as may be brought. (1888) 19 Op. Atty. Gen. 210.

Mandamus to compel action by Commissioner. See U. S. v. Black (1888) 128 U. S. 40, 9 Sup. Ct. 12, 32 L. Ed. 354.

Appeals from Commissioner.-While there is no express power given to the secretary to hear and determine appeals from the Commissioner of Pensions, such power has not been questioned. Knight v. United Land Ass'n (1891) 12 Sup. Ct. 258, 264, 142 U. S. 161, 35 L. Ed. 974.

The matter of determining, and certifying who is entitled to a pension is confided to certain executive officers and not to the judiciary; and no right to a pension is fixed until those officers declare it to be; and if they decide

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