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Show 16 REPORT OF TIIE COXMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. i I 1. By providinq that the criminal laws of the United States shall be \ in force upon reservations andshall apply to all offenses, including those of Indians against Indians, and by extending the jurisdiction of the 1 United States courts to enforce the same. 2. By declaring Indians amenable to the police-laws of the State or I Territory for any act committed outside a reser~ation. 3. By conferring upon the President authority at his discretion to ex- ] tend the jurisdiction of the State courts, or any portion of them, to any , reservation whenever, in his judgment, any tribe is prepared for such , control. 4. By providing sn6icient force of deputy marshals to enforce law and i order both among and in behalf of Indians. 5. By giving authority to the Secretary of the Interior to prescribe 1 for all tribes prepared, in his judgment, to adopt the same, an elective government, through which shall be administered all necessary police regul:~tions of the reservation. 6. By providing a distinct territorial government or United States I court, wherever Indians are in sufficient numbers to justify it. I These recommendations failed to receive favorable aition. and as a collsvquenee the nrl]:~rtmenth ;~ah nd another jeilr of exllrrieilee in the etiort to govern owr 2i5,OUO peol~lt.w ithout any Ia\v p ~ ~ ~ ~ i schritinle~ g committed amonp the~nselres; Several ius ta~~cehsa \-e occurred in which the State Gorts have been asked to receive an Indian prisoner arrested and delivered to them, and to try him for murderor other high I crime; the evidence of guilt was abundant, but the Indian has always I escaped punishment for malit of jurisdiction of the court. i Practicnll~th e crimeof mnrder, mhere onlj. Indians are concerned, com- , mitted off a reservation and wit8hin a State or Territory, cannot be pnn- ; ished,either for want ofjurisdiction or from indifference on the part of the local authorities. This state of immunity for crime by Indians is unfortu- ; natr for them and embarrasfflng to the service, and becomesincrea~ingly 1 so as a tribe approaches civilization, from the fact that every step in that I direction loosens and disintegrates the old tribal government of ) authority by chiefs, and furnishes or~lya narchy in return. Such legislation is absolutely required for the further progress among the 111diaus as shall modify radically their relation to the Government 1 in the following particulars: First.. To make an Indian as amenable to law as any other subject of , the United States. Second. To enmurage and, if necessary, to compel him to abandon tribal relations and act for himself as an individual. So long au the Government allows an Indian to live without law, and furnishes iuducements for him to remain one of a herd with only com-munity ioterests, instead of coming under personal responsibility for tion re.cogl~izee ach man no longer as a. member of a savage tribe, but as I good behavior, and iudiridud rights of property, he will be found dis-abled and oppressed with needless di6culties. Byappropriate legisla-capable of iudividual manbood, aud ou that theory provideforhisneces- j sities and oapabilities, and a very i~nportanstt ep has been taken in the advancement of the work which now lingers waiting for this aid. , EELATIONS OF THE INDIANS TO THE STATES. The theory of Indian sovereignty ha$ practically placed the Indians at a disadvantage in their relations to the several States where they are found. Being held b j the State authorities to be neither citizens nor |
