Mr. RHODES. In view of the statement made by some person present, that there was a difference between the deed-the allotment deed from which I read into the record-and the homestead law, I desire to offer in evidence from the record, previously identified, homestead deed embracing allotment No. 427, under which is conveyed certain property in the Osage County to Maj. Blaine Walker, in which the granting clause is as follows:

The heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, subject, however, to all the conditions, limitations, and provisions of said act of Congress, one of which is that the homestead selections shall be inalienable and nontaxable until otherwise provided by act of Congress, and all mineral in such lands is reserved to the Osage Tribe of Indians for a period of 25 years from and after the 8th day of April, 1906.

For the purpose of showing that there is no difference in the part of the granting clause which says anything pertaining to the restriction period of 25 years, and that it is silent as to any extension, I offer that.

Mr. ELSTON. I think you did qualify it by stating the reservation in the granting clause will not require an act of Congress and by the limitations and those of the act which would include this clause until Congress decides otherwise.

Mr. RHODES. That needs no comment, because that is in the reservation. I offer that for the purpose of showing that there is no difference between that period and the 25-year period.

Mr. GRINSTEAD. There is just one more item in reference to the future, in the effect of the proposed extension or non-extension upon the development. I offer from the justification of Mr. Meritt before the Indian Committee supporting the proposed extension the following language-

Mr. HASTINGS (interposing). Will you give the date of that? Mr. GRINSTEAD. I think it is 1917 or 1918. It was at the time when it was proposed that the reservation would last until 1960.

"So far as is known at this time, the Osage Reservation includes the only oil and gas field of any extent which is practically under the control of the Federal Government. Such wasteful methods have heretofore prevailed in the development of lands for oil and gas that it would seem that the Osage Reservation should be as far as possible conserved for future use, or at least that conservative methods should be employed in the development of the field. If the law is to remain as now, it will be impossible to conserve these lands as they should be, and either of two things would happen: First, the right to the immediate development of the land, so that the tribe as a whole may get the greatest possible revenue therefrom prior to the expiration of the trust period; second, the right of the tribe as a whole to exact a greater part of the land remaining in development until 1931 and at that time turn it over to the surface owners for exploitation, speculation, and rapid development, to the advantage of the few and the betterment of the many."

That is all I care to say.

(The following was submitted for the record:)

CERTIFICATE OF COMPETENCY OF AN OSAGE INDIAN-ALLOTMENT NO. 502.

OSAGE AGENCY, OKLA.,

August 21, 1911. Whereas Harry Py-Ah-Hun-Kah, a member of the Osage Tribe of Indians, has made application for the issuance of a certificate of competency under the provisions of paragraph 7 of section 2 of the act of Congress approved June 28, 1906 (34 Stat. L., pp. 539-542); and

Whereas upon investigation, consideration, and examination of the request, Harry Py-Ah-Hun-Kah has been found to be fully competent and capable of transacting his own business and caring for his own individual affairs: Now, therefore,

The First Assistant Secretary of the Interior, by virtue of the power and authority vested in him by paragraph 7 of section 2 of said act of Congress of June 28, 1906, does hereby issue to said Harry Py-Ah-Hun-Kah this certificate of competency, and does hereby invest him with full power and authority to sell and convey any or all surplus lands deeded him under the provisions of said act of Congress, except the minerals therein, which are reserved for the use of the Osage Tribe for a period of 25 years from April 8, 1906, and does hereby declare him to be fully competent and capable of managing and caring for his individual affairs.

This certificate of competency to become effective 30 days from date hereof, and not before.

Done at the city of Washington this 8th day of July, 1911.

SAMUEL ADAMS,

First Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

STATEMENT OF MR. L. J. MILES.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you state your name, age, and qualifications to act as a witness in this case?

Mr. MILES. L. J. Miles. My age is 76. I am just a plain business

man.

The CHAIRMAN. But you have been connected with the Indian Service in years gone by?

Mr. MILES. I have been in the Indian Service.

The CHAIRMAN. Were you at one time the superintendent of this tribe?

