ing out of efforts to
obtain Government land are determined. The entire testimony upon which
these controversies depend in all their stages is taken before the
local registers and receivers, and yet these officers have no power
to subpoena witnesses or to enforce their attendance to testify. These
cases, numbering three or four thousand annually, are sent by the local
officers to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for his action.
The exigencies of his other duties oblige him to act upon the decisions
of the registers and receivers without an opportunity of thorough
personal examination. Nearly 2,000 of these cases are appealed annually
from the Commissioner to the Secretary of the Interior. Burdened with
other important administrative duties, his determination of these
appeals must be almost perfunctory and based upon the examination of
others, though this determination of the Secretary operates as a final
adjudication upon rights of very great importance.

I concur in the opinion that the Commissioner of the General Land Office
should be relieved from the duty of deciding litigated land cases, that
a nonpartisan court should be created to pass on such cases, and that
the decisions of this court should be final, at least so far as the
decisions of the Department are now final. The proposed court might be
given authority to certify questions of law in matters of especial
importance to the Supreme Court of the United States or the court of
appeals for the District of Columbia for decision. The creation of such
a tribunal would expedite the disposal of cases and insure decisions of
a more satisfactory character. The registers and receivers who
originally hear and decide these disputes should be invested with
authority to compel witnesses to attend and testify before them.

Though the condition of the Indians shows a steady and healthy progress,
their situation is not satisfactory at all points. Some of them to whom
allotments of land have been made are found to be unable or disinclined
to follow agricultural pursuits or to otherwise beneficially manage
their land. This is especially true of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, who,
as it appears by reports of their agent, have in many instances never
been located upon their allotments, and in some cases do not even know
where their allotments are. Their condition has deteriorated. They are
not self-supporting and they live in camps and spend their time in
idleness.

I