allotted should be non-taxable," stipulated further that each enrolled member of the Tribes should receive a patent framed in conformity with the Agreement, and that each Choctaw and Chickasaw who accepted such patent should be held thereby to assent to the terms of this Agreement and to relinquish all of his right in the property formerly held in common.

There was here, then, an offer of non-taxable land. Acceptance by the party to whom the offer was made, with the consequent relinquishment of all claim to other lands furnished a part of the consideration, if, indeed, any was needed, in such a case, to support either the grant or the exemption. Wisconsin &c. R. R. v. Powers, 191 U. S. 379, 386; Home v. Rouse, 8 Wall. 430, 437; Tomlinson v. Jessup, 15 Wall. 454, 458. Upon delivery of the patent the agreement was executed, and the Indian was thereby vested with all the right conveyed by the patent, and, like a grantee in a deed poll, or a person accepting the benefit of a conveyance, bound by its terms, although it was not actually signed by him. Keller v. Ashford, 133 U. S. 610, 621; Hendrick v. Lindsay, 93 U. S. 143.

As the plaintiffs were offered the allotments on the conditions proposed; as they accepted the terms and, in the relinquishment of their claim, furnished a consideration which was sufficient to entitle them to enforce whatever rights were conferred, we are brought to a consideration of the question as to what those rights were.

3. On the part of the State it is argued that there was, in fact, no tax exemption, but that that provision was only intended to guard absolutely against alienation of the land, whether for taxes, or at judicial sale, or by private contract. In other words, it is said that the tax exemption was only an additional prohibition against a sale, so that when the restrictions against alienation were removed by the act of 1908 (35 Stat. 312), the provision as to nontaxability went as a necessary part thereof.

But the exemption and non-alienability were two separate and distinct subjects. One conferred a right and the other imposed a limitation. The defendant's argument also ignores the fact that, in this case, though the land could be sold after five years it might remain nontaxable for 16 years longer, if the Indian retained title during that length of time. Restrictions on alienation were removed by lapse of time. He could sell part after one year, a part after three years and all except homestead after five years. The period of exemption was not co-incident with this five-year limitation. On the contrary the privilege of non-taxability might last for 21 years, thus recognizing that the two subjects related to different periods and that neither was dependent on the other. The right to remove the restriction was in pursuance of the power under which Congress could legislate as to the status of the ward and lengthen or shorten the period of disability. But the provision that the land should be non-taxable was a property right, which Congress undoubtedly had the power to grant. That right fully vested in the Indians and was binding upon Oklahoma. Kansas Indians, 5 Wall. 737, 756; United States v. Rickert, 188 U. S. 432.

4. The record contains no copy of any of the patents under which the plaintiffs hold. But the act provided that they should be framed in conformity with the Atoka Agreement. Those who signed the patent could not convey more rights than were granted by that part of the Curtis Act, nor could they, by omission, deprive the patentee of any exemption to which he was thereby entitled. The patent and the legislation of Congress must be construed together, and when so construed they show that Congress, in consideration of the Indians' relinquishment of all claim to the common property, and for other satisfactory reasons, made a grant of land which should be non-taxable for a limited period. The patent issued in VOL. CCXXIV-43

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pursuance of those statutes gave the Indian as good a title to the exemption as it did to the land itself. Under the provisions of the Fifth Amendment there was no more power to deprive him of the exemption than of any other right in the property. No statute would have been valid which reduced his fee to a life estate, or attempted to take from him ten acres, or fifty acres, or the timber growing on the land. After he accepted the patent the Indian could not be heard, either at law or in equity, to assert any claim to the common property. If he is bound, so is the tribe and the Government when the patent was issued.