Mr. MILES. Yes, sir. I came here in 1878 and was here between 11 and 12 years, going out when Cleveland was elected the second time. The CHAIRMAN. That was previous to the law we are now discussing?

Mr. MILES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What have you to offer the committee as a suggestion in regard to this matter?

Mr. MILES. I could not say in five minutes what I have to say. The CHAIRMAN. We have not asked you to say it in five minutes. That was simply a limitation on our own members.

Mr. MILES. I will say that I have acted on the part of the surface owners for the last three or four years as their representative, looking toward the accomplishment of this legislation, and I have been in Washington three or four times only with the intent of finding out if there was possibly going to be legislation, and the possibility of being heard, and in accordance with that there has been formed here a little organization to formulate evidence and objections to the legislation.

That little organization was suddenly terminated very soon after it returned from Washington last January, and up to the present time

there has been no organization constituted, so now I am acting at the request of a few of the landowners and at the suggestion of quite a number of others that we continue the matter. I want to say that so far as I know no member of that organization has received any of these letters or has taken any part although a number of them have talked to me. I do not think one of them has changed his mind but has consistently, each of them, complied with the demand that was made in these letters.

The CHAIRMAN. You are an old man in the service, and what reason can you give us to convince us that that letter was so potent that it had the effect of instantly changing the minds of these men? Mr. MILES. I do not think any of their minds were changed. The CHAIRMAN. Well, were their actions different?

Mr. MILES. I can only explain by what was said to me.
The CHAIRMAN. Let us have it.

Mr. MILES. One or two of the bankers said to me: " We are acting as trustees for other people and can not afford to jeopardize the interests of people connected with our bank with regard to any action we might take."

The CHAIRMAN. Without regard to their own minds upon the question?

Mr. MILES. Without regard to their own minds upon the question. The CHAIRMAN. Just why in your judgment would bankers take a position such as that?

Mr. MILES. I think they take it conscientiously because they thought it would jeopardize their interest.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think they took that position because certain deposits might be withdrawn or certain other drastic action brought to bear upon them?

Mr. MILES. Undoubtedly.

The CHAIRMAN. And that had its influence upon citizens who were connected with the banks except as depositors?

Mr. MILES. Undoubtedly.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you think that had considerable effect upon changing the attitude of citizens with regard to this matter?

Mr. MILES. Undoubtedly.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, their public attitude?

Mr. MILES. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. But it did not change their minds?

Mr. MILES. I do not think so, not one person.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course, we have not the time here and are not going to have the time to call many of those men who were members of that association, but just how many men who belonged to that association, if you can tell us, are there still with sufficient red blood in them to remain constant to their original thought in this matter that they had previous to this pressure being brought to bear? Mr. MILES. I would say that there are three or four only.

The CHAIRMAN. How many were there in the original association? Mr. MILES. I could not say.

The CHAIRMAN. About how many?

Mr. MILES. I could not say. It embraced practically all the business men of the reservation. I will say that the farmers acted through the business men of this town and the surrounding towns here, and they all laid down except three or four.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you ever, in your long experience here, before known of any such action as that on the part of any Indian Commissioner?

Mr. MILES. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you think the effect of that would be upon the people here in the future?

Mr. MILES. I could not tell. It depends a little bit upon what the result of this is.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you any statement you desire to make to the committee as to why this extension should not be granted?

Mr. MILES. I have, so far as these people are concerned. I want to say that the statements that have been made here repeatedly on the stand, that these people generally understood that the mineral period would be terminated, and that was the intention of the committee, and most of the people that bought this land are here to-day. I want to say further that some people have told me, and I can not remember if that was the prevailing opinion at the time; but at the time of the passage of this act there was considerable contention on the part of the citizens that the termination should be now, and I was approached and some others were approached to take the matter in hand and see if it could not be terminated now under the provisions of this act. They said if we could get a petition signed by two-thirds of the adult members of the tribe asking that it be terminated now, immediately within the year after it was passed, the petitions and the signatures should be considered. No action was. taken, but that was then the belief on the part of a great many people who understood that that provision provided for the termination of the act at the time if the majority of the people wanted it, rather than the termination of it in the future.

