the case of streets or alleys to the center thereof; and the cost of street intersections or crossings may be borne by the city or apportioned to the quarter blocks abutting thereon upon the same basis. The special assessments provided for by this section and the amount to be charged against each lot or parcel of land shall be fixed by the city council or under its authority and shall become a lien on such abutting property, which may be enforced as other taxes are enforced under the laws in force in the Indian Territory. The total amount charged against any tract or parcel of land shall not exceed twenty per centum of its assessed value, and there shall not be required to be paid thereon exceeding one per centum per annum on the assessed value and interest at six per centum on the deferred payments. For the purpose of paying for such improvements the city council of such municipality is hereby authorized to issue improvement script or certificates for the amount due for such improvements, said script or certificates to be payable in annual installments and to bear interest from date at the rate of six per centum per annum, but no improvement script shall be issued or sold for less than its par value. All of said municipalities are hereby authorized to pass all ordinances necessary to carry into effect the above provisions and for the purpose of doing so may divide such municipality into improvement districts. § 734. Taxation of railway property authorized.—[26]. That the tangible property of railroad corporations (exclusive of rolling stock) located within the corporate limits of incorporated cities and towns in the Indian Territory shall be assessed and taxed in proportion to its value the same as other property is assessed and taxed in such incorporated cities and towns; and all such city or town councils are hereby empowered to pass such ordinances as may be necessary for the assessment, equalization, levy and collection, annually, of a tax on all property except as herein stated within the corporate limits and for carrying the same into effect: Provided, that should any person or corporation feel aggrieved by any assessment of property in the Indian Territory, an appeal from such assessment may be taken within sixty days by original petition to be filed in the United States court in the district in which such city or town is located, and the question of the amount and legality of such assessment, and the validity of the ordinance under which such assessment is made may be determined by such court and the costs of such proceeding shall be taxed and apportioned between the parties as the court shall find to be just and equitable. § 735. Tribal lands not to become public lands.—[27]. That the lands belonging to the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, or Seminole Tribes, upon the dissolution of said tribes, shall not become public lands nor property of the United States, but shall be held in trust by the United States for the use and benefit of the Indians respectively comprising each of said tribes, and their heirs as the same shall appear by the rolls as finally concluded as heretofore and hereinafter provided for: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall interfere with any allotments heretofore or hereafter made or to be made under the provisions of this or any other act of Congress. § 736. Tribal existence continued. [28]. That the tribal existence and present tribal governments of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole Tribes or Nations are hereby continued in full force and effect for all purposes authorized by law, until otherwise provided by law, but the tribal council or legislature in any of said tribes or nations shall not be in session for a longer period than thirty days in any one year: Provided, that no act, ordinance, or resolution (except resolutions of adjournment) of the tribal council or legislature of any of said tribes or nations shall be of any validity until approved by the President of the United States: Provided further, that no contract involving the payment or expenditure of any money or af fecting any property belonging to any of said tribes or nations made by them or any of them or by any officer thereof, shall be of any validity until approved by the President of the United States.15 § 737. Acts in conflict with repealed.-[29]. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed.10 15 Goat v. United States, 224 U. S. 458, 32 Sup. Ct. 544, 56 L. Ed. 841; Tiger v. Western Inv. Co., 221 U. S. 286, 31 Sup. Ct. 578, 55 L. Ed. 738; United States Express Co. v. Friedman, 191 Fed. 673, 112 C. C. A. 219. 16 Morrison v. Burnette, 154 Fed. 617, 83 C. C. A. 391. CHAPTER 53 ACT MAY 27, 1908-AN ACT FOR THE REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS FROM PART OF THE LANDS OF ALLOTTEES OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES § 738. 739. 740. 741. 742. 743. 744. (CHAPTER 199, 35 STAT. 312) Restrictions on alienation removed. Secretary may continue to remove restrictions. Lease of allotted lands. Jurisdiction remitted to state courts. Rolls conclusive evidence of quantum of Indian blood and age. 745. Taxation where restrictions are removed. 746. 747. Conveyance, etc., before removal of restrictions declared void. 748. Leases of lands of minors. 749. Appropriation. 750. Suits to recover town lots may be dismissed when. United States not prohibited from bringing suits. Limitation upon the right to contest. 751. 752. § 738. Restrictions upon alienation removed.-[1]. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that from and after sixty days from the date of this act the status of the lands allotted heretofore or hereafter to allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes shall, as regards restrictions on alienation or incumbrance, be as follows: All lands, including homesteads, of said allottees enrolled as intermarried whites, as freedmen, and as mixed-blood Indians having less than half Indian blood including minors shall be free from all restrictions. All lands, except home steads, of said allottees enrolled as mixed-blood Indians having half or more than half and less than three-quarters Indian blood shall be free from all restrictions. All homesteads of said allottees enrolled as mixed-blood Indians having half or more than half Indian blood, including minors of such degrees of blood, and all allotted lands of enrolled full-bloods, and enrolled mixed-bloods of three-quarters or more Indian blood, including minors of such degrees of blood, shall not be subject to alienation, contract to sell, power of attorney, or any other incumbrance prior to April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-one, except that the Secretary of the Interior may remove such restrictions, wholly or in part, under such rules and regulations concerning terms of sale and disposal of the proceeds for the benefit of the respective Indians as he may prescribe.1 § 739. Secretary may continue to remove restrictions.[1]. The Secretary of the Interior shall not be prohibited by this act from continuing to remove restrictions as heretofore, and nothing herein shall be construed to impose retrictions removed from land by or under any law prior to the passage of this act.2 § 740. Eminent domain-Restrictions upon alienation.— [1]. No restriction of alienation shall be construed to prevent the exercise of the right of eminent domain in condemning rights of way for public purposes over allotted lands, and for such purposes sections thirteen to twenty 1 Heckman v. United States, 224 U. S. 413, 32 Sup. Ct. 424, 56 L. Ed. 820; Goat v. United States, 224 U. S. 458, 32 Sup. Ct. 544, 56 L. Ed. 841; Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834; Deming Inv. Co. v. United States, 224 U. S. 471, 32 Sup. Ct. 549, 56 L. Ed. 847; Choate v. Trapp, 224 U. S. 665, 32 Sup. Ct. 565, 56 L. Ed. 941; English v. Richardson, 224 U. S. 681, 32 Sup. Ct. 571, 56 L. Ed. 949; United States v. Allen, 179 Fed. 13, 103 C. C. A. 1; Bettes v. Brower (D. C.) 184 Fed. 342; United States v. Shock (C. C.) 187 Fed. 862-870; Henry Gas Co. v. United States, 191 Fed. 132, 111 C. C. A. 612; Bell v. Cook (C. C.) 192 Fed. 597; Truskett v. Closser, 198 Fed. 835, 117 C. C. A. 477; Bartlett v. United States (C. C. A.) 203 Fed. 410; Jefferson v. Winkler, 26 Okl. 653, 110 Pac. 755. 2 Bartlett v. United States (C. C. A.) 203 Fed. 410. |