Allotments of Land to Indians. should not be construed to include claim number 39, and that as to this claim there has not as yet been any "final action of Congress." I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, The PRESIDENT. ALLOTMENTS OF LAND TO INDIANS. The allotments of land to Indians provided for by the act of February 8, 1887, chapter 119, should, under the requirements of the third section of that act, be made jointly by an agent specially appointed for that purpose and the agent in charge of the reservation. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, May 4, 1887. SIR: Your letter of the 16th of April, 1887, addressed to me, states: "In the preliminary steps taken by this Department for the execution of the law of the 8th of February, 1887, for allotments of lands to Indians, the question has arisen whether the law requires that allotments to Indians on each reservation shall be made jointly by a special agent and the agent in charge, or whether the agent in charge of each reservation shall be required to make the allotments on the reservation or reservations under his charge; or whether the work of making the allotments may be performed by the agents in charge of reservations or by special agents appointed for that purpose, as in the judgment of the Executive the best interests of the service may require." The law to which you refer is an act for the partition of lands held by the Indian tribes among the individual Indians to be held in severalty. The first section provides for the survey and the amount to be set apart to each. The second section describes how and by whom the selections of lauds shall be made. The third how and by whom the lands after selection shall be allotted and certified. The object of the act is far-reaching and important. The duties to be performed in the allotments in many instances may be difficult and delicate, requiring a high order of dis Allotments of Land to Indians. cretion and intelligence. The third section, which provides for the allotment, is "That the allotments provided for in this act shall be made by special agents appointed by the President for such purpose, and the agents in charge of the respective reservations on which the allotments are directed to be made, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may from time to time prescribe, and shall be certified by such agents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in duplicate, one copy to be retained in the Indian Office and the other to be transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior for his action, and to be deposited in the General Land Office." The language, "the allotments shall be made by special agents appointed by the President for such purpose, and the agents in charge of the respective reservations," is in the conjunctive. That the special agents shall be appointed for that purpose implies that in the allotment the agent in charge of the reservation whose appointment was not made with reference to special qualifications for this new and responsible duty should be joined in its discharge by another, in whose appointment the very work to be performed would be had in view by the President, and the selection of the appointee made with express reference to his qualification for that work. The distinction between the selection of the land provided for in section 2, which may be made by one agent, and the allotment provided for in section 3, which requires two, is recognized in the latter part of the proviso to section 2, which clearly indicates that they are different and successive steps in the proceedings for partition. In reply to your inquiry it is therefore concluded the act requires the allotment should be made jointly by an agent specially appointed for that purpose and the agent in charge of the reservation. I am, sir, yours, very respectfully, A. H. GARLAND. The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. Foreign Consul.-Designs for Coins. FOREIGN CONSUL. A foreign consul, resident in the United States, must look for protection in his person and property to the laws of the State in which he resides. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, May 5, 1887. SIR: In reply to your communication of the 21st of April, 1887, calling my attention to certain complaints of the Imperial German consul at Cincinnati, Ohio, I beg to say that as the case does not come within section 4062, Revised Statutes of the United States, the consul must look for protection to the laws that protect the rights of the community in which he resides. The laws that protect the President of the United States in his person and property are the same as those that protect the humblest citizen, and if the personal or property rights of that high functionary should ever be violated in the city of Cincinnati he would have to look for protection to the laws of the State of Ohio. Certainly a foreign consul can not justly complain that he is not better protected than the highest officer of the Government of the United States. It results, then, that the case presented is not one in which I can give Assistant United States Attorney Bruce any instructions. Very respectfully, yours, The SECRETARY OF STATE. A. H. GARLAND. DESIGNS FOR COINS. The provisions of section 3510, Revised Statutes, do not authorize the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to accept and pay for new designs for existing coins. His authority thereunder, as regards the preparation of original dies, is limited to those intended for new coins. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, May 6, 1887. SIR: By your letter of the 20th of April you inquire: "Has the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Sec Designs for Coins. retary of the Treasury, authority under section 3510 of the Revised Statutes to accept and pay for new designs for existing coins to be submitted by artists as contemplated in inclosed circular, or only designs for new coins?" Section 3510 provides: "The engravers shall prepare from the original dies already authorized all the working-dies required for use in the coinage of the several mints, and, when new coins or devices are authorized, shall, if required by the Director of the Mint, prepare the devices, models, molds, and matrices, or original dies for the same, but the Director of the Mint shall nevertheless have power, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, to engage temporarily for this purpose the services of one or more artists, distinguished in their respective departments of art, who shall be paid for such service from the contingent appropriation for the mint at Philadelphia." This is a re enactment of the eighth section of the "Coinage Act of 1873." By it two classes of dies are provided for the original dies and the working dies; also two classes of coins-those already in circulation and new coins. With reference to the coins already in circulation, the section assumes the original dies have been authorized, as they were by the act of 1873 and prior coinage acts. It requires the engraver to prepare from the original dies already authorized the working dies for the old coins. He is not empowered to change. The limitation of his power to the preparation of working dies is equivalent to a denial of his power to prepare original dies, unless further authority be granted by Congress. This view is supported by the fact that as to new coins he is expressly empowered to prepare new dies. The intent of the act is doubtless to give stability to the coinage, to avoid the changes to which it might be subjected if the power to change the die was left to be exercised as often as the taste or judg ment of those in charge of the mint might change. The use of the coin is intended to be world-wide, as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, a standard of value, and a store of value. That the whole world should know the coin, its nativity, and value upon sight is commercially important. Frequent changes in the design or device upon the coin would greatly impair its usefulness. If a change became necessary 274-VOL XIX—5 Customs Duties. or proper in consequence of the advance of science or taste, Congress determined to hold in its own hands the power to determine when the emergency for a change shall have arisen. The section therefore only authorizes the preparation of working dies by the engraver for existing coins which are now in circulation, and the clause as to the preparation of original dies by him is limited to new coins. Very respectfully, The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. A. H. GARLAND. CUSTOMS DUTIES. The proviso in section 7 of the act of March 3, 1883, chapter 121, subjecting to a duty of "100 per centum ad valorem upon the actual value of the same," coverings of imported merchandise designed for use otherwise than in the bona fide transportation of such merchandise to the United States, etc., applies to free as well as to dutiable importations. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, May 9, 1887. SIR: Your letter of the 26th of April, 1887, contains the following submission: "Referring to opinions received from your Department, under date of September 17 and 27, and December 1, last, relative to the dutiable character of coverings for imported merchandise, I have the honor to request a further expres sion of your views, as to whether the provisions of the law therein considered (section 7, March 3, 1883) apply to such coverings of imported free goods as are other than the usual and necessary coverings for the transportation of such goods, and which might, if containing dutiable merchandise, be liable to duty under the proviso in said section at the rate of 100 per centum ad valorem.” Section 7 of the act of 1883 is: "That sections twenty-nine hundred and seven and twenty-nine hundred and eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States and section fourteen of the act entitled 'An act to amend the customs revenue laws, and to repeal moities,' approved June twenty-second, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, be, and the same are hereby, |