I want to say this, that I stated all this matter in Washington, and I was called upon there before I got through, that this provision was not in the bill presented by the Osages in 1904, 1905, or 1906. I think you will find that this provision was placed in the bill at the suggestion of the department after the bill had passed the House. and was put on as an amendment by the Senate.

Mr. HASTINGS. No; you are mistaken.

Mr. MILES. I say I am not sure.

Mr. HASTINGS. I have recently looked it up, and you are mistaken. This provision was in as it passed the House, and it passed under a suspension of the rules.

Mr. CARTER. And could not have been amended.

Mr. HASTINGS. With certain amendments.

Mr. CARTER. It could not be amended on the floor.

Mr. HASTINGS. The motion was to suspend the rules and pass it with certain amendments.

Mr. MILES. I was looking the matter up in the Senate records when I was down there, and I found where this matter was put in as an amendment in the Senate by Senator Owen.

The CHAIRMAN. I want to ask you one more question, you being an old-time citizen here and familiar with the oil industry and how it has been developed in the Osage lands.

Mr. MILES. Something of it; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you say as to whether or not the production of oil would be increased here or decreased by some action taken at this time extending the period of the lease?

Mr. MILES. I hardly know. If it is not extended, I think there will be a great development by the people who have got it now. Let me say this: I think that these people have a complaint against the department. I have always felt so.

The CHAIRMAN. Who do you mean by "these people"?

Mr. MILES. These Osage people. I will try to be very brief. In 1906, when the first allotment act was passed, there were 680,000 acres of land leased. Now, they report this year 457,000 acres leased. Or in 14 years the energetic efforts on the part of the department have reduced the acreage of leases 220,000 acres, or, in other words, in 14 years the department has lost 222,000 acres. With that kind of an effort on the part of the department, it is easy to see how long it would take to lose it.

There is another matter which I want to be very explicit about, and I do not want to be misunderstood, because I know that I have not got in my heart a particle of enmity against a single member of the Osage Tribe of Indians or anybody connected with them. But I want the committee to understand who they are legislating for and what they are legislating for. This Osage Tribe consisted of 2.229 or 2,230 members, as you have heard here stated. I differ a little with the superintendent as to the classification. I have it as 882 full bloods. I think I know every one of them. Some of them he probably has classed as full bloods who are not full bloods.

Mr. HASTINGS. Does the roll indicate the degree of blood? Mr. MILES. It does not-1,322 mixed bloods and 26 adopted members of the Osage tribe. The adopted members were intermarried and from the children and grandchildren, and they were adopted because they did some friendly act to the Osages many years ago.

I will go a little further. I have been in investigations of this roll and every time it has been investigated for the last 20 years and am familiar with almost every family on the reservation or have been familiar with the quantum of blood of these original families. I think I could tell you the quantum of blood of every mixed blood on this reservation. They are classed as follows: Twenty-nine full bloods, 82 one-quarter or less, 248 one-eighth or less, 471 one-sixteenth or less, 302 one thirty-second or less, 161 one sixty-fourth or less.

Since the allotment, 335 full bloods have died, or practically 40 per cent: 114 are over 50 years of age; 70 are over 40 years of age. Of the 1,349 mixed bloods and adopted citizens who have allotments, 159 have died. Of the 355 estates created by deceased full bloods, about 50 have been inherited by white persons in whole or in part. At the time of the allotment a few full bloods were married to white persons. In fact, for a period of more than 50 years, prior to the 1890 treaty, there had rarely been marriages between whites and full bloods or between the full bloods and mixed bloods. Of the 546 full bloods

now living, nearly 100 are now married to white persons, most of them since the allotment. Of the 159 estates created by deceased mixed bloods, 140 have been inherited by white persons in whole or in part. Of the 630 mixed bloods living in the married relation approximately 600 are married to whites.