OCR Text |
Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN'AFFAIRS. XY white men, who wonld sell themselves and their country for so many pieces of silver. Leniency to such men is a crivne. Their homes should be behind iron bars, with never a humau face to look upon, and never a sight of the green eartli or tbe skies above, until, in solitary confine-ment for months and years, the,y had been taught the lesson that "the way of transgressors is hard." Most Indians will drink whisky when-ever and wherever they can get it. Under its influence they are sav-ages in deed as well as in name. The agent at Quapaw says: A quart of whisky will do more to demoralize Indians then a mout,h of patient labor will accomplish to civilize them. The agent at Sac and Pox, Indian Territory, says: The whisky busipess has baeu tlie e:mse of more di6Soulty and niore crime than all other causes combined. At Great Nemaha the agent testi6e.s that: Strong driuk is the greatest cl~rssth at besets tho red man. Uuprincipled whites in the settlements, knowing this rpeakness, and regardless of the consequences that may follow, will barter their own souls that they may fill t,heir coffers with their unlawful and ill-gotten gains. At Navajo Agency, one of the chief8 sa8ys: We do not make whisky-it is the Americans 'that do it--and we smne~t lyp lead that the Great Father will take it away fronl us and not let it be brought near us, for our yonng men drink it like water. The agent at Tnlalip reports that: No crimes of a serious character were conlmitted on the reservation, and if it were not far the nefarions trade carried on in selling liquor to Indians by degraded white men, the Indi an~a ollld be a llappy and plospemus race of people. Page after page might be filled with similar testimonies. The destruction of the liquor traffic among Indians is necessar;v, alike for their welfare and for the protection and safety of the lives and property of thousands of good citiaens who have their homes near these Indian reservations. The result desired can be accomplished by the passage and enforceme~~oft rigid laws, with severe penalties for the violation thereof. If the guilty ones are surely and sufficiently pun-ished, it will soon be almost in~possible for the Indians to get liquor. The present law is defective. I t provides that the penalty for giring or selling liquor to an Indiar~s hall be imprisonment for not inore than two rears and a fine of not inore than $300. This law should be so amended as to specify a minimun~p enalty. A few selections from reports of agents will show t l ~ ei~ ecessityfo r such an amenrlmer~t. The. a,gent at Grande Ronde says: The greatest obstacle * * * is the ooustsnt watcllf~llnesv retluirad to prevent then1 from obtaining whisky from a di~rspotable class of wllitea who hover around the bor6er.e of the agency, or in the small towns, ever ready to furnish Indians liquor and to take arlvantege of them as soon as they have become intoxicat.ed. , I have slm- |