5. It is conceded that no right which was actually conferred on the Indians can be arbitrarily abrogated by statute. But as it is claimed that he, in fact, acquired no valid exemption, since it stands on a different footing from the grant of the land itself; and that, though the provision of non-taxability added to the value of the property, it can be withdrawn because, if not a gratuity, it is at least subject to the general rule that tax exemptions are to be strictly construed and are subject to repeal unless the contrary clearly appears. Welch v. Cook, 97 U. S. 541; Christ Church v. Philadelphia, 24 How. 300; Wisconsin &c. R. R. v. Powers, 191 U. S. 379; Tucker v. Ferguson, 22 Wall. 527; West Wisconsin Ry. v. Board of Supervisors, 93 U. S. 595, are cited in support of this proposition. Some of these cases construe general statutes containing, not a grant, but an offer of exemption to such companies as should do certain work or build certain lines of road before a given date. They hold that a statute making such an offer might be repealed even as against those companies which actually built in reliance on. its terms. But these rulings are based on the theory that "the legislature was not making promises, but framing a scheme of public revenue and public improvement," (Wisconsin &c. v. Powers, 191 U. S. 387). The companies gave nothing and the State received nothing in exchange for the offer. There

was no consideration moving from one to the other. Such exemption was a mere bounty, valuable as long as the State chose to concede it, but as tax exemptions are strictly construed, it could be withdrawn at any time the State saw fit.

6. But in the Government's dealings with the Indians the rule is exactly the contrary. The construction, instead of being strict, is liberal; doubtful expressions, instead of being resolved in favor of the United States, are to be resolved in favor of a weak and defenseless people, who are wards of the nation, and dependent wholly upon its protection and good faith. This rule of construction has been recognized, without exception, for more than a hundred years and has been applied in tax cases.

For example, in Kansas Indians, 5 Wall. 737, 760, the question was whether a statute prohibiting levy and sale of Indian lands prevented a sale for state taxes. The rule of strict construction would have compelled a holding that the property was liable. But Mr. Justice Davis, in speaking for the court, said that “enlarged rules of construction are adopted in reference to Indian treaties." He quoted from Chief Justice Marshall, who said that "The language used in treaties with the Indians shall never be construed to their prejudice, if words be made use of susceptible of a more extending meaning "Again, in Jones v. Meehan, 175 U. S. 1, it was held that "Indian treaties must be construed, not according to the technical meaning of their words, but in the sense in which they would naturally be understood by the Indians." In view of the universality of this rule, Congress is conclusively presumed to have intended that the legislation under which these allotments were made to the Indians should be liberally construed in their favor in determining the rights granted to the Choctaws and Chickasaws.

The provision that "all land shall be non-taxable" naturally indicates that the exemption is attached to the

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land-only an artificial rule can make it a personal privilege. But if there is any conflict between the natural meaning and the technical construction,-if there were room for doubt, or if there were any question as to whether this was a personal privilege and repealable, or an incident attached to the land itself for a limited period, that doubt, under this rule, must be resolved in favor of the patentee.

The decision in New Jersey v. Wilson, 7 Cranch, 164, is directly in point here and especially as to the quality of the exemption. It appeared there that the Delaware Indians had claims to lands in that State lying south of the River Rariton. An agreement for a release of the claim was made between the Commissioners and the Indians, under which the latter were to receive a conveyance to a large body of land in fee. The agreement was approved by the State by an act which, among other things, declared that the land "should not hereafter be subject to any tax." The Indians, after many years, sold the land, and the State subsequently passed a statute repealing the exemption. This court, speaking by Chief Justice Marshall, held that "every requisite to the formation of a contract is found in the proceedings between the then colony of New Jersey and the Indians. The subject was a purchase on the part of the Government of extensive claims of the Indians, the extinguishment of which would quiet the title to a large portion of the province. A proposition to this effect was made, the terms stipulated, the consideration agreed upon, which is a tract of land with the privilege of exemption from taxation; and then, in consideration of the arrangement previously made, one of which this Act of Assembly is stated to be, the Indians executed their deed of cession. This is certainly a contract clothed with forms of unusual solemnity. The privilege, though for the benefit of the Indians, is annexed by the terms which create it, to the land itself, not to their persons." And it was thereupon held that the right was not affected by the